This document sets out in detail Article 4 of the Charter of the Earthlings people, which defines the status, powers, and formation of the Independent Council. Where they diverge, the Charter applies; where the Charter diverges from the Declaration, the Declaration applies.
State as of today. The Council is provided for by the founding documents and is formed as the people grows. Until it is formed, the stages of procedures that provide for its involvement are skipped, and the periods of public discussion of the questions concerned are doubled (Charter, Article 39). Forming the Council is one of the four conditions for completing the structure-formation stage.
SECTION 01. Aim and mission
The Earthlings Independent Council is an advisory body whose task is to observe how far the people is developing in accordance with its declared values: freedom, awareness, ethics, sustainability, and respect for every human being and for the planet.
Its purpose is to give an unbiased assessment of processes, to help resolve conflicts of interest, and to formulate recommendations for strategic and ethical development.
Whom the Council is independent of, and whom it is not
This distinction is material, and it should be drawn precisely.
The Council is independent of the executive structures. It is not part of the system of operational management, is not subordinate to the Core Nodes or the Emergency Multisig, does not depend on them organizationally, and cannot be formed, limited, or dissolved by them.
The Council is not independent of the people. It is elected by the DAO Assembly, recalled by it, and publicly accountable to it; its mandate is derivative. A body accountable to no one would be a direct breach of the very principle for which the whole people is built: power does not accumulate, and no position places a person or a group beyond a common decision.
The independence of the Council is independence of judgment, not independence from the source of its authority.
SECTION 02. Functions
Ethical audit
Assessment of the actions of the people's structures and mandates against ethical, environmental, and legal standards
Analysis of cases involving internal conflicts, discrimination, or breach of trust
Participation in procedures provided for by the Charter
These are the Council's only functions built into mandatory procedures, and both take the form of an opinion, not a decision.
Preliminary consideration on a restriction of powers (Charter, Article 22). Within 14 days the Council considers whether the initiative is well founded and publishes a recommendation.
An opinion on annulment of an invalid passport issuance (Charter, Article 21). The Council publishes an opinion before the vote under the same procedure.
The Council cannot stop a procedure. If an opinion is not prepared within the set period, the question goes to a vote without it.
Public scrutiny
Independent assessment of key decisions, strategies, and initiatives
Analysis of sustainability and of conformity with declared aims
Transparency and reporting
An annual public report on the state of the people
Open hearings and the gathering of feedback
External dialogue
The Council draws the world's scientific, human rights, and environmental communities into the discussion of the people's questions: it organizes debates, invites specialists, and publishes materials.
The Council does not represent the people externally. It does not speak on behalf of the people, does not negotiate, does not sign documents, and undertakes no obligations. Speaking on behalf of the people is possible only by decision of the Assembly or under a revocable mandate granted by it under the Charter. A member of the Council speaking publicly speaks in their own name or in the name of the Council as an advisory body, but not in the name of the Earthlings people.
SECTION 03. Composition and formation
The Council consists of 7 to 11 people - an odd number - drawn from Earthlings with recognized expertise who take no part in operational management.
Areas of competence
The list is indicative and is not a system of quotas:
ecology, climate, sustainable development;
economics and questions of the new economy;
ethics and philosophy;
human rights;
science and education;
the experience of local and indigenous communities.
The Council aims for a diversity of views, cultural perspectives, and geography among its members. This is a guide in choosing, not a formal condition: no characteristic of a person gives or takes away the right to be elected.
Procedure of election
Nomination is open to all. Any earthling may propose a candidate, including the candidate themselves. A recommendation from the sitting Council is possible but gives a candidate no procedural advantage whatever and is considered on the same footing as any other nomination.
Discussion is public. Candidates are discussed openly, in the ordinary way. There are no closed interviews, no preliminary selection, and no filtering of candidates: any nomination submitted reaches the vote.
The Assembly decides. Election is by a DAO vote with a qualified majority, for a term of three years.
Recall. A member of the Council may be recalled by decision of the Assembly with a qualified majority - the same threshold by which they were elected, and no higher (Charter, Article 4).
But the threshold is not the main thing here. The main thing is the grounds, and the list of them is closed:
breach of the duty to declare a conflict of interest;
systematic non-participation in the work of the Council;
receiving instructions, remuneration, or other benefits from a person interested in the content of an opinion;
loss of the ability to take part in the work.
