“Neo-Humanist” statement calls for a global parliament

The need to develop “transnational planetary institutions to cope with global problems” is one of sixteen main principles included in a statement that was published recently by Paul Kurtz and other prominent humanists. According to the "Neo-Humanist Statement of Secular Principles and Values",   "all members of the planetary community" are "ethically obligated" to "transcend the arbitrary political boundaries of the past and help create new transnational institutions that are democratic in governance and will respect and defend human rights." The document states that these new transnational institutions “will need to adopt a body of laws which will apply worldwide, a legislature to enact and revise these laws, a world court to interpret them, and an elected executive body to apply them.”

Drafted the statement: Paul Kurtz
Image: Wikimedia

The document that includes a call for an “eventual World Parliament” is signed by more than 100 well-known humanists including former U.S. Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, writer Ann Druyan as well as philosophers Rebecca Goldstein, Colin McGinn, Philip Kitcher and Owen Flanagan.

The statement is the latest public declaration of a humanist movement that has been shaped by similar documents in 1933, 1973, and 2000. It is not the first to endorse the notion of a world parliament. The “Humanist Manifesto 2000” that was published ten years ago already elaborated extensively on the need for “new planetary institutions.” Among other things it stated that “we need now more than ever a world body that represents the people of the world rather than nation-states.” The statement concluded that “perhaps a bicameral legislature is the most feasible with both a Parliament of peoples and a General Assembly of nations.”

The new “Neo-Humanist” statement was issued in March of this year, apparently in the context of a schism that is ongoing in the humanist movement. According to the website of the newly established “Institute for Science and Human Values” that is chaired by Paul Kurtz, one of the leading figures in the humanist movement for over 30 years, the statement “will help guide the new organization’s activities.”

Read the Neo-Humanist statement here

Top image: Paul Kurtz at an event in New York in November 2007, by QwirkSilver, Creative Commons (Flickr)

World Parliament on Climate Change proposed

Paper presented at conference in Canberra, Australia

At a conference in Canberra organized by the Australian National University, experts suggested the establishment of a world parliament on global climate policy. The new body, initially composed of around 550 delegates from national parliaments, could be set up as a consultative body to the Conference of State Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC.

“Climate change is one of the most important issues of this century and an effective global response is urgent. We are convinced that a global parliamentary assembly could help to reinvigorate the negotiation process,” said Duncan Kerr, Australian Member of Parliament and one of the proposal’s three co-authors.

Duncan Kerr MP presents the paper in Canberra
Image: KDUN

The paper presented in Canberra argues that a parliamentary assembly could help improve the “significantly flawed” decision-making process of the UNFCCC. According to Duncan Kerr and his co-authors, the Argentinian Member of Parliament Fernando Iglesias and Andreas Bummel, chairman of the Committee for a Democratic U.N. in Germany, an agreement approved by a global parliamentary assembly “would have unprecedented legitimacy.” They state that “this legitimacy would exert moral pressure to join any post-Kyoto protocol and to secure compliance.”

Mr. Kerr explained in Canberra that one of the parliament’s purposes would be to act as a formal platform to facilitate and organize public deliberation and to gather input from experts, civil society and from the grass-roots level. “By contrast to top diplomats who represent governments and report back to them, delegates of a parliamentary assembly would be ultimately accountable to their constituents. Their task would be to establish links to relevant groups and civil-society organizations on the spot and to interact with them,” said Mr. Kerr.

The chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, Jo Leinen from Germany, welcomed the proposal. “A global parliamentary assembly would represent the common interest of humanity in finding an effective response to climate change. This perspective is urgently necessary to counterweight the bargaining of national governments,” said Mr. Leinen. “Just as the European Parliament originally started off as a consultative assembly of the European Community on Coal and Steel in the 1950ies, a world parliament may start as an advisory body on climate policy,“ Mr. Leinen added.

The director of the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development in the United Kingdom, Halina Ward, commented that “the proposal for a World Parliament on Climate Change tackles important issues about how to improve representation of the world's people in global climate governance. This is a carefully crafted proposal that deserves serious consideration.”

The conference on “Democratizing Climate Governance” in Canberra was held on 15-16 July.

