Honourable Chief Guest, Honourable Guests of Honour, Honourable Mr. & Mrs. Gandhi – for you do deserve too, Mr. & Mrs. Gandhi, to be called Honourable -, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish first of all to thank Mr. & Mrs. Gandhi and their team for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to us, participants from abroad, at this conference, making us feel at home in the midst of a big family. Although I can’t be with my family at home on this occasion of my birthday, I feel comfort in the thought that I am within a greater family where warmth is abundant.

Coming to the theme of this Conference
The wording of Article 51 of the Constitution of India – which I need not repeat, as it has been read over to you already and is in fact before you – enables the Judiciary to enforce compliance with this provision, at least to make authoritative declarations which will have persuasive effect in getting government to comply with this provision which enjoins the state, inter alia, to foster respect for International Law.

In order to help you to follow more easily my address, I shall indicate to you the order of my speech. After indicating to you, as I just did, how I look at Article 51 of the Constitution of India, I shall first offer my thoughts about "Law and Love" and tie up with the need for a new approach to International Law. My next subtopic will be "Passing the message around the world" and I shall then discuss the question whether the project of a World Parliament is or is not a "utopia".

Law and Love
I remember that when I was nearing the end of my secondary education, candidates of the Higher School Certificate Exams had to choose among a number of essays, one of which required them to write on "Law & Love". I did not come across any candidate who had chosen to write on that subject and indeed it sounded very abstract and the relationship between law and love was not an obvious one to a secondary school student. My studies in law, especially in comparative law and sociology of law, made me understand more and more how the way of thinking of a nation and the social and national values shape up the law of a country and how, in turn, law fosters a change in the way of thinking of a nation.

It was only after several years of experience as a lawyer that I started to really understand the relationship between Law and Love. Law has a purpose and that purpose is to ensure the maximum happiness to the greatest possible number of people. And if law is to make people happy, it must unite them by encouraging understanding and tolerance leading to conciliation: in other words, by encouraging true love of one’s neighbour, true love of one’s fellow human beings. It is no coincidence that more and more, the trend in the laws of several countries is to encourage amicable settlements of disputes by having recourse to conciliation and mediation – arbitration being another alternative – so that at the end of the day neither of the parties has to feel that he has come out a "loser" whilst his opponent has come out a winner.

The need for a new approach to International Law
It accordingly follows that International law should foster love, based on mutual understanding, tolerance, willingness to make concessions, and a relinquishment of selfishness in the relationship between states within the family of nations. The political approach to national sovereignty in many countries of the world is unfortunately characterized by short-sightedness, a lack of vision that leads to too narrow an interpretation of national sovereignty. There is a preconceived view that cooperation with other nations and a sharing of decision making at international level will result in a loss of national sovereignty and of a nation’s ability to control its own destiny. This preconceived and unduly narrow view results from a failure to perceive that, as the world becomes a global village, any state is losing control, anyway, in many fields and that the way to regain control is precisely through cooperation with other countries. This short sighted approach is also too often motivated by a selfish way of looking at things which make states loth to make concessions at international level even when matters of common concern for all nations, such as the prevention of planet warming and protection of the ozone layer, are at stake. If, when working on an international treaty, only grudging concessions, too little and often too late, are made on matters of vital importance for humanity, how can we expect that all states will be prepared to concede a little portion of sovereignty, in which they take so much pride, when the international treaty deals with a question which they believe – erroneously – to be of no real concern for them. I say "erroneously" because the nations of the world constitute the wide family of mankind and the problems affecting any member of that family are bound to adversely affect the general welfare and interests of the whole family.

What is therefore needed is a change in mentality, and this can only be brought about by a message of love. India, the largest democracy in the world, is, in my view, an appropriate starting point for taking this message of love around the world, especially as this message of love is enshrined in a constitutional provision that is unique in the world, Article 51 of the Indian Constitution. 0ther states must be encouraged to insert into their constitution this indication of their willingness to foster world peace and happiness by making positive concessions of power at state level, whenever this is necessary for the sake of the common good of mankind.

