Toward a World Parliament: Step by Step
by Fergus Watt

The Campaign for the Establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations has continued making steady progress.

Civil society representatives and parliamentarians active in the campaign met November 19–20 in Geneva to share recent experiences, discuss strategy and develop plans for a more robust international UN parliamentary assembly (UNPA) campaign coalition. WFM was represented at the meeting by Bill Pace, executive director at the WFM secretariat in New York, and myself.

While the UN makes slow progress in its transformation to meet the challenges of the 21st century, the creation of a UNPA would immediately provide a layer of democratic oversight and a powerful symbol of the political shared interest of the world’s citizens, as represented by a parliament.

Although a UNPA would be a consultative body at first, it would also be expected to accelerate the process of UN reform and would make the UN more accountable and more transparent. The European Parliament has played a similar catalytic role in the evolution of the European Union.

Recent campaign highlights include:

• A strong resolution in support of a UNPA passed in October by the Pan-African Parliament (see page 2);
• Publication of a substantial 37-page monograph The Case for Global Democracy: Advocating a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly by four Members of the European Parliament;
• An NGO statement coinciding with the opening of the 62nd UN General Assembly was circulated by the World Forum of Civil Society Networks – UBUNTU. Among the 38 signatories are representatives of FEMNET Africa, Forum Asia, and LATINDAD-Red LatinoAmericana sobre Deuda, Desarrollo y Derechos;
• An all-party recommendation of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (SCFAID).

The SCFAID report recalled testimony from WFM–Canada President Warren Allmand and recommended: “As part of the essential role of a reformed and strengthened United Nations in global democratic development, the Parliament of Canada should give favourable consideration to the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly.”

At the meeting in Geneva, delegates recognized that national governments of sovereign states are unlikely to become early supporters of establishing a parliamentary oversight body at the UN. Most governments would prefer that parliamentarians have little to do with UN government-to-government discussions. However, the campaign’s rapid progress generating support from among parliamentarians and VIPs provides encouragement that the campaign will be able to generate sustained political momentum. The Geneva discussions focused on generating the organizational and financial means for sustaining the international campaign.

As of November 15, the International Appeal for the Establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations has been endorsed by 1,459 persons from 106 countries, including 411 parliamentarians. For additional information, visit www.unpacampaign.org.