Read more

Download the paper

Top image: Lake Hume, Australia, by Tim Keegan, Creative Commons (Flickr)

German Greens support Campaign for a United Nations Parliament

Claudia Roth during a speech in Göttingen in September 2007
Image: Wikimedia Commons

The Secretariat of the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly announced today that the federal board of the German green party, Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, has decided to endorse the initiative. “We share the view that democratic participation and representation gradually also needs to be implemented at the global level. Important internationaldecisions should no longer be taken by a few government representatives who meet behind closed doors. A global parliament would be well suited to make the United Nations more democratic and more transparent,” commented party chair Claudia Roth.

The call for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly is supported by green parties all over the world. In the final declaration of the second global greens congress that met in May 2008 in Sao Paulo it is stated that the greens “support the creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) as a parliamentary body within the UN system. As a first step it should be composed of representatives of national parliaments but it should become a directly elected body.”

At that time, the chair of the Canadian greens, Elizabeth May, stated that “the resolution adopted by the congress underlines that the green movement is convinced that a dialogue is needed on the notion of a bi-cameral system at the UN.”

The German greens are currently not part of the governing coalition in Germany. At the last elections in September 2009, however, the party got 10.7 percent of votes and won 68 parliamentary seats. From 1998 to 2005, the party designated the German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer.

Top image: Federal party conference of the Greens in 2009, by Jens Matheuszik, pottblog.de

Civil society creates pro-UNPA network in Dominican Republic

Civil society organizations in the Dominican Republic have formed a network to promote the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. This was reported by Fundación Federalista, the network’s initiator. According

Rommel Santos, President of Fundación Federalista
Image: Fundación Federalista

to Rommel Santos, President of the foundation, fifteen leading Dominican organizations so far cooperate, among them Fundacion Nacional para la Democracia, Fundacion Seguridad y Democracia, Fundacion del Consumidor Dominicano and Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo e Investigacion de los Servicios Sociales. The network plans to raise awareness of the need of transborder democracy and will ask the Parliament of the Dominican Republic to join the efforts for a global parliament.

"Over the past years, Fundación Federalista has run a series of talks, conferences and discussions on federalism and democracy in a globalized world. As more and more important decisions are being taken outside the framework of national democracy, we have to move forward and have to extend the reach of democratic participation and oversight. We request the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic to follow the example of the Latin-American Parliament and to support the creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly,“ said Mr Santos.

By area and population, the Dominican Republic is the second largest Caribbean nation after Cuba. The population is estimated at 10 million people.

Top image: Wikipedia / GFDL

Seminar in Lagos debates proposal for a UN Parliamentary Assembly

A seminar organized by the Nigeria Network of NGOs on 5 May in Lagos has dealt with the proposal to establish a body of elected representatives at the United Nations. About 40 participants came together to discuss the rationale, structure, composition, selection, representation and other features of a possible global parliamentary body.

In a presentation made on behalf of Hon. Bethel Amadi, Member of the Nigerian House of Representatives and First Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament, it was pointed out that “the inclusion of the people into the institutional structure and into the decision-making

Group picture of the seminar's participants
Image: NNNGO

mechanisms of the international system has essential importance.“ One of the other speakers, Barrister Ayo Adebusoye, elaborated further on the democratic deficit of international institutions which, he said, is characterized, among other things, by the absence of a “direct democratic connection to citizens.” Mr Adebusoye explained how a UN Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) could establish such a connection. Hon. Florence Gbinigie-Erhabor, a one time member of the state legislature from Edo State, underlined that equal gender representation should be ensured in a UNPA. “Democracy, being a people-driven government, should be characterized by equal gender representation,” Hon. Gbinigie-Erhabor said.

At the end of the seminar, the participants adopted a joint communiqué that voiced support for the establishment of a UNPA. In particular, the communiqué endorsed the appeal of the international Campaign for a UNPA that recommends a gradual approach towards establishing a global parliament. Additionally, the seminar’s communiqué recommended, among other things, that civil society organizations “should be integrated in the representation at a UNPA alongside members of parliament” and that “the role of the civil society organizations and other stakeholders need to be clearly identified.” Furthermore, the communiqué says that “there should be clear criteria for determining the democratic status of participatory countries.”