Passing the Message around the world
For the message to go around the world, the key word is communication. To-day, we are having communication through legal luminaries of only English speaking countries of the world. The absence of a world language is unfortunately a great obstacle to communication. Although more and more, a major language other than the mother tongue is being studied at school level in many countries of the world, communication will still, for a long time to come, remain a problem. At many International Conferences, simultaneous interpretation into different languages is resorted to, but when it comes to relationship as between states, translation by professional interpreters is not sufficient, as the direct human touch - necessary for true understanding – is lacking.

We must therefore find a solution for effectively conveying the message in every single country of the world. This can be done, in my view, by polyglot missionaries who will have first had a proper formation.

And the Judiciary all the world over will be another, no less important, kind of missionary. For the Judiciary of a country, by the authority it inspires can help to bring about, too, the adoption, in the state’s constitution, of a provision similar to that of Article 51 of the Constitution of India. The Judiciary of a state can also foster, through case law, an approach more mindful and respectful of the need for a world order and for respect of international law. The Judiciary can play a vital role, Ladies and Gentlemen, in promoting that human love so vital for good international relations and for world peace.

Now, is a World Parliament a utopia?
It would no doubt be utopic to promote a world government for which governments and public opinion are not prepared. 0n the other hand, it would make sense to establish a World Parliament which would be a people’s representative assembly, an institution that would examine, lay down rules in connection with, and control, main areas of worldwide interest and concern.

The areas of activity of a World Parliament would cover all topics with worldwide implications: security, health, environment, economy (money, trade, investments, war against poverty and development), tourism and international transports and, of course, human rights. This parliament could undertake all subjects inscribed at World U.N. Summits: protection of children, environmental protection, unemployment, poverty and exclusion, women’s rights, populations, human settlements.

This project may appear very ambitious. However, this is the fate of all new great creations in history. It calls for participation and contributions from men of vision aware of essential problems of the world along with the political will to bring about necessary answers. The project of a World Parliament addresses the many worries of our time. It could encounter success in public opinion, particularly with the help of political, academic and media support and indeed, judicial support.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the world has witnessed changes in mentality and ways of thinking which, at one given stage of history, looked impossible to achieve. If we go back into the time tunnel, there was a time when a visionary who believed in the eventual emancipation of women and the equality of the sexes was considered as nurturing an impossible dream - a "utopia". But the message was passed around the world, and interacting social and legal changes resulted. It can be the same for the eventual creation of a World Parliament. We need visionaries like Mr. & Mrs. Gandhi to take the initiative of conveying the message to the world and to ensure formation of potential missionaries through the proper education of children. And I firmly believe that with the message being effectively brought home to the nations of the world, the creation of a World Parliament can be gradually seen, the world over, as a realistic project of mankind.

My pious hope is that this conference be a starting point for conveying this message to the world, a starting point of the kind that led to the incredible achievement of Mr. & Mrs. Gandhi in the field of education, a project which no doubt must have looked to many, at the time, as a utopia, and could only be materialized by a great vision of the future, a strong faith in mankind, and a strong love of mankind. May be we should consider the possibility of each of us judges and other jurists from different countries of the world taking home a copy of selected excerpts from the video recording of the proceedings of this conference including the City Montessori School Children’s Mock World Parliament and their appeal for the creation of a world parliament to secure the future of the children of the world in peace, harmony and happiness.

As a member of the Supreme Court of Mauritius, where we pride ourselves of having a truly independent judiciary, a country where we are a miniature world with a history of French and English colonisation, introduction of indentured labourers, introduction of slaves from Africa, Madagascar and Pondicherry and mixed marriages upon the gradual elimination of selfish intolerance, and as a member of the great family of mankind, I take the solemn pledge to-day, in my personal name, to carry the message to my country, to do my best to foster the introduction, in the Constitution of my country, of a provision alike to Article 51 of the Constitution of India and to promote the idea and project of a World Parliament.

Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your attention.

Back