Heiner Bielefeldt

The UN is not an exclusive inter-state institution, it is meant to be an inclusive space for active engagement with the civil society and multi-stakeholders. Time is ripe for new actors to launch new initiatives in order for the many commitments declared at the UN to be fulfilled or put into actions. I have seen the great value of cross-boundary work on the promotion of freedom of religion or belief by parliamentarians around the world, hence, I believe in the great potentials that a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly has for strengthening the UN system overall.

Seminar in Greece on global challenges supports a UN Parliamentary Assembly

Gathered in Greece’s Northern Pintos National Park, 45 federalists from educational institutions, think tanks, activist NGOs, intergovernmental organizations, government departments, and the media took part in the third Global Land Paths seminar on the theme “Federalist Responses to Global Challenges.”

The seminar took place from July 30th through August 4th, and featured discussions centering around political organization, governance, and government, and federalism in particular as a means of spreading peace and ensuring good governance worldwide.

The culmination of those discussions was the agreement on a final resolution, which stressed that "global issues such as peace and security, climate change and human rights should be dealt with at the global level, which has to be adequately equipped, both in terms of democratic legitimacy and resources available."

According to the document, "the ideal of One World" should be pursued systematically with initiatives such as a UN Parliamentary Assembly and a review of the UN Charter, among others.

The Land Beyond, a Greek civil society organization combining mental, physical, and interactive exercise to promote freedom, giving, and living together, and the Brussels-based Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability, FOGGS, a forum for discussing global challenges in the economy, society, the environment, and politics and governance, co-organized the seminar.

Students practice global democracy at a Model Global Parliament in Sydney

Event in the premises of the New South Wales Parliament

Around forty students came together last month in the legislative assembly chamber of the New South Wales Parliament in Sydney, Australia, to simulate the debates of a Global Parliament.

Participants were assigned regions such as Africa, Latin America, or South Asia or non-governmental organizations to represent and underwent a training session to accurately model the debates and activities of regional or organizational representatives in the parliamentary body. Thanks to this dedication, the activity serves not only as a fun and educational opportunity for participants to discuss pertinent global issues, but also as a useful practice of global democracy in action. 

The forum began with a talk from Daryl Le Cornu, President of the World Citizens Association of Australia. He gave a brief overview of the United Nations and the need for a strong, democratic global system. “One way of democratising the UN would the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly based on Article 22 of the UN Charter” Dr. Le Cornu stressed.

After a few more brief speeches from Pera Wells, founder and director of the Model Global Parliament program, Talia Hagerty, a Research Associate at the Institute of Peace, and Steven Freeland, a Professor of International Law, the debates began, starting with motions before the house and then moving on to sessions focused on different topics. While the day was centered around the overarching theme of “We Are One,” specific topics of debate included human rights and the refugee crisis, UN reform, the environment, and nuclear policy. 

Participant John Hegarty praised the event as having been “a unique opportunity to sow ideas that can have enormous possibilities toward world cooperation, based on democratic global governance and binding international law.” Kelly Wu commented that for participants, it was an opportunity to learn how to “think of themselves as global citizens” and “perform as parliamentarians.” 

The Model Global Parliament, the ninth event of this kind in Australia, was held on 12 September. It concluded with the decision of participants to support the Global Week of Action for a World Parliament that is held this year from 20-30 October 2016.

A World Parliamentary Assembly and global political integration

In June the World Government Research Network hosted a workshop in Brisbane, Australia, on the "practical politics of global integration" (here is our report). An edited version of the presentation of Andreas Bummel, director and co-founder of the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly, was recently published on the website of the Great Transition Initiative.

This is the introduction to the article (which does not necessarily reflect the official position of the campaign):

"The existing system of international law and intergovernmental institutions is not up to the global-scale decision-making necessary for the shared risks of the twenty-first century. A Great Transition toward a socially just and environmentally sustainable world order will require both revisiting discussions about a federal world government and asserting the necessity of its democratic nature. Only a world parliament can provide the democratic legitimacy and the planetary perspective required for developing world law. The creation of this new institution will depend on a reciprocal relationship between the cultivation of a sense of global citizenship, the spread of democratization at the national level, and bold statements by social movements that the time has come for democratic world government."

The full article can be read here

Louis B. Sohn

A United Nations Consultative Assembly constituted [by national parliamentarians] could play an important role in the formulation and execution of United Nations' policies. Though it would be only an advisory body, its opinion would carry weight, especially if its members succeeded in raising themselves beyond national ambitions and in approaching the issues from a global point of view

Maina Kiai

One weakness of the United Nations is that its Member States are represented solely through the executive branch. The involvement of additional actors such as parliamentarians and civil society is critical to democratizing the UN, and will go a long way towards making it more transparent, accountable and effective. That's why I support the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly.

Dimitrios Papadimoulis

I support the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly as a first step toward an eventual world parliament. The UN Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union could exist side-by-side: While the latter would continue to serve as a platform of national parliaments to discuss matters of mutual concern, the former would represent the world's citizens directly and deal with global political matters such as climate change or the refugee crisis.

The World’s Citizens need to take back control – with a Global Parliament

In a guest post published today, the UNPA campaign's global coordinator Andreas Bummel argued that to a large degree, achieving prosperity, development, and security depends on international collaboration and integration.

In his opinion, "the Brexit vote is an anomaly and an irrational response to this global trend. While the new British government is preparing for the exit negotiations with the EU, the African Union plans to introduce a continental passport and to abolish border controls just as it’s the case in the EU Schengen area. Whatever xenophobic and nationalistic demagogues would want people to believe, a Zombie-like resurrection of 'national independence' is not a viable option and will only wreak havoc in the world."

Instead, a world parliament would be "an alternative and progressive approach to the notion of 'taking back control'."

Read the full article here

Helen Zille

It is important to me to promote the spread of the values of constitutional democracy and the rule of law across the world. A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly is an appropriate way to demonstrate these values to all nations and to ensure that the citizens of every country feel more connected to the UN and its programmes.

Dhananjayan (Danny) Sriskandarajah

We need radical new forms of representation and oversight. Perhaps the UN General Assembly should have a ‘lower house’, populated by citizen-elected representatives; a curb on the excesses of dominant states in the upper house. Perhaps global governance institutions could be audited on their ability to respond to and achieve progress on issues identified by people, rather than just governments.