The ground must be named and substantiated in the proposal for recall itself. A member of the Council is entitled to reply publicly before the vote.
No one is recalled for what they said. Neither a published position, nor a dissenting opinion, nor criticism of the Assembly's decisions can serve as a reason for recall - neither directly nor under the guise of another ground.
This, and not a higher threshold, is the real protection of independence. Constitutional courts, ombudsmen, and auditors general are built this way: what protects them is not the difficulty of removal but the fact that they can be removed only for a named reason and by a procedure. A body that can be removed for an inconvenient opinion ceases to be an observer that same day, even if it formally retains its powers.
Recall applies to an individual person. Terminating the powers of the whole membership at once is equivalent to abolishing the institution and requires amending the Charter.
Resignation. A member of the Council is entitled to leave the body by their own decision at any time and without giving reasons.
A safeguard against self-reproduction. A body that selects its own successors ceases over time to be independent of itself. The Council therefore conducts no selection of candidates, rejects no nominations, and holds no rights in the formation of its own membership beyond those held by any earthling.
SECTION 04. Working principles
Independence of judgment. Members of the Council are not subordinate to the people's executive structures. A seat on the Council is not itself paid; only compensation for time is permitted, on the conditions set out below.
Transparency. All opinions and reports are published openly and in full, including the dissenting opinions of Council members left in the minority.
Non-violence and respect. The Council conducts dialogue without accusation and without pressure.
Diversity of views. A balance of opinions and cultural perspectives.
Compensation for time
Entirely unpaid work in an expert body is available only to those who can afford not to earn during that time. This would contradict the universality of participation fixed by Article 8 of the Declaration: a seat on the Council would in fact be closed to a person without means, and no formal openness of nomination would remedy that.
Compensation for time is therefore permitted. But it is framed so as not to create dependence (Charter, Article 4):
the amount is set in advance by decision of the Assembly and published;
the amount is the same for all members of the Council and cannot be differentiated;
payment does not depend on the content of opinions and cannot be reduced, suspended, or cancelled for the sitting membership - a change in the amount takes effect only for the next one;
a member of the Council is entitled to decline the compensation in whole or in part.
Dependence is created not by payment but by discretion: the ability to pay more or less depending on what a person said. A fixed sum, equal for all and unchangeable for the sitting membership, gives no such lever. This does not remove the question entirely - someone who needs a full income still cannot serve on the Council.
SECTION 05. Formats of activity
Sittings - no less than once a quarter, remotely
An annual conference - with open participation
Publications - opinions and recommendations
Working groups - on ethics, rights, sustainability
The Council's working groups are open to the participation of any earthling and have no powers, as is the case with any other working group of the people.
SECTION 06. Rights of the Council
To issue public observations and recommendations
To initiate public discussion of difficult subjects
To publish the opinions provided for by Articles 21 and 22 of the Charter
To recommend to the Assembly a review of the membership of the Core Nodes, the Emergency Multisig, or other service structures
To propose candidates for membership of the Council
All the rights listed are exercised in the form of a public statement. None of them creates an obligation for the Assembly, suspends any procedure, or affects voting thresholds.
What the Council cannot do
take decisions on behalf of the people;
impose restrictions on participants;
block, postpone, or review decisions of the Assembly;
take part in managing finances;
represent the people in external relations;
affect the weight of anyone's vote or the order in which proposals are displayed.
SECTION 07. Securing independence
Independence is secured by mandatory declaration of conflicts of interest, by recusal where there is a personal interest under Article 16 of the Charter, by turnover of the membership, and by public disclosure of all opinions.
Where an opinion concerns a member of the Council personally, or persons connected with them, that member declares this before the work begins and takes no part in preparing the opinion.
Detailed procedures are set by the Council's rules of procedure, which are published and cannot contradict the Charter.
SECTION 08. Where the Council's weight comes from
The Council acts on the basis of a mandate granted by the people through election, and derives its legitimacy not from state or international law but from the trust of those who voluntarily entered the people. Its opinions create no legal obligations either for participants or for the people's structures.
The strength of the Council lies in the quality of its judgments, not in the extent of its powers. This is deliberate. A body watching over the observance of the principle that power does not accumulate cannot itself be an exception to it: as soon as an observer acquires powers, it ceases to be an observer and becomes one more authority that has to be watched.