What is World Citizenship?
World citizenship is the recognition that our rights and duties extend to humanity and to the Earth as our planetary home. As world citizens, we carry our rights and duties with us wherever we are, and we know that the world we share already unites us.
If we take the citizenship principles of Jus Soli (the right of the Earth) and Jus Sanguinis (the right of the blood) and apply them to humanity, we see that all human beings are born on planet earth from human parents. This means that, legally, we are all world citizens by birth and in fact.
World citizenship begins with an acceptance of the oneness of the human family and the interconnectedness of the communities of the earth, our home. When you identify as a world citizen, you do not give up any other allegiance. You simply extend your allegiance to humanity and the Earth.
World citizenship implies that the individual is empowered to contribute to the structure and governing of society in a unified way, World Citizen Government.
Why is it Important to Identify as World Citizens?
- World citizenship is the key to affirming and protecting human and environmental rights.
- World citizenship is an inclusive legal and political identity, uniting humanity under the banner of universal rights.
- World citizenship is about acceptance of our fellow humans as part of one human family. As world citizens, we appreciate and respect the many cultures, languages, and points of view of our fellow humans.
- World citizenship is about enacting the “Golden Rule” of doing unto others as you would do unto yourself.
- World citizenship, as an official, legal and political status, would end statelessness immediately. Your rights and duties would be upheld no matter where you are, no matter how much money you have in your pocket, no matter what language you speak, religion you practice, or any other factor that humans use to classify one another.
- By seeing the earth as one unit, world citizens gain an awareness of how our actions affect our fellow humans and the environment.
- With a common allegiance to global democratic institutions, to protecting humanity as a whole, and to safeguarding the earth, world citizenship links us all together for the good of the one and the many.
- When you identify as a world citizen, you do not give up any other allegiance. You simply extend your allegiance to humanity and the Earth.
- The core meaning expresses the fundamental unity of each and every human as an inalienable member of humankind itself living on home planet Earth.