International poll shows strong support for a world parliament

An international survey carried out on behalf of Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) found that public sentiment in 13 of 15 countries covered in the study strongly approves of the creation of a world parliament. With the exception of two countries, respondents who “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of the notion significantly outweighed those who oppose it, Democracy Without Borders reported on their blog.

On average, 60% of respondents leaned towards support while only 22% tended to opposing the proposal. The survey question explained that the world parliament "would be part of a global legislative system that under certain circumstances would pass legally binding laws to govern the world as a whole". 

Top support was recorded in Kenya where an overwhelming majority of 81% leaned towards approving the notion with 52% being strongly in favor and 29% somewhat. According to the data published by Democracy Without Borders with FES' permission, next on the list, in order of the percentage of those leaning towards support, are India (78% in favor and 10% opposed), South Africa (73% and 21%), Tunisia (71% and 13%), Indonesia (68% and 13%), South Korea (65% and 18%), Japan (63% and 13%), Turkey (59% and 17%), Argentina (58% and 20%), Germany (56% and 26%), France (53% and 27%), Brazil (50% and 24%), Poland (49% and 25%), United Kingdom (41% and 37%) and the United States (38% and 42%).

"It is often claimed that nationalism is on the rise again. But many people, often clear majorities, would support institutional moves towards building a global society. This poll confirms that they would endorse a global democracy that is empowered to deal with global challenges. Governments should no longer ignore this desire and potential", Democracy Without Borders' Executive Director Andreas Bummel noted in the blog piece.

The organization is coordinating the campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly which at first would be a consultative body at the UN and in the long run could be developed into a world parliament. 

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Global civil society forum endorses a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly

The Coalition for the UN We Need, an alliance of civil society groups advocating for a stronger UN, has released the outcomes of an international conference, the Global Futures Forum, that was held in New York and online in March this year. The gathering brought together civil society representatives and experts to consider proposals to the UN as the world organization and its member governments are preparing for a series of conferences, the UN Summit on Sustainable Development in 2023, the Summit of the Future in 2024 and on Social Development in 2025. 

The document outlines thirty-three recommendations and next steps across seven thematic fields related to the Sustainable Development Goals, environmental governance, human rights and participation, a global digital compact, the global economic and financial architecture, peace and security as well as innovating the UN and global governance. According to a press release issued by the coalition, the proposals “are driven by five key objectives: a longer-term future orientation, global institutional reform, a whole of society approach, meeting existing commitments, and building trust.”

The section on “UN and global governance innovation” endorses the “We The Peoples” campaign for inclusive global governance and its three proposals: the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly, a UN World Citizens’ Initiative and a UN Civil Society Envoy. These suggestions aim at connecting the UN closer to citizens, their elected representatives and civil society, thus creating opportunities for their involvement and enhancing the organization’s accountability. “A stronger UN also requires a more legitimate UN”, the document says. In a next step, like-minded member states should form “a Group of Friends for Inclusive Global Governance” to investigate and move these ideas forward.

On a UN Parliamentary Assembly, the document says that it would give "elected representatives, who reflect a broader political spectrum, a formal voice at the UN. A UNPA can be established by a majority vote of the UNGA as a subsidiary body using Article 22 of the UN Charter. Through portfolio committees and transnational groups set up by its members, the UNPA can conduct public hearings and deliberations and merge their findings in plenary resolutions. A UNPA would act as a voice of the world’s citizens and serve as a catalyst for policies and proposals on further UN and global governance reforms."

The coordinator of the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly and Executive Director of Democracy Without Borders, Andreas Bummel, who is also co-convenor of the "We The Peoples" campaign, attended the forum and helped facilitate the discussions in the field of "UN and global governance innovation".

Malaysian foreign minister supports a UN Parliamentary Assembly

In an article published on Friday in the Malaysian newspaper Sinar Harian, the Foreign Minister of Malaysia, Saifuddin bin Abdullah, expressed his support for the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA).

The Foreign Minister posted an English translation on his Twitter channel. In the piece, he reports on his participation in a recent meeting in New York organized by the Bahá’í International Community, Democracy Without Borders, CIVICUS and the Coalition for the UN We Need. The event brought together representatives of civil society and UN ambassadors for an exchange on proposals as to how to achieve better democratic representation and participation at the UN. Civil society representatives emphasized that the upcoming UN Summit of the Future is an opportunity to make progress in this area.

In his article, the foreign minister refers to his intervention in which he said that “the UN today is unable to deal with two clusters of the world’s main challenges, that is, the habits and behavior of the great powers and three current developments, that is the man-made climate crisis, the advent of technology that is beneficial but also brings negative effects and lastly, unfair international architectures.” He further reiterates “Malaysia’s position that the UN needs to be reformed”, adding that he supports the creation of a UNPA, a position he announced live at the event and later on Twitter.

