The Earthlings Declaration

This edition is the founding edition. The Earthlings people is constituted by its adoption.

Until it is adopted, the text of the Declaration is open to proposals from any person. Joining the people, identity verification, and agreement with what is set out here are not required in order to submit a proposal. Every proposal is published together with the answer to it, and a rejected proposal with the reason for rejection.

Proposals and the answers to them are published in an open registry: https://github.com/earthlingsorg/earthlings-documents. The registry is open to any person without registration and without permission; every change to the text is visible in it line by line and is linked to the proposal that led to it.

The text is adopted by a vote of people who have confirmed their identity, on the principle of "one person, one vote".

The principles set out in Part I of the Declaration are offered as a condition on which the people is constituted: only those who have voluntarily accepted them constitute the people, and whoever disagrees is free not to sign. Proposals to abolish or narrow them are therefore not considered. Proposals to refine their wording, to add to Part I, or on any other provision are considered on the same footing as all others.

The deadlines, the procedure for submitting and considering proposals, the requirements for taking part in the vote, and the thresholds for adoption are set out in the document "The Founding Period".

This section ceases to have effect upon adoption and is not reproduced in the adopted edition. Article 12 is filled in on the day of adoption and remains in the text permanently.

We are people of different countries, cultures, languages and convictions. What unites us is a common choice, not common descent or a single territory.

We are exercising our right to associate freely, in order to gain a common voice where there is none today. So that we can speak where others decide for us.

By this Declaration we constitute ourselves as a people, in order to determine our own destiny. We give this people the name Earthlings. What follows states the ground we stand on, what we guarantee to every person, and what limits we have set for ourselves.

The Earthlings people is constituted by this Declaration.

It comes into being through the free expression of will by people who have decided to unite around shared values.

Everyone who signs this Declaration constitutes and joins the Earthlings people. A signatory is called an earthling, in the plural earthlings. The people exists for as long as there are individuals who have voluntarily confirmed their belonging to it.

This act requires no approval or recognition from states or international organizations.

The Earthlings people is a voluntary, non-violent and non-territorial form of collective self-determination.

The Earthlings people is a community of human beings who have chosen, of their own accord, to belong to one another and who mutually acknowledge that belonging.

Entry into the people is open to every person.

Earthlings are a people, not a civic organization, a union or an association. A people unites individuals as a durable form of collective belonging, with its own values, its own institutions of self-governance, its own rules and its own continuity.

The name Earthlings expresses the basis of our unity: we were all born on the same planet. What holds the Earthlings people together is a shared bond with the Earth and the voluntary choice to be one people.

Rule by the people within the Earthlings people rests on three conditions, and none of them is a substitute for another.

First. Behind every vote stands one living person, and this is verifiable. One person must not be able to vote twice or to create multiple identities.

Second. A vote is inseparable from the confirmed person: the way the community is structured makes it impossible to accumulate it or to transfer it irrevocably.

Third. Any earthling can independently verify that their vote has been counted, as well as the outcome of the vote and the decisions taken.

Life. Life and care for every person are the highest value within the Earthlings people. No aim, no decision of a majority, no emergency and no other circumstance justifies disregard for human life. This care extends to life in all its forms. The Earthlings people establishes no beliefs about the beginning, the end or the boundaries of life, and does not settle these questions on anyone's behalf.

Freedom. Freedom, as the Earthlings people understands it, is the absence of domination and of the supremacy of one person or group of people over others: no one can hold power over another person, whether by money, by merit or by position.

Dignity. Every person is born equal in dignity. Human dignity is inviolable. No one may be used as a means - whether to manipulate them, to exploit them or to humiliate them.

Planetary Solidarity. What affects everyone is decided with the participation of everyone. A person belongs at once to their country, to their communities and to the whole of humanity. These forms of belonging complement one another and do not conflict.

Planetary Interests. The atmosphere, the world ocean, the climate and other conditions for the existence of life belong to no one in particular. They are a common value of all people now living, and of those who come after us.

Care for the Planet. The preservation of the environment, of biological diversity and of the stability of ecosystems is a duty of the present generation towards those to come. No human activity justifies destroying the conditions for the existence of life.

