Around 60 events organized all over the world for the Global Week of Action for a World Parliament, which took place on October 17- 24, 2013, are not negligible at all. The action week was launched in Brussels with an international meeting of the UNPA Campaign1 on October 16-17, in a highly symbolic location, the European Parliament (EP), and hosted by the Member of the European Parliament Jo Leinen.
In fact, the EP is considered as the symbol of supranational democracy, as its members represent the European citizens, not their country: this makes of the EP an experiment of a new transnational democracy, and it is often considered as an example for other regional organizations in the world, and for a future World Parliamentary Assembly. This was resumed plainly by Mr. Leinen, when during the meeting he said that once you come to supporting the idea of a democratic and federal Europe, because you understand how ridiculous national borders can be, the leap to support global democracy is closely at hand. This makes all the more significant that the UNPA International Meeting was opened by the remarks of three eminent MEPs, who brought the support of their respective political families: Elmar Brok for the centreright EPP group, Andrew Duff for the liberals, and Jo Leinen for the socialists. Moreover, also the EP President Martin Schulz welcomed the meeting with a message. He wrote that the European Parliament ‘may serve as a model’, because ‘what once began as an advisory body composed of national parliamentarians is a directly elected legislature today, even if the development is still ongoing.’
The 2013 international meeting was preceded by four other meetings: in Buenos Aires in 2010; in New York in 2009; in Brussels in 2008; and in Geneva in 2007. Since the start of the campaign and the first international meeting the support has been growing, as claimed by the Secretary- General of the UNPA Campaign Andreas Bummel. He reported that people from 153 countries – among which more than 860 parliamentarians and over 370 NGOs – signed the appeal for a World Parliament. Actually, the relevance of this topic in the current debate on the upcoming settlement of a new international order is highlighted by the importance that the United Nations itself has conferred to it. In fact, with the resolution No. 18/6 of September 2011 the UN Human Rights Council decided to mandate an Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order. The designated expert is Prof. Dr. Alfred de Zayas, who brought his ideas and enthusiasm to the UNPA meeting in Brussels. Dr. Zayas not only affirmed that ‘Civil society is entitled to more space, and it must vindicate its right to be heard. One promising avenue of giving such space to the citizens of the planet is the establishment of a World Parliamentary Assembly’, but he also said that his work as Independent Expert builds upon, among others, the work of Professor Schwartzberg – who recently published the book Transforming the United Nations System – and the expertise of Mr. Bummel, both leading supporters of the UNPA Campaign and members of the World Federalist Movement.
Dr. Zayas claimed that ‘education in human rights and civil duties should enable the public to understand the political process as a daily commitment to values such as respect for the opinions of others, tolerance, compassion and solidarity’. Besides, the “human” side of world citizenship and world democracy was raised often enough during the debates, so that it is impossible to think that this can be considered as secondary. In particular, the debates highlighted the need to raise the tangible issues – such as food shortage and imbalances in wealth distribution – alongside the more theoretical ones. Answering to a question about how to overcome the differences among the countries around the world in order to unite everyone of them under one World Parliament, MEP Isabella Lövin beautifully said that ‘we are all human beings and the present situation is unsustainable’, convinced that a World Parliament could bring about a rapprochement of people from around the world and thus a better understanding of the present situation and how to change it.
Nonetheless, the theoretical dimension of the creation of a World Parliament is not secondary, especially when considering that there is not one vision of democracy, but many, and the creation of a new transnational body accountable to world citizens must consider this, as underlined by several activists during the debates. Antonio Vigilante, the UN Representative to the EU, rightly stated that the technical details of this new structure are as important as the final objective, because the aim of the UNPA Campaign is not to create a symbolic World Parliament, but a truly democratic body, which can be hold accountable and which has real decisional powers. This becomes crystal clear in the words of Mr. Leinen, when he affirms that the UNPA cannot seek some kind of observatory status at the United Nations. A UNPA would be the citizens’ house and the sole fact to be relegated to the rank of observer would be a humiliation. For this reason, advocating for a World Parliament ‘is really not the job of governments’, according to Mr. Leinen, as they would naturally resist. This objective can only be pursued with a bottom-up movement, starting from the citizens’ representatives.
Therefore, the idea to launch a Global Week of Action for a World Parliament aims at mobilizing citizens from all around the world, in order to show that there is a global and transversal movement, which asks for a better world governance, to solve common problems, in the citizens’ interest and with a citizens’ mandate. The fact that some of the best action reports come from Palestine are a clear evidence that this campaign is not led by only one side of the world, and that there are thorough and urgent problems that need a solution. Activists from more than fifty cities all over the world participated to this Week of Action: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Dubai, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Poland, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Uganda, Uruguay, the United Kingdom and the U.S. are only some of the countries involved. In Italy, a Member of the Parliament, Federica Mogherini, presented a resolution to engage the Italian government to support the UNPA campaign. The resolution was undersigned by over 30 MPs, and Ms. Mogherini sent a letter of support to the organizers of the Global Week of Action.
In Brussels, the participants to the Fifth International Meeting approved the Brussels declaration named “Toward a democratic and equitable international order”. This is a road map, which settles 2023 as the final stage to reach the goal of the UNPA campaign, with possible intermediate steps. Namely, between 2013 and 2018 the roadmap foresees: the establishment of a formal network of MPs (“Parliamentary Network for UNPA”); the creation of a group of like-minded governments and parliaments from both North and South; the creation of a Commission of Experts for the campaign, to identify the key elements of a Model Statute; bilateral talks and the inclusion of more governments into the group of supporters; the presentation of this topic at the UNGA for the first time. Further, between 2019 and 2023, the group of like-minded governments and parliaments should draw a set of common positions on some key issues, in order to present a resolution to the UNGA, which should then establish a commission to discuss and review the draft Statute. Finally, on the occasion of the United Nations’ 75th anniversary in 2020, a conference should be organized – the UN Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly – with the aim of finding an agreement on the Statute, in order to make the UNPA operative in 2023.
To conclude, the international meeting in Brussels proved to be an occasion to exchange views, to debate, and to learn from each other. The true challenge, though, is to bring the more and more people to support this cause and to find ways to make their voice heard in order to encourage world leaders to undertake a comprehensive UN reform. Perhaps what MEP Gerald Häfner said during the meeting, that ‘today, the fight for international democracy can be considered as the fight for national democracy 100 years ago’, might prove to be true. In any case, what is surely true is that people must stand for their rights if they want to see them recognized. For this reason, the organizers of the UNPA campaign are already working on a new Global Week of Action for a World Parliament, due to take place in October 2014. This may be the right time to ask for a World Parliament.
1 The Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (CEUNPA) is a network of parliamentarians and non-governmental organizations advocating for a citizens’ representation at the United Nations through a popularly elected chamber. The Campaign was launched in April 2007. CEUNPA is not a formal organization, but it has a Secretariat, led by the Committee for a Democratic UN (KDUN), based in Berlin, Germany. Website: www.unpacampaign.org