The trend of the globalization of public policy issues will continue and cannot be ignored. It is necessary to build democratic principles into global governance. The creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly composed of national legislators could be part of the solution.
Mike Moore, Former Director-General of the World Trade Organization and former Prime Minister of New Zealand, 2009
The establishment of parliamentary assemblies in the Bretton Woods Institutions, the WTO, and the UN seems worth trying as a first and relatively modest building block of a democratization of global governance.
Anne Peters, Professor for International and Public Law at the University of Basel, 2009
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
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
Vi måste främja en demokratisering av globaliseringen innan globaliseringen förstör grunderna för nationell och internationell demokrati. Upprättandet av en parlamentarisk församling inom FN har kommit att bli ett ovärderligt steg för att uppnå demokratisk kontroll över globaliseringen.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Tidigare generalsekreterare för FN, 2007
We are struggling badly in the world, and we have not adopted a proper solution to our problems. In order to have a globally organized world, we also need global structures. We need a global parliament.
Lech Wałęsa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, co-founder of Solidarność and President of Poland 1990-95, 2004
Parliamentary oversight of the multilateral system at the global level should be progressively expanded. We propose the creation of a Parliamentary Group concerned with the coherence and consistency between global economic, social and environmental policies, which should develop an integrated oversight of major international organizations.
Tarjo Halonen, From the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization co-chaired by Tarjo Halonen, President of Finland (in the picture), and Benjamin Mkapa, President of Tanzania, 2004
In the future, I see a World Parliament in which every human being will be represented by a process of free elections. It will foster a culture of peace in which war will be unthinkable. It will promote an increasing awareness of the spiritual dimensions of human beings.
Frank K. Kelly, Author and peace activist, founder of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, speechwriter for U.S. presidential campaigns, 2002
Makt finns på den internationella nivån vare sig vi gillar det eller ej. Ett parlament för planeten handlar inte om att flytta ytterligare makt från nationalstaten eller från dess medborgare, utan det handlar om att demokratisera de maktstrukturer som redan etablerats överstatligt.
George Monbiot, English writer, columnist and political activist, 2002
Då alltfler frågor i allt högre grad kräver globala lösningar ... behöver vi stärka institutionerna för globalt beslutsfattande och göra dem mer ansvariga inför de människor som de påverkar. Denna tankegång leder i riktningen av en världsgemenskap med en egen direktvald lagstiftande församling.
Peter Singer, Moral philosopher, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, 2002