Uttalanden

The Mercosur Parliament supports the establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly as a means to create a citizen-based democratic world order. As a regional international parliament we very well understand the challenges but also the tremendous benefits that this endeavour entails.

Ignacio Mendoza Unzaín, President of the Parliament of Mercosur (Mercosur trade bloc), 2012

Global crises require global solutions. Occasional summits, intergovernmental agreements and international cooperation are not enough. For instance, the globalization of finance requires new functional and democratic institutions as well as an elected body capable of coordinating their activities and determining the contents of international law, a world parliament.

Heikki Patomäki, Professor of World Politics at the University of Helsinki, Finland, 2012

The United Nations is dysfunctional and unable to act. I strongly support the creation of a democratically elected UN Parliamentary Assembly. This is what is desperately needed to give the world's citizens a true voice.

Abdulbaset Sieda, President of the Syrian National Council in exile in Sweden, 2012

Moçambique bör stödja skapandet av en global parlamentarisk församling inom Förenta Nationerna. Som ung parlamentariker från Afrika stöder jag detta underbara initiativ. Vi lever i en "global by" där varje nation och varje världsmedborgare borde bjudas in för att göra och säga något för en bättre värld.

Ivone Soares, Deputy President of the Commission on International Relations of the Parliament of Mozambique, 2012

Germany and Europe should support the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations.

Rita Süssmuth, Former President of the German Parliament (from 1988 to 1998), 2012

Today democracy has become the touchstone for legitimate governance at the local, provincial and national levels. Perhaps the international system's greatest anomaly in our age of globalization is that it is not yet organized along democratic lines. It is time for a global parliamentary assembly.

Andrew Strauss, Professor of Law at Widener University School of Law, United States, 2010

To the extent that the establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly would bring more transparency, oversight and effective governance to the Secretariat and other structures of the United Nations, I would support its establishment.

Benjamin Cardin, U.S. Senator, 2011

It is remarkable that major international organizations do not yet possess any formal parliamentary organ, not even in an advisory capacity. In particular, this is the case with regard to the UN, the WTO, the World Bank and the IMF. A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly would contribute significantly to overcoming an ever-growing legitimacy gap at the international level.

Claudia Kissling, Board member of the Committee for a Democratic U.N. in Berlin, 2011

The Pan-African Parliament ... stresses the potential of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly to increase the efficiency, transparency and democratic character of the United Nations and international co-operation; ... notes that in a first preliminary step [the assembly] could be composed of national parliamentarians, but that eventually it should be directly elected by universal adult suffrage.

Pan-African Parliament, From a resolution in support of a UN Parliamentary Assembly adopted by the Pan-African Parliament on October 24, 2007

So many of my current causes, projects and interventions in the Parliament of Canada have a single common denominator - the urgent need to transform the United Nations System, to make it more accountable and more responsive to the collective needs, and rights, of the world's citizens. A UN Parliamentary Assembly would be an important step in the right direction.

Roméo Dallaire, Canadian Senator, former force commander of the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda, 2008