Transparency. Institutions are transparent; a person is not. No verification procedure may require disclosure of how a person voted, what they believe, or what convictions they hold.

No Power of Some Over Others. No one in the Earthlings people holds a position from which to command another person. Powers within the Earthlings people are at all times limited, distributed, revocable and verifiable. A mandate to carry out any function does not become an office. No position places a person, an institution or a group above the collective will of the people.

Technology. Any technology serves every person and serves life. No technology may be used to manipulate people (including covertly), to limit their freedom, to create distinctions of caste or hierarchy, to subordinate people by digital means, or to suppress human autonomy. No algorithm, code or artificial-intelligence system may be the final source of a decision affecting the rights, the dignity or the position of a person. Every person has the right to protection of the privacy of their data. The requirements for infrastructure that secure these rights are set out in Article 10.

The unamendable core exists to protect every person from the power of the Earthlings people itself. Neither a majority, nor the Assembly, nor any institution of the people has power to go beyond the limits it sets.

What is listed here belongs to every earthling from the moment of signing this Declaration. These guarantees cannot be abolished, narrowed or made conditional on anything.

The Right to Belong. Belonging to the Earthlings people is inalienable. No one can be expelled on any ground. A person ceases to be part of the people in two cases only:

• by their own decision - at any time, without giving reasons and without anyone's consent
• on their death.

The list of these grounds is exhaustive: it cannot be extended by interpretation, whether by the Earthlings Charter or by any decision.

An Equal Vote. The vote of every earthling is equal to that of every other. Its weight does not depend on length of participation, financial position, renown, merit, any mandate held, or any other circumstance. A vote cannot be bought, sold, accumulated or transferred irrevocably. The right to vote cannot be limited or suspended on account of a person's convictions, the content of their vote, disagreement with the majority, or criticism of the Earthlings people.

The Right to Take Part. Every earthling has the right to take part in discussing and deciding any question concerning the life of the people, to submit proposals and to raise questions. This requires no one's prior approval.

The Right to Be Heard. The Earthlings people restricts the rights of a particular person in two cases only: when the issuance of a passport is annulled, and when participation in voting is temporarily restricted. The grounds for this are set out in Article 8, the list of them is exhaustive, and there are no other grounds. Every decision concerning a particular person that is adverse to them, including the refusal of confirmation of identity and the revocation of a mandate, is taken only on these terms: the person is guaranteed to learn the grounds in good time, to submit objections, to receive an answer on how their objections were considered, and to appeal the decision in the manner set out in the Earthlings Charter.

The Right to Leave the People Freely. Everyone has the right to end their belonging to the Earthlings people at any time. Leaving requires no reasons, no permission and no one's consent. No one has power to prevent it.

By this Article the Earthlings people sets limits upon itself. They apply in all circumstances and cannot be abolished, narrowed, suspended or circumvented; the wording in which they are set out may change only under Article 11 and subject to its conditions.

Renunciation of Violence. The Earthlings people renounces the use of violence as a means of achieving its aims. It does not create, constitute, finance or support armed, paramilitary, security or any other structures capable of using violence, whether directly or through third parties.

The Word Instead of Compulsion. The Earthlings people speaks, appeals and objects - and never compels. Compulsion is any influence that deprives a person of their freedom to decide: the use of force, the threat of force, bribery, blackmail, pressure on a person's livelihood, and other forms of open or concealed compulsion. An appeal by the people to state authorities, civic institutions and international organizations, or a proposal to change a rule in force, is not compulsion.

Non-Interference in the Internal Affairs of States. The Earthlings people takes no part in the contest for state power. It does not support political parties, candidates or election campaigns, does not finance them, does not urge anyone to vote in any particular way, and does not call for the constitutional order of any state to be changed by violence. The Earthlings people takes no decisions on the internal affairs of any particular state: those are a matter for its citizens. All appeals by the Earthlings people are made openly, publicly and in its own name.

Limits of Powers. The Earthlings people assumes only those powers that are necessary for its existence. The decisions of the people relate to earthlings only.

The Freedom of the Person Outside the People. How an earthling exercises their rights outside the people is their own affair. The Earthlings people does not judge it and draws no consequences from it, whether for the person or for itself.

