Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Human Union idea?

Human Union is the name for a new political project designed to take us beyond the existing system of nation states and reduce global poverty, war and injustice. It means an organically growing international association of states which observe common values, e.g. democracy, human rights and environmental protection. It need not observe these values in absolutely the same manner in every member state but there must be an effective commitment to them. A Human Union will probably start slowly and gradually evolve as it adds on new members and agreed standards. It can begin from as few as one Country (or the EU) issuing a Human Union Declaration; a declaration that it is willing to start negotiating minimal common terms with any other country that wishes to join it in a Human Union.

Key points of Human Union definition:

  • Common standards
  • Optional membership
  • Organic development
  • Starts with a Human Union Declaration

2. Why does the world need a Human Union

As there are many reasons that make building a Human Union a crucial goal for humanity there is a separate page setting them out at reasons to support a Human Union.  In summary some of the key reasons are:

  • Common humanity
  • End warfare
  • End global poverty
  • Protect the environment

3. How will a Human Union start?

There is no way of knowing with certainty how it will start. The most likely beginning will be gradually as with the EU. That is why we are proposing a Human Union Declaration as a way to start the ball rolling rather than offering a highly detailed plan.

4. But people will never love each other?

Forming a Human Union does not require people to love each other. Australians accept they are members of the same political community even though they do not love each other. In fact many Australians have hatred and contempt for each other and some Australians are murderers who kill their fellow Australians. But this has not stopped the Australian political community working. It will not stop a Human Union working either. The Australian political community works because most of us believe we all share an Australian identity. A Human Union will work when people acknowledge we all share a common human identity

5. But surely people will not want to abandon their separate identity?

Joining the Human Union will no more require the French to abandon their French identity than joining the European Union did. Joining the Human Union will no more require Victorians to lose their Victorian identity than joining the Australian Federation did. Joining the Human Union does not mean abandoning other social identities, it means acknowledging your human identity as well. At the moment our human identity is the one identity which has no political expression in our world of national, religious, ethnic and tribal political systems.

6. It’s a great idea but not now, wait until the world is ready in the future:

This is what was said to people who wanted to abolish slavery, support equal rights for women and homosexuals, and oppose racism. Every attempt throughout history to extend fairness to our fellow human beings has been met with “wait until the world is ready”. The right time to acknowledge the equal dignity of our fellow human beings is now. The world is ready for us to start now.

7. Justice begins at home:

It may, but it does not end there. Justice which stops at national borders is not human justice. As long as there are borders to justice, there will not be justice but a world where humans are told “we don’t care about you because you were born in the wrong place”. Such a world is not a world of basic political justice but injustice. Justice in one country is not justice.

8. But the EU is a terrible failure so surely this won't work either?

It is true that the EU has developed many bureaucratic and cumbersome features. But remember that in the fifty years prior to the EU, countries who are now long term members, such as Britain, France and Germany, managed two world wars, causing the violent deaths of more than a million human beings and economic displacement and suffering to millions. They also produced at least one major attempt at genocide. Compared to what went before it the EU is the greatest achievement in the history of human politics. Centuries of warfare and conflict have stopped. Just because something is not perfect does not mean it is not preferable to the available alternative. The Human Union can learn from mistakes made in developing the EU. In any event, the comparison is not between the Human Union and a perfect world. The comparison is between the Human Union and today’s world where thousands of people are still at risk of violent death in warfare, where millions still risk death by starvation, where millions still are denied basic human rights and where obesity is the major health problem in some wealthy countries while it is malnutrition in others. It is always possible to point out the imperfections in reform proposal, but it is always a mistake to go from that to assuming the choice is between the reform and perfection.

9. But the whole idea is impossible:

This is what is said to every new idea. The mere fact that something has not happened yet does not mean it cannot happen.

10. Doesn't justice requires the world to be divided into competing states ?

Justice may well require the acknowledgement of people’s different national, ethnic, and religious identities. But it does not require giving them priority over our human identity.

11. But everything is fine now; we don’t need a Human Union:

The problems of warfare, poverty and environmental degradation that wrack many parts of the world now hardly seem fine. History shows that every attempt to make progress in such areas will at some point be undermined by national religious or ethnic competition. The many crises of the world today often appear as minor issues to people living in a comfortable developed country. The problems of our fellow humans do not directly impinge on our comfort. But their suffering will eventually affect us. Take the problems of illegal immigration into developed countries. It can be solved by building endless barriers against our fellow humans until they mount a direct attack, or it can be solved by steadily developing something like the Human Union within which there would be freedom of movement.