BIOGRAPHY

Marisa dos Reis has been collaborating with the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations since September 2009. This Conference is part of the project she has been developing at FRFG and it is financially supported by the European Commission. She has a licenciate degree in Law by the Faculty of Law of the University Nova de Lisboa (1997-2002).
From 2003 to 2007, she worked as a deputy district prosecutor attorney in Portugal.  In that context, she had a close professional relationship with the Commissions for the Protection of Minors at Social Risk (as a legal supervisor). She achieved a specialist diploma in international law, by the Faculty of Law of the University de Lisboa. She is currently writing her thesis on human rights (future generations’ rights) at the same institution.

Introduction

The project “Ways to legally implement intergenerational justice” – significance of the theme

Intergenerational justice is becoming one of the central issues of our time. The dramatic changes in the demographic composition of many developed countries and questions of what justice requires between older, younger, and future generations are increasingly recognised alongside more traditional considerations of social justice. Present generations ought to take responsibility for the far-reaching consequences of human actions. Consequently, it is urgently required to legally recognise intergenerational principles and, above all, to create a coercive architecture through which the rights of future generations can be made effective.

Some of the relevant fields concerning the principles of intergenerational justice:

2. Ecology (mainly, the problem of climate change and species’ extinction)

3. National Indebtedness and Consumption

4. Pension System’s Crisis

5. Employment and the Labour Market

6. Children’s Rights (mainly their civil and political rights)

7. Education

8. Bioethics and Reproductive Rights

9. Globalisation and Demographic Change

10. Political Short-termism

In this conference, our guests will approach several ways of implementing intergenerational justice/solidarity/or equity principles: via International Law, European Law and at the national level. In the course of debate and conversation between our speakers and participants, we aspire to challenge our intuitions, propose innovative solutions and set a path for ongoing consideration of intergenerational justice and the law.

Event proceedings will be published by the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations (FRFG) in the next issue of the international scientific journal “Intergenerational Justice Review” (IGJR).