Ms. Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, a trustee of the Nigeria Network of NGOs, commented that the seminar “was important to familiarize civil society with the concept of global representation through a parliamentary body. It was interesting to note that the participants all agreed on the basic idea of a world parliament. This is a good starting point,” Ms. Ramsome-Kuti said.

The Nigeria Network of NGO’s acts as the Nigerian coordinator of the international Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly. The network represents over 800 civil society organizations ranging from small groups working at the local level, to larger national organizations.

"Norway should advocate a democratization of global institutions," says Én Verden

On the occasion of its annual meeting that took place last week at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, the Norwegian non-governmental organization Én Verden decided to focus its work in the coming years on building support for the establishment of a parliamentary assembly at the United Nations. “We are convinced that making global governance more inclusive, more transparent and more democratic is one of the most important political projects of this decade. The creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly would be a decisive step,“ said Én Verden’s Chairman, Kjartan Almenning. Én Verden’s newly elected President, Odd Einar Dørum, who served as minister of justice in the cabinet of Kjell Magne Bondevik from 2001 to 2005, suggested that “Norway has a long tradition in supporting democracy throughout the world. It would be logical and consequent if Norway would join the efforts to strengthen democratic participation in global institutions. I hope it will do so soon.“

At a seminar preceding the annual assembly, the Chairman of the Committee for a Democratic UN, Andreas Bummel from Germany, stressed that important decisions are increasingly being taken in international government foras “outside the reach of parliaments.“ “As global coordination and decision-making is inevitable in many fields, the only reasonable option to preserve democratic participation of the people in these decisions is to establish a parliament that represents them at the global level,“ said Mr Bummel. Mr Bummel’s visit to Oslo included several bilateral meetings with members of the parliament of Norway, the Stortinget.

Én Verden is a member organization of the World Federalist Movement and advocates world unity and federalism.

Four publications on UN Parliamentary Assembly reissued

The Committee for a Democratic UN (KDUN), a think tank specialized on "parliamentary representation in global institutions", has reissued four publications on the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. "These booklets and studies include important contributions to the debate on global democracy and the creation of an elected body at the UN. We are pleased that we can now provide updated editions," said the Committee's Chair, Andreas Bummel. "We hope that the republications will arouse new interest among scholars and activists alike," he added.

The Committee in particular highlighted a new edition of the brochure "The Case for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly" by Dieter Heinrich that originally was published in 1992. "The brochure presents the general rationale in a brilliant manner. It's a classic that hasn’t lost any of its topicality and strength. It's clearly a must-read for all those engaged with global democracy and the global order," Mr Bummel said.

The republications at a glance:

KDUN's series will be continued. A study currently in preparation by Dr. Claudia Kissling and expected to be published in the second half of 2010 deals with "The Legal and Political Relevance of International Parliamentary Assemblies and Associations".

KDUN Series

European Parliament calls on EU Council to promote parliamentary participation in the UN

The European Parliament has asked the EU Council to address stronger parliamentary involvement at the United Nations during the 65th UN General Assembly session that will start in September. A set of recommendations adopted by the Parliament on 25 March in Brussels includes a paragraph in which the Council is asked “to promote stronger participation by national and transnational parliaments in UN activities with the aim of strengthening the democratic nature of the United Nations, its programmes and its agencies and to support initiatives by civil society and parliaments to this end.“

UN rapporteur Alexander Graf Lambsdorff MEP
Image: European Parliament

The European Parliament’s UN rapporteur Alexander Graf Lamsdorff MEP, a German liberal, said in an interview that the Parliament “is not a legislator in the domain of foreign policy.” Still he hopes “that some of our recommendations are being incorporated in the Council resolutions.”

The recommendation to strengthen parliamentary participation in the UN caused mixed feelings among supporters of the international Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly. “Since 1994 the European Parliament has been supporting the establishment of a parliamentary body at the UN. It’s a missed opportunity that this resolution merely speaks about participation of national and transnational parliaments. Many feel that this is a wishy-washy and retrograde position,” said Andreas Bummel, the head of the Campaign’s Secretariat.

