Florence Mutua

Parliamentarians should not only play a role in galvanizing intergovernmental action and in implementing global commitments nationally. Elected representatives should have a formal role to play in international negotiations and decision-making. The creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly should be promoted as a key reform in order to achieve this goal and to increase the UN's democratic legitimacy. The UN cannot go on as an exclusive club of governments. Otherwise the world organization will not be able to advance much.

Parliamentary involvement at the UN raised at peace forum in South Korea

The need of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, in short UNPA, was raised at an international peace forum organized by civil society in South Korea from 9-11 February. Bringing together participants from all over the world, the PyeongChang Global Peace Forum was held on the occasion of the anniversary of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang one year ago to review and celebrate the peace process on the divided Korean peninsula and to consider international action for the promotion of world peace.

The purpose of one of the forum's 19 panels was to discuss an action agenda on United Nations reform in view of the UN's 75th anniversary in 2020. Attending the conference on behalf of the international Campaign for a UNPA, Kenyan parliamentarian Florence Mutua said that the creation of a UNPA should be promoted "as a key reform" in order to increase the UN's democratic legitimacy. "The UN cannot go on as an exclusive club of governments. Otherwise the world organization will not be able to advance much", she noted.

In another panel on "strengthening parliamentarian engagement on international peace and disarmament", among other things, Mutua said that "parliamentarians should not only play a role in galvanizing intergovernmental action and in implementing global commitments nationally. Elected representatives should have a formal role to play in international negotiations and decision-making," adding that "parliamentarians may be able to build bridges where others can’t."

According to Mutua, the UN should establish an "Office for Parliamentary Relations" so that individual parliamentarians, parliaments and other parliamentary institutions have a contact point at the UN. "It is remarkable that such a liaison office does not yet exist", she noted.

The involvement of elected representatives at the UN was also the subject of a study published earlier this month by Democracy Without Borders, an organization Mutua is involved with, too. Acknowledging the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the umbrella organization of national parliaments, the study concluded that a UNPA would be complementary to existing bodies and efforts in this realm.

One of the keynote speakers at the PyeongChang Global Peace Forum was Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa from Poland. In past interviews, Walesa is known to have spoken out in favor of a global parliament.

The conference is supposed to be the first step in the development of a "PyeongChang Agenda for Peace 2030."

Top image: Participants of the final plenary hold up signs calling for nuclear disarmament. Source: Asia Democracy Network 

Josep Borrell

In 2020, the UN will be 75 years old. This may be a good moment to analyse at a summit some institutional changes necessary to increase its legitimacy and effectiveness, such as the reform of the Security Council to make it more representative and limit the use of the vetoes of the great powers, or the establishment of a parliamentary assembly, thus strengthening the role of civil society and the democratic dimension of the multilateral system.

Spanish Foreign Minister: Creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly should be considered

In an article published in the newspaper El País in Madrid today, the Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell stated that the 75th anniversary of the United Nations in 2020 "may be a good moment to analyse at a summit some institutional changes necessary to increase its legitimacy and effectiveness, such as the reform of the Security Council to make it more representative and limit the use of the vetoes of the great powers, or the establishment of a parliamentary assembly, thus strengthening the role of civil society and the democratic dimension of the multilateral system."

The piece was published on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10th December 2018. Among other things, Borrell pointed out that the declaration is based on a multilateralist approach that needs to be supported now more than ever as more and more issues are transnational in nature. "At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the multilateralism that underlies its conception is of strategic importance; it is nothing less than a necessity for the survival of humanity," he wrote. According to Borrell, it is necessary for Spain to defend international institutions such as the European Union and the United Nations but also to help "reform them in order to strengthen world governance."

Josep Borrell assumed office as Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation following a change of government in June 2018 when Pedro Sanchez, leader of the Socialist Party, became Spanish prime minister. Previously, Borrell was President of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2007, among other things.

In a resolution adopted in July, the European Parliament called on the European Union's governments to advocate "the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly" and to support a "UN 2020 summit" that will consider "comprehensive reform measures for a renewal and strengthening of the United Nations."

El País is one of the most read and most circulated newspapers in Spain.

Top image: Josep Borrell speaking on 29 November 2018 (by Casa de América/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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Article in El País

Daniel Jositsch

The escalating crisis in international cooperation shows that new ways must be found to combat global problems. The United Nations brings together diplomats appointed by member state governments. It is time for an additional body composed of democratically elected representatives: a UN Parliamentary Assembly.

Swiss Senate calls on federal government to consider a UN Parliamentary Assembly

Swiss Senators unanimously request a statement on the UN's democratic deficit 

A postulate submitted last week by Daniel Jositsch, a member of the Swiss Senate from Zurich, instructs the federal government of Switzerland to report on whether it perceives a democratic deficit to exist at the United Nations and whether "the creation of a parliamentary assembly within the UN" may be an appropriate step to address such a deficit. The document explains that the suggested new body may be understood "in the sense of a second chamber that represents the population analogous to the Swiss system."

The explanatory statement of the initiative, supported by all 46 members of the upper chamber of Switzerland's parliament, stresses that the structure of the UN still reflects the situation after the Second World War. The document points out, however, that the situation has changed and that the structures of the UN established at the time "cannot last forever." It goes on to say that it is necessary to democratize the world organization. According to Jositsch and the other Senators, Switzerland could play "an important role" in this process "as a neutral small state with its two-chamber system, which attaches special importance to the cantons in the structure of the state." In particular, the question arises "whether a parliamentary assembly could be considered as a supplement to today's United Nations General Assembly".

The initiative refers to a resolution of the European Parliament of July calling on the governments of the European Union to pursue the establishment of a parliamentary assembly at the UN (UNPA).

