Views of some of the Eminent Legal Luminaries of the World

Concerned with the absence of an enforceable international law, the students of CMS collected nearly one hundred thousand signatures on an appeal to Dr Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations. The letter that Dr Jagdish Gandhi wrote to Dr Kofi Annan, on 1st September, 1999 said: "Mankind’s problems can no longer be solved by national governments. What is needed is a World Government. This can best be achieved by strengthening the United Nations System... We would like to point out the importance of arbitration as a tool to solve international disputes and the significance given to it in Article 51 of the Constitution of India... As the Secretary-General of the UN, destiny has placed an enormous burden on you...of initiating the process of the formation of a world government that you cannot escape. I, therefore, urge you to fulfil the responsibility bestowed on you as the custodian of the welfare of humanity’s silent masses and take the initiative to commence the process of constituting a world government before it is too late.”

MR JAGDISH GANDHI WROTE TO THE UN
The letter Dr Gandhi wrote to the UN regarding the formation of a World Government for safeguarding the future of world's children is given below and the message received from the Secretary-General is given in the right hand column. CMS students collected signatures of 1,00,000 people in support of the appeal made to the UN office in New York.

A lone voice is raised
Disappointed by the United Nations and the world’s political leadership, Dr Gandhi saw a ray of hope in the world judiciary when he became aware of the historic decision by the Supreme Court of the Philippines in the case of Oposa vs Factoran wherein the Chief Justice, Honourable Hilario J. Davide Jr., upheld the rights of minors and also those yet unborn, to inherit a balanced and healthy ecology. The judgement also held that it is the inter-generational responsibility of every generation to pass on a safe and healthy ecology to the succeeding generations. After going through this judgement, he developed a firm belief that the world judiciary is the only hope for humanity’s survival and only a united world judiciary can control the misguided world politicians who are misusing their authority in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction and thereby increasing the danger of a Third World War. Dr Gandhi organized a roundtable conference on Article 51 of the Constitution of India in Lucknow on January 14, 2001, which was inaugurated by Hon’ble Justice Syed Saghir Ahmed, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, attended by several members of the judiciary in India.

Dr Jagdish Gandhi, Founder-Manager, CMS,
at the UN Headquarters, New York, to represent the world's children at the 2000 Millennium Forum

Finding a way
Also heartened by the encouraging response from Justice R.S. Pathak, a former Chief Justice of India, and a member of the International Court of Justice, a national seminar on Article 51 of the Indian Constitution was held on February 25, 2001 in Lucknow which was inaugurated by him and presided over by Hon’ble Justice Rangnath Misra, a former Chief Justice of India and a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (The Hague).

The success of this national seminar led to the hosting of the first International Conference on Article 51 of the Constitution of India, on May 6, 2001 in Lucknow, in which chief justices and judges from 8 countries participated.

A glimpse of the 6th International Conference of the Chief Justices of the world.
This was a historic gathering hosted by CMS with participants from 58 countries.

A glimpse of the 7th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World

A glimpse of the 9th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World

A glimpse of the 10th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World

Appeal to the World Judiciary
A little later, the Second International Conference of the Chief Justices of the World on Article 51 of the Constitution of India was held on December 23, 2001 in Lucknow in which delegates of 18 countries participated. The attack on the World Trade Centre (WTC), New York, made people acutely aware of the threat from international terrorism and consequently messages of support for the cause of ensuring a safe future for the world’s children started pouring in from all corners of the world.

The Third International Conference of the Chief Justices of the World was held from December 6 to 8, 2002, in Lucknow and inaugurated by H.E. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, in which 23 countries participated, while the Fourth International Conference was held from December 12 to 14, 2003 in Lucknow which saw the participation of 43 countries. The Fifth International Conference held from December 10 to 12, 2004 had participants from 54 countries. The Sixth International Conference held from December 9 to 13, 2005 was a major success and saw wide participation of chief justices and judges of Supreme Courts, law ministers, education ministers, judges of international courts, ambassadors, representatives of prominent peace organizations of the world, besides legal luminaries from around the globe representing 58 countries of the world.

7th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World was held from 7th December 2006 to 12th December 2006 in which delegates over 200 from 72 countries (Chief Justices, Judges, Ministers, NGOs, Peace activists) participated in the conference. Amongst notable participants were Mr Justice Prof. Abdul Salam Azmi, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Afghanistan, Mr Justice Weeramantry, former Vice President International Court of Justice and recipient of UNESCO Peace Prize 2006, H.E. Mr Cassam, former President of Mauritius and Madame Justice Gracia Dixon, Chief Justice of Panama and President of the International Association of the Women Judges of the World, Mr Justice Prakash P. Naolekar, Judge Supreme Court of India and Mr Justice V.N. Khare, former Chief Justice of India.

These conferences saw participation of eminent dignitaries like His Excellency Dr Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, H.E. Mr Cassam, former President of Mauritius, His Excellency Sir Daniel Charles Williams, Governor-General of Grenada (West Indies), His Excellency Sir James R Mancham, Founding President of the Republic of Seychelles, Hon'ble Mr Justice P. N. Bhagwati, Chairman, UN Human Rights Committee (Geneva), His Excellency Mr Archibald Lesao Lehohla, Deputy Prime Minister of Kingdom of Lesotho, Dr A. T. Ariyaratne, the Sri Lankan Gandhi, and Ms Ela Gandhi, a former member of parliament of South Africa, and granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi and many other important dignitaries.

Read more about the World Judiciary Summits