The European Parliament’s Commission on Foreign Affairs (AFET) previously had agreed to discard a supportive reference to a UN Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA). An amendment tabled by Jo Leinen MEP on behalf of the Socialist Group that reiterated the parliament’s long-standing support for a UNPA was replaced by a compromise without such a reference and not voted upon.

Reference to UNPA discarded in Commission

Jo Leinen MEP
Image: European Parliament

Rapporteur Mr Lambsdorff explained that the compromise was accepted by the Liberals, Greens, Conservatives and the Socialists alike. With reference to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s opposition to a UNPA he said that the compromise was “neither to mention the argument of the proponents nor of the opponents.” According to Lambsdorff, “there isn’t yet a common, unified position in the House.”

The coordinator of the Greens in the Commission, Ulrike Lunacek MEP from Austria, commented that “there are two options for better participation of parliaments in the UN, a UN Parliamentary Assembly as a new body or the further development and improvement of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.” In her opinion, the compromise “leaves the door open for both possibilities.”

Key MEPs and European Federalists reinforce support

Despite of the compromise in the Commission on Foreign Affairs, key MEPs have confirmed their support for a UNPA. Asked on his position, the Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs of the Conservative group, Elmar Brok MEP from Germany, said that he “supports the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly because more transparency and democracy is necessary, especially at the international level.”

UEF President Andrew Duff MEP
Image: European Parliament

The President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and liberal MEP from the United Kingdom, Andrew Duff, plans to push the issue. Said Duff: “I very much hope that Parliament will agree to include a statement of support for the establishment of the UNPA in its final resolution on the upcoming 65th session of the UN General Assembly. I and others will be tabling an amendment to this effect when the matter comes to plenary.” Added Mr Duff: “It would be a sad day if the European Parliament lacked the level of ambition necessary to project Europe's own, very special experience of trans-national democracy on to a world level. Europe should take the lead on democratic global governance.”

In a statement issued by the Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe), the supranational youth movement "laments the very regrettable decision made by the AFET committee of the European Parliament that decided not to endorse prior commitments and positions of the EP which were favourable to the idea of establishing a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA).” The comment states that “JEF-Europe is in favour of introducing more parliamentary democracy in the UN system” and that “the EP as the world's most influential supranational and democratically elected body should be the frontrunner in supporting the idea of a world parliament, of which the UNPA can be a small but important step in the right direction.” JEF-Europe “therefore hopes that the European Parliament will reconsider its position and do its utmost to help bring about a democratic global governance.”

Lucio Levi, a Professor of Political Science and Comparative Politics at the University of Torino in Italy and member of the Federal Committee of the UEF, expressed his disappointment over the compromise in the AFET commission. “We are used to conceiving of the EP as the laboratory of international democracy, not only as a model, but also an engine for the dissemination of the experiment of a borderless democracy. But now the EP seems to have lost the chance to show the way leading to a democratic reform of the UN, in the same way followed by the EU at continental level,” stated Levi.

IPU and UNPA “complementary”

According to an assessment by experts at the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the new body would be “complementary”. “In our view, strengthening the Inter-Parliamentary Union and establishing a UN Parliamentary Assembly doesn’t necessarily contradict each other,” Mr Bummel pointed out.

Top image: The EP plenary listens to a speech of Vaclav Havel, November 2009. Havel supports the idea of a world parliament. (European Parliament)

IPU Committee rejects idea of a UN Parliamentary Assembly

In the run-up to the third World Conference of Speakers of Parliament that is organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and planned to take place in Geneva from 19th to 21st July, a preparatory committee of the association made clear that it rejects the idea of a UN Parliamentary Assembly. Documents prepared for the 122nd Assembly of the IPU in Bangkok, Thailand, from 27th March to 1st April 2010 published by the IPU contain decisions taken at a preparatory meeting in November 2009 in New York. According to the minutes, “the Committee opposed the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly which it deemed incompatible with the strategy for parliamentary interaction with the United Nations.”

Prof. Daniele Archibugi, Research Director at the Italian National Research Council and advisor to the European Union, the OECD and several UN agencies commented that “I am always surprised to see that the Inter-Parliamentary Union is so much resistant to the idea of a world parliament.” According to Mr Archibugi, “there are about 40 international organizations that already have parliamentary assemblies, but not the most important of all of them, namely the UN.”

