| 1. |
Draft
Charter of Fundemental Rights of the European Union
Council of the Eurpean Union
Text
of Submission.....
For many years, we have been involved in collaborative work,
at European and international levels, which focuses on the
subject matter of your deliberations.
Regarding
the drafting and, more importantly, the real progress of
the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights , we make
this submission as a direct result of the disappointing
outcome from the recent E.U. Summit in Portugal.
Aware of references to 'sustainable development' and 'environmental,
health and consumer protection' contained in the 1997 Amsterdam
Treaty (97/C 340/01) ,
and the declared political goal of bringing the European
Union closer to each Citizen ........
- The
proposed European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights
is one of the most essential elements in the legal foundation
of any future Union ;
- A
distinction must be made, even at this stage, between
'human' and 'social' rights - and the responsibilities
associated with each, if we are to achieve a sustainable
'built environment' which allows the 'natural environment'
to flourish. We would earnestly request that the title
of the Charter be revised to read : European Union Charter
of Fundamental Human & Social Rights ;
- The
understanding of 'rights' has developed considerably,
at international level, in the last decade or so. Attached
for your information, please find a copy (in 'pdf' format)
of the European
Charter on Sustainable Design & Construction -
1998 . Principle 24 of the Charter states that .... 'Peace,
political accountability, institutional openness, sustainable
development, social wellbeing, environmental protection,
and energy efficiency are interdependent and indivisible'
;
- Attached,
please also find a copy ( in 'jpg' format ) of a letter
of support from Mr. Jacques Santer, President of the European
Commission in 1998 ;
- The
European
Charter on Sustainable Design & Construction covers
all aspects of how people in the E.U. should relate to
the 'built' and 'natural' environments - it also covers
E.U. dealings with other global regions.
Many thanks for the opportunity to make our views known
at this time.
We wish you every success in this critical endeavour.
C. J. Walsh
Chief Technical Consultant
Sustainable Design International Limited - Ireland
Dated
2000-06-21
Download
Formal Record of Submission
(PDF File, 54kb)
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| 2. |
Second
Submission on E.U. Charter of Fundamental Rights
Text
of Submission.....
Further
to our previous submission, by e-mail dated 2000-06-21,
on the Draft Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union ....
1. In order to ensure a minimum level of
transparency in the drafting process - we would request
that you keep all of those individuals / organizations,
who have made submissions, regularly updated on progress
with the Charter ; and
2. Having reviewed in detail the September 2000 Draft of
the Charter, we wish to register our strongest possible
protest at the inadequacy of the initial document.
Attached
for your information, please find a Guideline
Framework on Social Justice & Inclusion which forms
the basis for much of our work. This document may help to
give some direction to future drafts of the Charter.
C. J. Walsh
Chief Technical Consultant
Sustainable Design International Limited
Dated 2000-12-04
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