Respect for the Law of the State. The Earthlings people has no power to require an individual earthling to breach the mandatory rules of law of the state of their citizenship or residence. If a decision of the people comes into conflict with such law, the earthling follows the law of their state and bears no liability whatsoever to the Earthlings people for doing so.

Responsibility Towards Future Generations. No decision of the Earthlings people is to shift adverse consequences onto future generations.

The purpose of the Earthlings people is to make possible the formation, verification and expression of the collective will of the Earthlings people.

The Earthlings people takes no decisions for states, exercises no public authority and does not seek it. It forms a verifiable collective position of its earthlings and conveys it to states, international organizations, civic institutions and the international community.

The Earthlings people does not wait to be recognized and does not ask permission to exist. It addresses states and international organizations, and offers procedures by which people can speak for themselves directly. It carries on this work continuously and openly, accounting for it to earthlings.

1. Freedom of association is a right every person holds today. It is enshrined in Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and it is not made conditional on citizenship, on territory, or on anyone's permission. The Earthlings people associates and takes common decisions within the scope of that right.

1. The right to self-determination belongs to peoples as collective subjects: the Charter of the United Nations, Article 1(2), and common Article 1 of the 1966 Covenants.

The Earthlings people brings the exercise of these two rights together in a single scheme: associating freely, individuals constitute themselves as a people - and, as a people, exercise the right to self-determination that belongs to peoples.

The lawfulness of what the Earthlings people does rests on freedom of association, and therefore does not depend on how international institutions resolve the question of its classification.

What makes it a people is not common descent, territory or existing citizenship, but a durable community: a common identity, belonging, values, a verifiable common will and its own institutions of self-governance. The common identity is enshrined in this Declaration. The common will is expressed by voluntary accession and by the equal participation of everyone. The institutions of self-governance are constituted by this Declaration and operate in the manner it sets out.

The Earthlings people offers a procedure that allows individuals to exercise jointly rights that are already recognized, where earlier procedures no longer suffice.

The existence of the Earthlings people is determined by the will of the people who belong to it. It is not created by the recognition of states and does not cease in the absence of such recognition. This Declaration and the institutions of the Earthlings people are built so that the characteristics of a people can be verified at any moment.

Relation to States. The Earthlings people does not exercise the right to self-determination by separating territory, altering state borders, or limiting the sovereignty of any state.

The Earthlings people advances no territorial claims.

How Belonging Arises. Belonging to the Earthlings people is voluntary: it arises by the decision of the person themselves on the conditions named in this Article, and it ends only on the grounds set out in Article 4.

Belonging arises no earlier than the age set by the Earthlings Charter. That age cannot be lower than 16, and no one has power to lower it.

Anyone who has reached that age, agrees with what is set out here, and has been confirmed to be one living person may sign the Declaration.

No other conditions of belonging are established, and none can be. Belonging does not depend on descent, citizenship, nationality, language, place of residence, sex, state of health, education, occupation, financial position, religion, political views, or any other personal circumstance.

There is no decision on admission to the people: the people considers no applications, assesses no one, and refuses no one. The refusal of confirmation of identity is not a refusal of admission: it means only that the condition of this Article has not been confirmed in respect of the person concerned. Such a refusal is subject to the guarantees of Article 4.

The Contribution. On joining, a contribution is paid that covers identity verification, the issuance of the passport and the upkeep of the infrastructure. The contribution is not a condition of belonging: it buys no belonging and creates no advantage of any kind. Being unable to pay the contribution oneself does not bar entry to the people: another person may pay it on one's behalf, or it may be paid out of the common treasury.

There Are No Insurmountable Requirements. No requirement for joining or for participation may be one that a person cannot satisfy for reasons beyond their control. Lack of documents, lack of access to communications, state of health, remoteness of residence and other such circumstances bar neither entry to the people nor participation in its decisions. Inability to satisfy a requirement is not held against any person and is not a ground for refusing confirmation of identity.

What the People Does Not Require. The Earthlings people requires of an earthling neither service nor agreement with the decisions of the majority. It expects two things: that one living person stands behind the signature, and that an earthling acknowledges for every other person the freedom they claim for themselves.