A representative of the Secretariat of the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly said that the opposition inside the IPU was “unfortunate.” He added, however, that the view expressed by the Committee in November isn’t unanimous: “In the past, the Speakers of Parliament from Uganda and Kenya, for instance, have expressed a different opinion.”

Members of the IPU frequently claim that it is already providing the “parliamentary dimension” to the UN. Proponents of the idea by contrast hold the view that “the proposed UNPA and the IPU would be complementary institutions” and that “a UNPA would provide a response to the democratic deficit in global governance which the IPU in its current structure is unable to offer.”

According to Prof. Uwe Holtz, who was a member of the German parliament for over 20 years and a member of German IPU delegations, “the campaign has good reasons to promote a Parliamentary Assembly at the UN. Different ways towards its establishment are conceivable. The IPU could serve as an important platform.”

Dr. Claudia Kissling, an expert at the Committee for a Democratic UN., a Berlin-based think tank specialized on “parliamentary representation in global institutions”, agreed that the IPU could be a starting point to develop a UNPA. She added, however, that “unfortunately there are no signs for this to happen in the near future. Therefore a parallel strategy has to be pursued that on the one hand consequently pushes for the establishment of a UNPA and on the other does not conflict with the IPU’s current role.”

In a resolution adopted in October 2007 by the Pan-African Parliament, the African Union’s parliamentary body called for the establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly and suggested that this “in no way contradics the valuable and highly esteemed work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.”

The IPU is an umbrella organization of 151 national parliaments. It is currently presided by the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Namibia, Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab.

Global democracy and world vote debated in EU Parliament

At an event inside the European Parliament hosted by European lawmaker Graham Watson, the Club of Rome – EU Chapter and the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly, the cornerstones for a possible future global democracy were debated on the occasion of a special screening of the documentary “World Vote Now” by Joel Ben Marsden.

Graham Watson MEP (left) and Pau Solanilla (right) during the debate
Image: KDUN

Jessica Elio, Chargé d´affaires of the Bolivian Embassy to the EU elaborated on the proposal for a global referendum that Bolivian President Evo Morales made during the recent Climate talks in Copenhagen. “When my President, went to Copenhagen, what most struck him was the lack of democracy,” she stated. “It´s the people that will decide what the states have not been able to decide.” According to President Morales, the citizens of all nations should be asked, among other things, whether consumption patterns on the planet should be changed, and whether pollutants emission should be reduced to one percent. Elio commented that “President Morales gave this idea, now it is up to a World Vote to decide on this.”

Pau Solanilla, representing the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council, stated that “we need to create the conditions for this democratic process.” Solanilla named five fundamental conditions for global democracy. These included global citizenship with equal rights and duties, a global constitution and rules at the global level, a global public opinion and debate, a parliamentary assembly at the global level and truly global political actors,“that think globally and not only in terms of their territory or their particular interests.”

Solanilla, who is Parliamentary Advisor to the Spanish Secretary of State for the EU stressed that “we need a kind of parliamentary assembly.”

The Director of the Secretariat of the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly, Andreas Bummel, pointed out that the efforts for global democracy are closely connected with the struggle to establish democracy at the national level. “Both is interlinked and cannot be separated,” he said.

Commenting on the debate, the Director of amnesty international’s EU office, Nicolas J. Beger said that “I do not see why the Utopia of global democracy should not come.”

Graham Watson summarized: “People are recognizing that we have a global economy, but we don´t yet have a global culture, or a global governance or even a coherent vision of global concern. And that´s what I think we have to build.”

Brussels Declaration on Global Democracy

On the occasion of the event, Watson presented the Brussels Declaration on Global Democracy that demands “sound democratic structures at the global level” and that ”mechanisms and preconditions are explored that make it possible to conduct a global referendum.”

Initial supporters of this declaration include former UN Secretary General, Dr. Boutros Boutros Ghali, UBUNTU-World Forum of Civil Society Networks, the Club of Rome – EU Chapter and the Union of European Federalists.

Download the Declaration
Pictures of the event
More on the film "World Vote Now"

Film trailer