Our activities include:
Campaign for a United Nation Parliamentary Assembly
We are supporting the campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly.
We have participated in the campaign initiated by the Committee for a Democratic United Nations for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA). We have mailed out a letter and pamphlet to all Federal parliamentarians, asking for their support. Vinay Orekondy, a student of international relations at UNSW, has kindly volunteered to coordinate our campaign on this issue.
You can show your support by signing an appeal on the UNPA website, click here to sign up
The Pacific Plan
There is an ongoing trend around the world towards regional integration, following the example of the European Union (EU). We see this as a step on the way towards global integration, and a trend to be welcomed and encouraged.
In our region, the future of the South Pacific Forum, which comprises 16 Pacific Island states including Australia and New Zealand, has been under discussion recently - see documents referred to below. The possibility of forming a Pacific Community or common market has been raised, and even a South Pacific Union, or political community, following broadly the track marked out by the EU. We support these ideas whole-heartedly, and we made a submission to this effect while the new 'Pacific Plan' was being prepared. We will continue to support new initiatives along these lines whenever we can, as a major focus of the Association. This is a more local issue where we can perhaps have more impact and see more immediate outcomes than on more global issues.
Documents on the Pacific Plan:
- Eminent Persons Group Review
- The Pacific Plan can be found on the Pacific Island Forum website
- Address 'The Future of Regionalism in the Pacific', by Tuila'epa Sailele, Prime Minister of Samoa, chairman of the Forum (2004-5).
- Our submission on the draft Pacific Plan.
A Community of Democracies
Chris Hamer is particularly interested in the opportunity now presenting itself to transform NATO into a worldwide Community of Democratic Nations, which could be the starting point for an eventual democratic world federation, following an evolutionary path like the European Union.
Europe was "not built all at once, or according to a single plan", as the Schuman Declaration puts it. It evolved from the nucleus of the European Coal and Steel Community, founded by a smaller group, 'the Six', according to the ideas of Jean Monnet. We need to find a way of emulating this evolutionary process for the world community. A treaty forming a Community of Democracies might be the way to go, and could encompass both NATO and the OECD. In the recent Presidential campaign in the US, John McCain talked of a 'League of Democracies', and Madeleine Albright talked of a 'Community of Democracies', so there would be some sympathy for such ideas on both sides of politics in the US.
Education
We are developing academic courses on topics concerning international governance in the 21st century.
Daryl Le Cornu, our new Education Program Director, is interested in promoting knowledge and understanding of the UN and other global institutions. He is involved in writing material for the module on 'World Order' in the HSC Legal Studies syllabus in New South Wales, and for the 'United Nations' module in the Modern History syllabus. The history of the European Union is an important topic that needs to be included in the HSC syllabus.
Chris Hamer is delivering a general education course entitled "International Governance in the 21st Century", which addresses the need for improved global governance to deal with our pressing global problems, at the University of New South Wales.
In the future, we will campaign for a Centre of International Governance and Law to be established at one of our major universities.
Bangladesh Aid Project
We are undertaking an overseas aid project in Bangladesh to help people whose homes and livelihoods have been washed away by river flooding. Some thirty small scholarships have been awarded to help the children of these people obtain an education, and a school has even been set up, with five teachers and some 100 pupils, in a shoestring project led by Dr. Wali Islam, with help from the WCAA. We have recently been granted charitable status, allowing us to solicit tax-deductible donations for this work.
We welcome contributions or suggestions for further actions and activities from any member of the community.