In Saifuddin’s words, the UNPA proposal stems “from the dissatisfaction of the people and their elected representatives who are disconnected and denied real roles with intergovernmental platforms and international institutions, to the extent that the two fora’s legitimacy is questioned, hence becoming inefficient.”

He continues that the UNPA’s goal is “to reduce the global democratic deficit by involving the people and giving them a voice, i.e., through their members of parliament in the global decision-making process.” The foreign minister suggests in the article that “since the establishment of UNPA takes time, then, I state that the people of the world cannot wait. We need to start a ‘pilot’, that is with a gathering of civil society and members of parliament in conjunction with the 2023 SDG Summit and the 2024 Summit of the Future.”

Read the full article on the blog of Democracy Without Borders here

Image: Mr. Dato' Saifuddin bin Abdullah, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, addresses the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 26 February 2019. UN Photo by Violaine Martin/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Sam Onuigbo

The impacts of climate change are devastatingly felt across the world. To combat the climate crisis effectively, legislators as representatives of the people have a crucial role to play. This must extend to the UN and global governance. That's why I endorse the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly that can provide oversight and push for decisive action.

Lawmakers in a joint statement call on UN to consider Parliamentary Assembly, other proposals

In a joint statement published on 26 January 2022, more than 120 parliamentarians from over 40 countries call on the United Nations and its member states to strengthen the world organization’s “democratic and participatory character.”

The document recommends that three proposals should be implemented, among them a UN Parliamentary Assembly, in short UNPA, which includes elected representatives. The other two proposals are a UN World Citizens’ Initiative which enables people to put forward proposals on key issues of global concern and a high-level UN Civil Society Envoy to enable greater participation of civil society representatives.

The statement lends political support to a global campaign of 200 civil society groups rallying for these reform ideas dubbed “We The Peoples” in reference to the opening words of the UN’s Charter. It follows on a report of UN Secretary-General António Guterres titled “Our Common Agenda” which highlighted the need for greater participation and inclusion of various stakeholders in the UN’s work. 

The lawmakers suggest that governments should establish a “Group of Friends for Inclusive Global Governance” that works to advance the three proposals “in collaboration with parliamentarians, civil society and experts” with a view of a “Summit of the Future” which Guterres proposed for 2023.

Democracy Without Borders, Democracy International, and CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation are the organizations leading the “We The Peoples” campaign. They commented that the support of parliamentarians from around the world sends a strong signal that, in the midst of a global pandemic and the climate crisis, global governance urgently requires a democratic transformation in order to bring ordinary citizens closer to the UN and global decision-making.

A separate campaign for a UNPA that has been run by Democracy Without Borders for fifteen years over time was endorsed by more than 1,700 current and former members of parliament, among others. The new statement connects these efforts to a broader program for inclusive global governance and the ongoing UN consultations on the "Our Common Agenda" report.

Civil society statement on "inclusive global governance" calls for a UN Parliamentary Assembly

On the occasion of the International Day for Multilateralism on 24 April, a group of 100 civil society organisations has issued a joint statement calling on the UN and its member states to implement three proposals "to strengthen the inclusive and democratic character" of the world organization. One of the demands is the creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA).

The statement points out that this new assembly would allow "for the inclusion of elected representatives in the agenda-setting and decision-making of the UN." Further, according to the document, a UNPA is supposed to "act as a representative body and watchdog connecting the people with the UN and reflecting a broad diversity of global viewpoints."

The endorsement of this proposal in the joint civil society statement represents another major step forward in a campaign for a UNPA that has been ongoing since 2007. In January, a UN report on public consultations carried out in the course of 2020 identified a UNPA as one of the most frequently mentioned proposals in the field of renewing the UN.

Signatories of the new statement include organisations such as Avaaz, Greenpeace and Open Society Foundations as well as networks such as the Coalition for the UN We Need, Forus International, Together 2030 and Together First. It was initiated under the title of "We The Peoples" by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Democracy International and Democracy Without Borders. The latter also serves as Secretariat of the UNPA campaign.

The other two proposals highlighted in the joint statement are the instrument of a UN World Citizens' Initiative as well as a high-level UN focal point for civil society. 

