BackIn his Report entitled “Intergenerational solidarity and the needs of future generations” the Secretary General of the UN explicitly referred to those national institutions and bodies, which play a pioneering role in the national implementation of sustainable development and intergenerational solidarity.
Therefore, the Hungarian Ombudsman’s Office wishes to contribute to a closer cooperation between the national institutions mentioned in the Report with the aim of exchanging good practices for the national implementation of sustainability and intergenerational justice. In a first step, the Hungarian Ombudsman’s Office is planning a conference to understand the unique characteristics of the relevant national institutions entrusted with promoting intergenerational solidarity as well as the legal principles and processes underlying their work. The conference will also shed light on how these national bodies may contribute to the efforts of the United Nations in protecting the interests of future generations.
The proposed conference will focus on the legal aspects of the protection and promotion of the interests of future generations on the basis of the principles of intergenerational law. Following the presentation of the selected model institutions, panel discussions are planned centering on the different constitutional and environmental law principles underlying the work of such bodies both from a practitioner and an academic perspective. Therefore, recognized international scholars of constitutional and environmental law, sustainable development, and intergenerational equity will be invited to define a potential legal framework necessary for national and international implementation. Panels will encourage discussion among participants of different expertise providing opportunities to link theory to practical implementation.
The conference outcomes will be published in a volume by Cambridge University Press, as a leading publication in the area of international intergenerational law. The Ombudsman hopes that the conference will create a network between the model institutions serving as a platform for future cooperation. To this end the Office is developing a shared website of the model institutions for reinforcing mutual cooperation, disseminating recent publications and encouraging other national actors and the international arena to take up the role of the protection of future generations in a way best suited for their individual character.
Source: Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, Hungary