Belonging Adds, It Does Not Replace. Belonging to the Earthlings people is added to what a person already has. It does not require a person to give up any other belonging, and it does not affect their rights and duties towards their state.

Equality of earthlings. From the moment a person signs the Declaration, they are equal to every other earthling. Neither the date of signing, nor participation in constituting the people, nor length of participation, nor the size of voluntary donations, nor any mandate held creates any advantage, privilege or special position. No language, region or culture holds any advantage within the people. The manner of construing divergences between the texts of this Declaration is set out in Article 11. Under it, the meaning of the Russian text prevails only where a comparison of the texts does not resolve the divergence, and this creates no other advantage for the speakers of any language.

There is no class of founders in the Earthlings people.

Private Life. The Earthlings people does not interfere in a person's private life. Faith, worldview, political views, participation in other communities and way of life are not a condition of belonging to the people.

Annulment of Passport Issuance. The issuance of a passport is annulled in three cases, and the list of them is exhaustive. In none of them does annulment end any person's belonging to the people:

1. more than one valid passport has been issued to one person - in that case the issuance of all passports but the first is annulled;
2. identity verification was obtained using false information or another person's identity;
3. the passport was issued to a person below the age set by the Earthlings Charter.

Annulment is not expulsion from the people: it means only that the passport was not lawfully issued. If the passport was issued to a person below that age, belonging has not yet arisen, and annulment has nothing to end. If the impediment can be removed, the person may undergo identity verification again.

Temporary Restriction of Participation in Voting. Participation in voting is temporarily restricted only on proof of deliberate acts against the voting mechanism itself - against the principle of "one person, one vote". There are no other grounds and there can be none.

Governance of the people belongs to earthlings, not to institutions. Institutions and mandates exist only to carry out the decisions of earthlings.

Decisions are taken by earthlings directly. The assembly of all earthlings - the Assembly - is the sole source of the people's decisions. No institution standing above the Assembly, or taking decisions in its place, exists or can be created.

Limits of Decisions. The Assembly takes decisions on matters concerning the life of the people, within the purpose and the undertakings set out in Part I. Abolishing, narrowing or suspending the principles of Part I is not a matter for voting and is not put to a vote at all. The wording of Part I may be changed, or a new principle added to it, only under Article 11 and subject to its conditions.

How Proposals Are Considered. Proposals are considered on the same terms for everyone and do not depend on who the author is, what mandate they hold, or how long they have participated.

Openness. Discussion, proposals, the decisions taken, the counting of votes and actions under a mandate are open to verification. A personal vote is secret: voting is arranged so that no one, including those who operate the infrastructure, can learn how a particular person voted or, even with that person's consent, satisfy themselves of it. Transferred votes cast by a delegate are open. The secrecy of the vote does not override the verifiability of the count.

Delegation Instead of Representation. Representation has no place in the Earthlings people. An earthling may transfer the casting of their vote to another earthling on a particular question or area. The delegate casts the transferred vote at their own discretion; the transfer creates no other rights. When a delegate casts the votes transferred to them within the limits set out in the Earthlings Charter, this does not amount to accumulating a vote: a transferred vote still belongs to the person who transferred it and returns to that person on revocation.

The transfer is made only at the will of the person transferring it, and can be revoked by them at any time, without giving reasons and without the delegate's consent. The transfer is not made for a fixed term and creates neither an office nor an organ. Delegates are not chosen by vote: each person decides for themselves to whom to transfer their vote.

A Mandate Instead of an Office. Organizational and technical functions in the people's dealings with the outside world are carried out exclusively under a mandate from the people. A mandate is not an office. It does not place a person above other earthlings and does not remove them from the reach of the Assembly's decisions. Whoever acts under a mandate accounts to the people: what was done, what was not done and why. The account is public.

The Legal Interfaces of the People. The Earthlings people is not a legal entity. For dealings with states, financial institutions and other organizations, legal entities may be established; their purpose is exclusively instrumental.