Top image: A view of the flag of the United Nations that flies in front of UN Headquarters in New York. UN Photo/Evan Schneider

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www.wethepeoples.org

Gulnara Shahinian

The need for democratization of the UN has been widely discussed within the organization and raised by former UN Secretary Generals. Furthermore, the need for modernizing the UN to more effectively address the challenges of the modern world has also been recognized. Adopted after the Second World War, the UN’s structures, policies and rules are not only inadequate in the current world, they perpetuate inefficiency and paralysis. I believe that modernization and democratization go hand in hand. Democracy Without Borders pursues a promising approach by advocating a strengthening of democratic representation and participation of citizens. Creating a UN Parliamentary Assembly in particular would address the UN’s democratic deficit by giving the people a stronger voice in decisions that affect them.

UN report: a UN Parliamentary Assembly could serve as a "citizens' advisory body"

In a global consultation carried out by the United Nations in the course of 2020, citizens worldwide overwhelmingly expressed support of international cooperation but also raised the need for the United Nations to innovate and become more inclusive. Launched to mark the organization’s 75th anniversary, the exercise was the UN’s most ambitious effort so far to gather input from the global public. According to the UN, more than 1.5 million people from 195 countries took part through surveys and dialogues.

An overview of responses and conclusions was provided in a 96-pages report in January. The document points out that some of the most frequently shared and key ideas offered by dialogue participants to renew the UN included stronger moral leadership of the UN, making the UN Security Council more representative, re-consideration of the veto power of permanent members, convening a global intergovernmental conference “to reformulate key aspects and mechanisms of global governance” and improving the participation of non-governmental groups and stakeholders, among other things.

The UN report elaborates on the proposal of a UN Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) promoted by Democracy Without Borders and a broad spectrum of civil society organizations from across the world. For instance, the proposal was endorsed in the UN75 People’s Declaration adopted in May 2020 as a common platform of global civil society or put forward by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation at a high-level meeting organized by the UN’s Economic and Social Council in July 2020.

Specifically, the UN75 document observes that “the UN can be democratized” through reforms “such as establishing a UN parliamentary assembly as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly under article 22 of the Charter.”

Further, in a section on an “inclusive and participatory UN system”, it is said that a parliamentary assembly, representative of the voice of the people, “could be established to serve as the citizens’ advisory body to the General Assembly.”

Democracy Without Borders’ Executive Director Andreas Bummel, who is also coordinator of the international Campaign for a UNPA, commented that it was now high time for the UN and member states to seriously consider the proposal. “The UN75 consultations confirm once again that citizens want this to be done”, he said.

Top image: A woman from St. Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean holds up a sign after completing the UN75 survey. Image: UN

Augusto Lopez-Claros

As we face a whole range of unresolved global problems, many of them casting a shadow over the future of our species, we urgently need to revitalize our mechanisms of international cooperation. At the center of this is the transformation of the United Nations into a problem-solving organization and, without doubt, the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly would be a powerful catalyst to enable the UN to live up to the ideals on which it was founded, delivering peace, security and prosperity for all.

Over 100 Japanese lawmakers call for a UN Parliamentary Assembly

According to the Japanese Parliamentary Group for World Federation, more than 100 members of the Japanese House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, the two chambers of the National Diet, in recent weeks endorsed an international call for the creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. Signatories include parliamentarians from all major parties.

“These endorsements confirm that a UN Parliamentary Assembly is one of the important topics that needs consideration in the discussion on how to achieve more effective and more inclusive global governance. We urge the Japanese government to look into the subject”, said lawmaker Seishirō Etō, chair of the Japanese Parliamentary Group for World Federation.

The international call recommends “a gradual implementation of democratic participation and representation on the global level” and suggests that “the establishment of a consultative Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations” is “an indispensable step”.

A report presented by the Japan Commission on Global Governance in May already highlighted broad support of the proposal.

Sukehiro Hasegawa, chair of the commission, is quoted in the report saying that “global challenges such as pandemics of infectious diseases, environmental pollution and climate change, conflicts and terrorism, widening gaps between rich and poor, financial and energy problems” could not “be handled effectively by UN agencies which are based on the sovereign state system.” It was “becoming necessary to transform the UN system by establishing a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly as the preliminary step for creation of the World Parliament”.

The commission’s sub-committee on parliamentary diplomacy recommended that a UN Parliamentary Assembly should be promoted by individual politicians and in international parliamentary settings.

The support from Japanese legislators was strongly welcomed by representatives of the international campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly. “This initiative indicates that Japan could play a leading role in building support for the proposal”, said Andreas Bummel, the campaign’s Secretary-General and Executive Director of Democracy Without Borders.

The Japanese Diet in a landmark resolution adopted fifteen years ago resolved that Japan should strive towards the realization of a world federation in order to achieve world peace. There is an understanding that a UN Parliamentary Assembly may be a step in this direction.

Top image: Building of the National Diet in Tokyo. Image taken in 2011. Source: Flickr/Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0

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