First Session of the Provisional World Parliament

(Above Picture:Delegates at the First Constituent Assembly Interlaken Switzerland, 1968)

The World Constitution and Parliament Association is dedicated to creating non-military democratic Earth Federation under the Constitution for the Federation of Earth. 

Since 1958, the organization has worked through its worldwide  membership to write and ratify the Earth Constitution in four international Constituent Assemblies. Under the authority of Article 19 of the Earth Constitution the WCPA has also sponsored 12 sessions of the Provisional World Parliament to date, building a new world order of freedom, justice, prosperity, and equality within the shell of the old, unjust world order. Below is a summary history of our work.

1958. Agreement to Call a World Constitutional Convention initiated by four persons, circulated worldwide for signatures, requesting both national governments and people of each country to send delegates.

1959-1960. World Committee for a World Constitutional Convention formed. Thousands sign the Agreement, including many prominent leaders. Organizers of this action travel around the world to enlist support.

1961-1962. Definitive Call to the World Constitutional Convention adopted. Many persons sign, including Heads of five national governments.

1963-1964. First Preparatory Congress held Denver, Colorado, USA, with delegates from five continents. Call to the World Constitutional Convention is publicly issued, then circulated for more signers and response.

1965-1966. Second Preparatory Congress held at Milan, Italy. Outline for Debate and Drafting of a World Constitution is formulated, on basis on alternative choices. Plan agreed for a Peoples’ World Parliament to meet concurrently.

1967. Decision made at Third Preparatory Congress to begin Convention in 1968, even if no government sends delegates. 300 Peoples Delegates pledged.

1968. First working sessions of World Constitutional Convention and Peoples’ World Convention held at Interlaken, Switzerland, and Wolfach, W. Germany with 200 Peoples Delegates from 27 countries, of five continents. Work begun on drafting the World Constitution.

1969-1971. Strategy for Reclaiming Earth for Humanity is circulated. Emergency Council of World Trustees meets, Santa Barbara, Calif., and issues First Decree for Protection of Life, outlawing nuclear weapons. Directions given to drafting commission.

1972. World Constitution drafting commission of four persons, with a fifth communicating by telephone, works for two months, nearly completing first draft of Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

1973-1975. First draft finished, printed in 1974, then circulated worldwide for comment, together with Call to the second session in 1977, now defined as the World Constituent Assembly. Comments on first draft complied.

1976. Drafting Commission meets again. Second draft completed, circulated,

1977. Second Session of World Constituent Assembly held in June, Innsbruck, Austria. Earth Constitution debated paragraph by paragraph, amended, then adopted with 138 original signers from 25 countries of 6 continents. Call for ratification by the nations and peoples of Earth is issued. Constitution is sent to U.N. General Assembly and to all national governments.

1978-1980. Earth Constitution is circulated worldwide for debate and ratification. Third session of World Constituent Assembly held January, 1979, Colombo, Sri Lanka; adopts Rationale For a World Constituent Assembly, defining right of people to convene Assembly, draft constitution, and obtain ratification. Appeal issued for national parliaments to ratify.

1981. World Constitution & Parliament Assn. meets at New Delhi, India. Call issued for Provisional World Parliament to convene 1982 under terms of Article 19 of the Earth Constitution. Honorary Sponsor list of 150 prominent persons enrolled.

1982. First Session of Provisional World Parliament meets at Brighton, England. Delegates from 25 countries of 6 continents. Five world Legislative Acts are adopted: for World Disarmament Agency, World Economic Development, Ownership of Oceans & Sea beds, Graduate School of World Problems, and World Courts.

1983-1984. First Provisional District World Court organized in Los Angeles; takes up case of outlawing nuclear weapons. Plans for Provisional World Parliament in Sudan and Nigeria thwarted by military coups.

1985. Second Session of Provisional World Parliament held New Delhi, India. Opened by President of India, presided by speaker of Lok Sabha. Three more World Legislative Acts adopted: for Emergency Earth Rescue Administration, World Government Funding, and Commission on Terrorism.

1986. Campaign continued for “provisional” ratification of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth, pending review at next World Constituent Assembly.

1987. Third session of Provisional World Parliament held at Hilton Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida. Three more World Legislative Acts are adopted: for Global Finance System, Environment Protection, and Hydrogen Energy. Provisional World Cabinet begun.

1988-1989. Plan launched for collaboration by many organizations to prepare next session of World Constituent Assembly. 150 organizations join in Preparatory Committee. Two meetings held in New York with U. N. Ambassadors, to explain and solicit help. List of Honorary Sponsors reconfirmed and expanded.

1990. Government of Egypt agrees to host Assembly. Three preparatory meetings held. Call circulated for Governments and People to send delegates.

