LET THE VOICE OF THE CITIZENS BE HEARD IN THE UN

COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 12 Oct 2009

Politika, Serbia

The Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly has been initiated in Serbia as well.

The Committee for a Democratic United Nations, whose headquarters is in Berlin, has led since 2007 a global campaign for the reform of the UN, that is, for the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly of this organization. The patron and initiator of the project is the former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and at the global level it is supported by the European Parliament, the Pan-African Parliament, the Council of Europe, the Latin American Parliament and many others. The Parliamentary Assembly would facilitate the creation of a closer relation between individual citizens, the voters, and the world organization.

The vision of a world parliament could be realized with the establishment and development of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA). At the beginning, the UNPA would be set up within the United Nations system as a largely consultative body consisting of delegates of national parliaments.

For example, from Serbia that would be delegates from the government and the opposition bench of parliament. There would be no amendments to the United Nations Charter necessary at this phase. The Parliamentary Assembly could be established by the members of the UN General Assembly, or a Parliamentary Assembly could be formed on the basis of a new international treaty between governments. Having been established, it would receive new functions and authorities.

At some point, partial or complete direct election of the parliament members could be introduced – explained Mario Spasić, the national coordinator of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, in an interview for Politika.

According to his words, the UN General Assembly is conceived in such a way that its members are only the representatives of the ruling parties, and this reform, as he explained, aims to include the opposition and the non governmental sector into the system of global decision-making.

“In Serbia, this project was initiated on the 25th May this year, and there are plans to hold a meeting with the Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremić and the Vice-President of the Serbian government Božidar Đelić in order to make a systematic approach for the realization of the campaign. The campaign is supported by many parliamentarians, that is members of national legislatures”, said Spasić adding that the campaign is being run in Germany, USA, Argentina, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, China, India, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, etc.

He stated that there are negotiations to form in Serbia the Campaign’s Secretariat for the whole region of the western Balkans, and he expects that to happen within several months. Spasić announced that during October this year an international meeting in respect to the reform of the UN will be held in New York at which the Secretaries from all the mentioned countries will present their perspectives of the problems and the results of the campaign.

“To make the UNPA proposal visible in political debates and the media, to facilitate the creation of local networks of individuals, non-governmental organizations and parliamentarians advocating a UNPA in their sphere of influence” are just some of the objectives of this campaign, as it is stated on its official internet website. B. Malis

Translation from Serbian by Aleksandra Kostic and Irena Boskovic

GO TO ORIGINAL – FACEBOOK UNPA CAMPAIGN

 

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