Such legal entities do not embody the people, do not determine its existence, hold no power over it, and are not a source of its legitimacy. They may be established, replaced and wound up without consequence for the people. The registry of earthlings, the confirmation of their identity and the data connected with it are not the property of any legal entity and cannot be transferred, sold, pledged or otherwise disposed of. Through those same interfaces the Earthlings people answers lawful requests from state authorities.

Changing the Rules of Self-Governance. The procedure for discussion and for taking decisions, the requirements for participation, the time limits and other rules for organizing self-governance are set out in the Earthlings Charter. These rules cannot be changed by a simple majority. The threshold for amending the Earthlings Charter is set by the Earthlings Charter itself; this threshold cannot be lowered, either by a decision taken under the Charter itself or in any other way, including by changing the share, the quorum or the base against which they are calculated.

Technology within the Earthlings people is a means and only a means. It does not create the people, is not a source of its powers, and does not replace human decisions. Its purpose is to make the formation, verification and expression of the collective will of the people reliable, verifiable and resistant to forgery.

Technology is used only where the three conditions named in Article 2 cannot be satisfied without it.

Uniqueness of Belonging. Each living person has one, and only one, belonging to the people, and this is confirmed without disclosing their identity.

Inalienability of the Right to Participate. The right to participate belongs to the person themselves and cannot be bought, sold, appropriated or transferred irrevocably.

Verifiability of Decisions. Anyone can satisfy themselves as to the results of votes, whether or not they belong to the Earthlings people. Reliability is confirmed by open data, not by trust in an administrator. Verification is arranged so that it discloses neither information about earthlings, nor whether a particular person took part in a vote, nor the content of their vote; only transferred votes cast by a delegate are open (Article 9).

Independence of the People. The existence of the Earthlings people does not depend on any particular platform, organization, technology supplier or operator.

Openness. The code that determines belonging to the people and the inalienability of the passport is open for study, verification and reproduction. The registry of earthlings and the records of passports are public and verifiable by any person. What is public is the record that a passport exists and is valid, not information about the person: the registry contains no name, image, documents, biometric or other personal data of an earthling, and does not allow a record to be linked to an identity.

The Limits of Technology. The infrastructure of the Earthlings people must not:

1. conduct surveillance of a person under the guise of identity verification;
2. retain the possibility of anyone learning how a particular person voted, or satisfying themselves of it, except for transferred votes cast by a delegate;
3. create profiles of earthlings and rank them;
4. determine covertly what information a person receives and in what order;
5. collect data beyond what is necessary for an expressly stated purpose;
6. turn a person's participation into a means of assessing them or into a condition of access to rights that belong to them.

The Key Belongs to the Person. Signing this Declaration, taking part in decisions and leaving the people are done with the earthling's own key. Neither an operator, nor an organization, nor a technical system can perform these acts on the person's behalf or prevent them from being performed.

This Declaration is the founding document of the Earthlings people and holds the highest force within it.

What Is Unamendable. The unamendable core of the Earthlings people is formed by Part I. The principles it sets out are unamendable. The principal ones are:

1. one person, one vote; a vote cannot be bought, sold, accumulated or transferred irrevocably;
2. there is no power of some people over others: no one holds a position above another earthling; powers are limited, revocable and verifiable, and a mandate to carry out any function does not become an office;
3. property is separated from the vote: neither contributions, nor what a person has put in, nor wealth confers any advantage in governance;
4. leaving is free at any time and without giving reasons, and there is no expulsion from the people;
5. the people speaks but does not compel: violence is excluded without exception.

None of these principles can be abolished, narrowed, suspended or circumvented - whether by a decision of the majority, by the Earthlings Charter, by interpretation, by a change of the technical basis, or in any other way. They are not suspended under any circumstances - not in a crisis, not under a state of emergency, not under external pressure, not under technical attack.

The wording in which these principles are set out may change. A change of wording is permissible only if two conditions are both satisfied: it neither abolishes nor narrows any of the principles, and it lowers no guarantee to any person. Where there is doubt whether a change lowers a guarantee, it is deemed to lower it and is not adopted.

A new principle may be added to the core. An existing one may not be weakened or removed. A change to the wording of Part I and the addition of a new principle to it are adopted in the manner set out below for changing Part II, and only if the conditions stated above are satisfied.