"The worsening crisis in international cooperation shows that new ways must be found to combat global problems", Jositsch welcomed the resolution at the time. The Senator is Co-President of an international parliamentary group for a UNPA that was created last month. Worldwide the international campaign for a UNPA was supported so far by more than 1,500 parliamentarians.

It is not the first time that Swiss parliamentarians draw international attention with an initiative concerning a UNPA. In February 2005, a majority of the National Council and members of the Senate called on then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to include the proposal into the official reform agenda of the United Nations.

In his reaction to the decision of the European Parliament, Jositsch stressed that now "concrete implementation measures" are needed.

Picture: Hall of the Council of States in Bern, © www.parlament.ch

Elected representatives issue call to action for a UN Parliamentary Assembly

Lawmakers establish new international group / "UN has serious limits"

A group of elected representatives was established this Wednesday at an international online meeting with the goal to promote the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, in short UNPA. The new Parliamentary Group for a UNPA adopted a call to action warning that “the United Nations, the multilateral order and democracy are under attack.”

The declaration urges the UN and its member governments to take steps towards the creation of a UNPA in order to address the UN’s democratic deficit. It refers to a statement by former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali who said that “we need to promote the democratization of globalization, before globalization destroys the foundations of national and international democracy.”

The meeting elected five co-presidents: Fernando Iglesias, Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Argentina; Daniel Jositsch, Senator from Switzerland; Jo Leinen, Member of the European Parliament from Germany; Naveed Qamar, Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan; and Ivone Soares, Member of the National Assembly of Mozambique and the Pan-African Parliament.

"Democracy currently stops at national borders"

“Democracy currently stops at national borders. At the global level, the United Nations brings together diplomats appointed by member state governments. There is no UN body composed of democratically elected representatives. As a consequence, the UN reaches serious limits when it comes to finding solutions for global problems. Take climate change as an example. There has been little progress for decades,” said Senator Daniel Jositsch who chaired the meeting.

Other initial members of the group include, among others, Ireland's Thomas Broughan, Jens Holm from Sweden, Smári McCarthy from Iceland, Florence Mutua from Kenya, Achyuta Samanta from India, Lilia Puig de Stubrin from Argentina, Nomsa Tarabella-Marchesi from South Africa and Malta's George Vella. 

Group members already in action

Responding to a question of Thomas Broughan in the Irish parliament this week, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney responded again that Ireland was “open minded” on the UNPA proposal. Together with four other parliamentarians, Smári McCarthy these days re-introduced a resolution in the Icelandic parliament calling for support of a UNPA. 

Previously, with the involvement of group members Fernando Iglesias, Jo Leinen and Ivone Soares respectively, the Latin-American Parliament, the Parliament of Mercosur, both chambers of the Argentine parliament, the European Parliament, and the Pan-African Parliament endorsed the proposal. 

In addition, the international campaign for a UNPA so far was endorsed by over 1,500 current and former individual members of parliament. The new parliamentary group aims at building “the political momentum and pressure that is needed to achieve our goal”.

“The creation of a Parliamentary Group for a UNPA is another step forward in the way towards a world parliament, global democracy, a stronger UN and a fairer and more peaceful world”, commented Fernando Iglesias. 

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Read the call to action here

Yves Leterme

The world needs more courageous decisions in order to address the urgent global issues of mass migration, terrorism without borders and climate change. These problems are too important to leave them over to national leaders only. Global Governance with a citizen's driven democratic legitimacy and accountability is the right way to make the difference we need. That's why I support the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly.

World congress of United Nations associations calls for a UN Parliamentary Assembly

Resolution adopted at Plenary Assembly in Punta Cana anticipates a UN Reform Summit in 2020

The World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), calls on UN member states, parliamentarians, civil society and its more than 100 member organizations across the world to "support steps towards the creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly" (UNPA).

A declaration adopted unanimously at WFUNA's 42nd Plenary Assembly in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, this Friday explains further that the new UN body should be attached to the UN General Assembly and allow for "formal participation of parliamentarians in the work of the UN."

The resolution that was jointly proposed by the UN associations of Germany, Denmark, South Africa and the United Kingdom states that the UN "must address the democratic deficit within global decision-making processes" if it is to be successful "in the pursuit of creating a better world for all and ensuring that no one is left behind."

"We hope that a UNPA will strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the UN," commented UNA-Germany's board member Hannah Birkenkötter in Punta Cana. Ben Donaldson, the Head of Campaigns at UNA-UK said that "we need a world organisation that truly represents the world. A UNPA would be a major step towards this goal."

The resolution adopted at the world congress says further that there should be "an open and inclusive intergovernmental preparatory process under the auspices of the UN General Assembly for a UN 2020 summit that considers comprehensive reform measures, including the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly."

The document acknowledges the ongoing international Campaign for a UNPA that has received support of more than 1,500 member of parliament across party lines, among others. It also refers to endorsements of a UNPA by the European Parliament, the Latin-American Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament.

"The World Federation of United Nations Associations not only brings together the world's strongest supporters of the UN but also those who perhaps have the best understanding of how the world organization operates. Their call for a UN Parliamentary Assembly has great significance," said Andreas Bummel, the UNPA Campaign's Secretary-General. "The pressure on the UN and its member states to finally consider this proposal is growing," he stated.

Top image: WFUNA plenary by UNA-Denmark/Twitter

Read WFUNA's resolution

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Hazel Henderson

As a longtime enthusiastic supporter of the United Nations as the world’s best convener and promoter of global democratic standards and norms for humanity’s common future on this planet, I am honored to support the international Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly. A Parliamentary Assembly will augment all the positive global programs embodied in the UN Sustainable Development Goals which I support and promote, as well as the UN Principles of Responsible Investment, of which our company is a signatory member.