Fresh call on German UN policy to support a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly

14. June 2017

A catalogue of demands on German UN policy with ten priorities presented by the German United Nations Association on the occasion of the upcoming federal elections on 24 September 2017 includes support for a UN Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA).

The first point in the catalogue that was approved by the board of the German UN association deals with UN reform. The document explains that Germany should lead by setting a good example and support "the global common good" and an international order "in which the United Nations take centre stage."

As a top priority a reform of the Security Council should be further pursued according to the document. Germany's main goal should be to achieve "an adequate representation of all world regions." The catalogue identifies additional "important reform measures," in particular "the possibility that non-permanent members may be re-elected," "a reform of the working methods and more transparency in the Security Council and the UN's other main bodies" as well as "a Parliamentary Assembly."

"For a long time the project of creating a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations has been a demand of UNA-Germany directed at German UN policy. We want the federal government and the parliament to take action in this matter," commented the association's chairman and former member of parliament Detlef Dzembritzki.

Lawmaker Jürgen Klimke of chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party CDU, vice-chairman of DGVN and a member of the German parliament's subcommittee on UN affairs, said that the United Nations and the multilateral order "are strongly under pressure." "At this time it is important to do everything possible to strengthen the world organization, to make it more transparent and to bring it closer to the citizens. A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly is an important step to achieve this. The German parliament and the government should support the project," he stated.

In a resolution adopted in October 2015 with the votes of the governing coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD, the German parliament called on the government to examine the establishment of a UNPA. "As far as we can tell the German foreign ministry hasn't presented any serious study so far," said the coordinator of the international campaign for a UNPA, Andreas Bummel.

Before he was appointed as German foreign minister in January this year, Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) repeatedly spoke out in favor of a UNPA, most recently in April 2016 on the occasion of an event in Halle.

Top image: Detlef Dzembritzki opens a conference in Berlin, DGVN

16 December 2013: New German government urged to develop proposals for a UN Parliamentary Assembly

Tags: Germany