Any attempt to circumvent the core, including by another procedure, another wording or another legal mechanism, is a breach of it, whatever the form of circumvention. An attempt to remove, narrow, replace or redefine its principles amounts to the creation of a different body, one that is not the Earthlings people - whatever its name, whoever its earthlings, and whatever software or infrastructure it uses.

A decision that contradicts Part I is void from the moment it is taken. Neither the passage of time, nor the execution of the decision, nor the absence of objections cures it. In any case of doubt the provisions of Part I are construed in favour of the person and against any extension of the powers of any institution, mandate or procedure of the Earthlings people.

What Is Amendable. Part II of this Declaration may be changed, supplemented or shortened by a decision of the Assembly taken by not less than two thirds of the votes cast, subject to a quorum set by the Earthlings Charter, which quorum cannot be lower than the ratio, recorded in Article 12, of votes cast to the number of confirmed people.

A change cannot lower any guarantee to a person set out in this Declaration. A change adopted in breach of these conditions is void from the moment it is taken.

Every edition of this Declaration is published in such a way that earlier editions and all differences between them remain available to any person. Replacing the text without preserving the previous one is not a change of the Declaration.

Limits of Transformation. The Earthlings people cannot be transformed into a digital state, a micronation, a political party, a non-profit organization, a commercial corporation, a religious organization or a paramilitary formation. A decision aimed at such a transformation is void from the moment it is taken. The establishment of legal entities under Article 9 is not a transformation: such entities do not come to embody the people and do not replace it.

Protection of the Declaration. The protection of this Declaration is secured by its verifiability. The text of the Declaration is published in a form that allows everyone to satisfy themselves of its authenticity and to trace every change made to it.

Lawful Continuation of the People. If, as a result of a seizure of governance, the shutdown of any infrastructure or other circumstances, this Declaration can no longer be implemented, confirmed earthlings will continue the Earthlings people in existence on a different technical or organizational basis. Such a continuation requires no consent from persons or structures obstructing the implementation of this Declaration.

A continuation of the Earthlings people is lawful only if all three of the following conditions are satisfied:

1. the principles of the unamendable core are preserved in full; whoever changes them creates, by definition, a different body;
2. the continuation rests on the free will of a majority of those confirmed earthlings who were able to express it; the will is expressed on the principle of "one person, one vote";
3. the transition is carried out openly and verifiably.

Neither possession of the infrastructure, nor ownership of the code, nor control over legal entities amounts in itself to a continuation of the people.

Supremacy of the Declaration. The Earthlings Charter, internal regulations, decisions of the Assembly, mandates, technical rules and any other documents are adopted only in accordance with this Declaration. A provision of a subordinate document that contradicts it is void from the moment it is adopted and is not to be applied. Any contradiction discovered is resolved by bringing the subordinate document into conformity with the Declaration, and not by changing the Declaration.

Languages and Interpretation. The term "people" is used in this Declaration in the sense that international law gives to the holder of the right to self-determination: the Charter of the United Nations, Article 1(2), and common Article 1 of the 1966 Covenants. Translations of this Declaration reproduce that sense. For languages in which authentic texts of the instruments named exist, the term is taken from those texts. For the remaining languages the term is taken from the official translation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and, where there is none, a term conveying the sense stated is used, with an explanation on first use.

This Declaration is adopted in Russian and in English. Both texts are authentic. Where they diverge, the interpretation that gives every person the higher protection prevails. If that comparison does not resolve the divergence, the meaning of the Russian text prevails. Translations into the remaining languages are official.

This Declaration was adopted on __________ by a vote of people who had confirmed their identity, on the principle of "one person, one vote". The vote was held on the Russian and English texts, recognized as authentic.

______ votes were cast in favour of adoption out of ______ cast, with ______ confirmed people as at the day of the vote.

From that day the Earthlings people is constituted, and those who have signed this Declaration are earthlings.

The unamendability of the principles of Part I rests on the decision of those whom they bind.

We, the signatories of this Declaration, accept its foundations, its undertakings and its limits, and attest that we belong to the Earthlings people by our own free choice.