1991. Location of 4th session World Constituent Assembly abruptly changed due to the 1991 Gulf War. Held at Troia, Portugal, in May. Delegates adopt 59 minor amendments to the Earth Constitution. New ratification campaign begun, appealing to both people and governments. Most Honorary Sponsors personally ratify.

1992. Global Ratification & Elections Network organized, including several hundred organizations, to promote ratification of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth, then election of delegates to World Parliament. Government heads should also ratify.

1996. The Fourth Session of the Provisional World Parliament held at Barcelona, Spain in September. A number of resolutions passed as well as a “Manifesto” declaring the oceans the property of the people of Earth under the authority of the Earth Constitution.

2000. The Fifth Session of the Provisional World Parliament is held on the Island of Malta, November 22nd to 27th. One Omnibus legislative act and a number of resolutions passed, including a resolution strongly supporting the rights of the Palestinian people to their own state.

2003. The Sixth Session of the Provisional World Parliament held in Bangkok, Thailand, March 23rd to 28th. Several important legislative acts passed: a World Peace Act, a World Security Act, a Provisional Office of World Revenue Act, a Hydrocarbon Resource Act, and a Statute for the World Court on Human Rights. The Commission for Legislative Review is formed. Parliamentary law format commences with the Sixth Session. The Institute on World Problems (IOWP) is formed as a 501C3 non-profit organization in the US.

2003. The Seventh Session of the Provisional World Parliament is held at Chennai, India, December 23-29. Several important legislative acts passed: a Criminal Penalty Code, Rules for Procedure and Evidence, a World Bench for Criminal Cases Act, a World Patents Act, a Global Accounting and Auditing Standards Act, and a Preservation of World Government Records Act. The Manifesto of the Earth Federation and the “Pledge of Allegiance to the Earth Constitution” (included in this Appendix) are unanimously ratified by the Parliament.

2004. The Eighth Session of the Provisional World Parliament held at Lucknow, India in August. Several important legislative acts passed, including creation of a World Bench for Juvenile Cases, a Child Rights Act, an Elections Act, and a Water Act. The International Criminal Court in the Hague is empowered by world legislation. A global Education Act is passed as well as a World Economic Equity Act establishing the Earth Currency on an independent and fully democratic basis. A Global People’s Assembly is created to activate grass roots participation in the House of Peoples. The “Declaration on the Rights of Peoples” (included in this volume) is unanimously ratified.

2006. The Ninth Session of the Provisional World Parliament held in Tripoli, Libya in April. Eight World Legislative Acts are passed, an enabling act for the World Ombudsmus, the creation of a Department of Conflict Resolution for the Earth Federation, a ban on the production of fissile materials for weapons, a nuclear weapons elimination protocol, a nuclear contamination act prohibiting the use of depleted uranium and other weapons, a quit Guantanamo directive, an agreement on world privileges and immunities (revising the weaker version of the Assembly of States Parties, and a public utilities act. The former “Global Ratification and Elections Network (GREN)” is transformed into the Earth Federation Movement (EFM).

2007. The Tenth Session of the Provisional World Parliament held in Kara, Togo in June. Four world legislative acts are passed: an act prohibiting unauthorized destruction of illegal financial instruments, an act creating a system of divestment from illegal weapons manufacture, an act requiring posting of the world illegal stock law in stock exchanges around the world, and an act providing a guaranteed annual income for all adults within the Earth Federation.

2008. The 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the founding of WCPA hosted by Dr. Phichai Tovivich and the WCPA Chapter of Thailand.

2009. The Eleventh Session of the Provisional World Parliament held in Nainital, India, July 2-8, 2009. Several world legislative acts were passed into provisional world law, including a procedure for the dismantling of nuclear weapons, a law protecting the people of Earth from too much bureaucracy in the world government, an act criminalizing human trafficking for sexual or other purposes, an act abolishing all secret intelligence agencies like the CIA, M5 or Mossad, a bill elaborating the restrictions on the military uses of depleted uranium, and a law protecting the right of civil disobedience for the people of Earth under the Earth Federation (included in this volume). The delegation from Bangladesh presented the parliament with a new translation of the Constitution into its 23rdlanguage: Bengali or Bangla.

2010. June 1-11, IOWP officers participate in the General Review Conference of the International Criminal Court in Kampala, Uganda, with proposals to link the court with the Earth Constitution. The Twelfth Session of the Parliament held in Kolkata, India, December 27-31, 2010. World Legislative Acts passed for funding the decommissioning of nuclear weapons, abolishing legal corporate personhood, establishing a Collegium of World Judges, establishing a Ship breaking code, creating global economic prosperity, and amending some earlier acts of the Parliament. Resolutions were passed allowing states, cantons, or Pradesh to join the Earth Federation independently, enumerating citizen and governmental responsibilities under the Earth Federation, and modeling the world peace system created by the Earth Constitution.