The Human Survival Project works to build public support for a UN Charter Convention. Think of this as a global constitutional convention where all nations would come together to completely rewrite the rules governing the United Nations. The UN Charter is essentially the constitution that determines how the UN works—and the current Charter, written in 1945, is completely inadequate for today's existential threats.

Previous attempts to reform the UN have fallen short because they’ve tried to make small changes to a fundamentally broken system.  It's like trying to fix a horse-drawn carriage by adding better wheels, when what you really need is a car.  Let’s build the car.

What Is a Charter Convention?

A Charter Convention would be a massive, organized gathering where representatives from every country on Earth negotiate a new UN Charter from the ground up. A Charter Convention would create an entirely new framework through inclusive negotiations.

This isn't a new or radical idea. Constitutional conventions and assemblies are a well-established, normal way that countries create or completely revise their governing systems. In fact, there's been a growing trend toward more inclusive constitutional processes in recent decades.

Countries Have Done This Before

Iceland (2010-2013) shows how innovative constitutional reform can work in the modern era. After their 2008 financial crisis, Iceland organized the most inclusive constitutional process in history. They held a National Assembly of 1,500 people—1,200 chosen randomly from the population and 300 representing organizations—to discuss core values. Then 950 randomly selected citizens developed detailed recommendations. Finally, 25 ordinary citizens (not professional politicians) were elected to draft a new constitution, using crowdsourcing and social media for public input. The result won 67% support in a referendum.

South Africa (1994-1996) created their post-apartheid constitution through what they called "the largest public participation programme ever carried out in South Africa." Their Constitutional Assembly spent nearly two years gathering input from ordinary citizens, civil society groups, and political parties across the country.

Ireland (2012-2014) held a Constitutional Convention mixing 66 randomly selected citizens with 33 politicians. Meeting on weekends over a year, they addressed several constitutional reforms, leading to successful referendums.

The United States (1787) created its current constitution through a Constitutional Convention when their original system wasn't working. India (1946-1950) spent nearly three years with 299 delegates from diverse backgrounds creating their constitution after independence. Australia has held four constitutional conventions. France used this approach during their revolution.

Since 2009, constitutional assemblies have convened in Iceland, Ireland, Tunisia, and Chile — showing this is happening more frequently, not less. Countries are recognizing that major constitutional change requires more than just politicians—it needs genuine public participation.

Why Citizen Involvement Would Make the UN More Effective

Beyond being more accountable, citizen involvement would make the UN more capable:

Broader support: Citizens who help make decisions are more likely to support implementing them.

Better solutions: Citizens' assemblies consistently develop more innovative approaches to complex problems than traditional political processes, often proposing creative solutions that career politicians might consider too risky or unconventional.

Sustained commitment: Public involvement creates political pressure for long-term solutions rather than short-term political fixes that change with every election cycle.

Thriving advocacy ecosystem: As we empower the UN and allow citizens to participate more meaningfully, we would likely see a growing network of advocacy organizations helping citizens engage with global policy. These groups would serve as bridges between citizens and the UN, while generating innovative ideas for addressing humanity's challenges.

Global solidarity: When people participate directly in global governance, they develop stronger connections to humanity as a whole, not just their own countries.

The existential threats we face require not just governments cooperating, but genuine global solidarity among citizens. Building that solidarity requires giving people ways to participate in shaping our shared future. When citizens can meaningfully participate in global governance, people from various countries will work together to influence global policies. This cross-border collaboration among citizens may, over time, help dissolve the nation-first pursuit of narrow national interests that has been so damaging to world affairs.

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Next, we'll explain how we can make these changes to the U.N. that we've been discussing.

HOW WILL WE FIX THE U.N.?