UNPA Update

Five hundred lawmakers call for world parliament

by worldlywise | July 1, 2008 at 08:02 pm | 81 views | 2 comments

Little more than a year after its launch, an international campaign to bring democracy to the United Nations has achieved a landmark.

“Over 500 members of parliament from over 80 countries have now joined the international Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, or UNPA,” said Andreas Bummel, head of the UNPA Campaign Secretariat, headquartered in Berlin. “The enthusiastic response of these politicians demonstrates that lawmakers elected at the national level readily appreciate the logic of having elected representatives at the global level and now want to take action,” he added.

The UNPA's parliamentary endorsers (including Canada's Roméo Dallaire) have all signed the campaign's appeal (viewable at http://en.unpacampaign.org/appeal/index.php) which asserts that solutions to the world's major economic, environmental, humanitarian and other problems require that "all human beings engage in collaborative efforts,” including "a gradual implementation of democratic participation and representation on the global level.”

"The means to achieve this," says Fernando Iglesias, a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and the Latin American regional parliament "is an elected body at the UN."

In addition to the support of 519 current parliamentarians, the UNPA campaign has been endorsed by the European Parliament, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the Canadian House of Commons, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Pan-African Parliament and (most recently) the Latin American Parliament's Commission on Political Affairs.

The appeal was initiated by an international campaign launched in May 2007. The UN Parliamentary Assembly could be established as a consultative body, without requiring UN Charter reform. It would initially be composed of national and regional parliamentarians but at a later stage become a directly elected body.

"Anyone who believes in a more democratic world can sign the appeal by visiting www.unpacampaign.org," says Fergus Watt, Executive Director of the World Federalist Movement-Canada, a member of the UNPA Campaign steering committee. According to Watt, "a United Nations Parliamentay Assembly would help foster a sense of global community and create a powerful constituency for a United Nations system better equipped to tackle the many challenges ahead."

Mondial's 25th now posted

WFMC has now produced 25 issues of Mondial, our periodical.
You can download all issues, including the most recent one, from our website.

CANADA in AFGHANISTAN: Change Course, Change Outcomes

OUR AFGHANISTAN MISSION: CANADA CAN DO BETTER

A Brief to the Independent Panel on Canada’s Future Role in Afghanistan and to the Canadian Government

WFMC submits a new brief outlining a series of recommendations towards Canadian policy in Afghanistan.

Introduction: Canada cannot wait until 2009 to change its policies on Afghanistan. Thus our brief is addressed to the Independent Panel, political parties and the Government. Our position concerning the Canadian mission in Afghanistan is informed by recent developments in the context of global governance. By global governance we mean the capacity to take decisions and appropriate actions on behalf of humanity in a world without a global government but with an array of world institutions. Understanding changes in global governance helps Canadians see the context in which we must conduct our foreign policy. In this brief we focus on foreign policy principles conforming to the global context as well as an analysis of the existing situation in Afghanistan. Together these have led to our policy proposals.

See:
html format: http://www.worldfederalistscanada.org/changecourse.htm
pdf format: http://www.worldfederalistscanada.org/changecourse.pdf

Isn't the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly just another variation of 'One World Government' and the destruction of democracy at the national level?


The choice is not between the nation-state and 'One World Government'. The choice is whether we will have democratic processes at all levels including the global one or whether we will let the unelected, unaccountable bodies strangle democracy at the world level and all the levels below.

The UNPA introduces for the first time the idea that citizens should be directly represented at the United Nations. It is a modest proposal because the UNPA would start as an advisory body, but it is revolutionary in its implications. Firstly it introduces the concept of global community and the global good. Second it is a force for further change in a UN system that has ossified with the current power structure.

Certainly some will try to co-opt this new parliamentary assembly, will try to limit its powers, and to marginalize it as much as possible. But they will fail. Remember that the first parliaments were advisory bodies to all-powerful kings who were forced to yield to public pressure but certainly did not intend to give up their omnipotent kingly powers. Yet, in fact, over time the kings had to give way to representative government. The UNPA is not a miracle nor a panacea, but it is a tool that we can use to fight for our idea of democracy at the global level. It deserves the wholehearted support of activists. The ones that will oppose this most strongly are those not at all enamoured of the prospect of losing power to any kind of democratic assembly.

A Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations would symbolize new concsciousness, jumpstart reform of global governance, and empower citizen perspectives at the UN.

WFMC Council Meeting

Council met in Toronto (and by conference phone) on Saturday October 27.

WFMC Blog added to our home page

This blog is now accessible from the WFMC homepage:
http://www.worldfederalistscanada.org/