International News
Summer 2007-8
Pacific Islands Forum.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee has produced their report on Australia’s aid program in the Pacific. Our submission was listed as one of 37. Unfortunately, the report did not propose much in the way of concrete action. Its main recommendation was to set up a scheme of Youth Ambassadors in the region. There were also recommendations for a system of micro credit (like the Grameen Bank) in the Pacific; and for an altered tax regime for Australian companies investing in the Pacific; and that was about it.
Action:
- Propose governance in the Pacific as a research topic at CPACS. Erik Paul, who is on the CPACS research committee, has kindly offered to help in this regard.
- Prepare a submission to the Forum summit meeting next year on the need for a regular Council of Ministers, e.g. to coordinate forestry management in Melanesia. This seems a particularly urgent topic in view of the rapid destruction of tropical forests around the world, and its implications for climate change. Setting up a Council of Ministers meeting would be an easy and logical step, but also an important step towards improved regional governance;
- Explore the possibility of internships at the Forum Secretariat in Fiji, which might be of interest to our student supporters.
NATO.
Chris Hamer has written to Tiziana Stella at the Streit Institute to propose a campaign to transform NATO into a security community of democratic nations, of which Australia could become a member.
Action: A Conference on NATO reform may be arranged, in conjunction with the Streit Institute.. We would like to have propositions ready for the next Summit meeting of NATO in 2008. We need to find some funding here.
UNPA.
The worldwide campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly is proceeding, and has been endorsed by many luminaries, including the UN Sevretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon. One of our student members, Vinay Orekondy who is a postgraduate student in international relations at UNSW, has offered to act as our director for this campaign, aiming to hone his skills in advocacy and lobbying. His first aim is to get the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) to endorse the campaign. Congratulations to Vinay on his outstanding initiative.
Action.
- Join the association supporting the UNPA
- Lobby new MPs on the issue.
World Unity Day
The solstice, March 21st, has been proposed to the UN as World Unity Day/ World Citizens Day.
Action: We should mark the day with a celebration, e.g. a BBQ. Liliane has proposed the planting of a World Unity tree on that day, perhaps at the Glover Cottages (AIIA).
AUTUMN 2007
Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA)
A campaign for the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) was launched in April, led by the Committee for a Democratic UN ((CDUN). The aim is for a “gradual implementation of democratic participation and representation on the global level”. Initially the UNPA could be composed of a small number or representatives from each national parliament, and would have only an advisory role. However, the appeal suggests that over time, the assembly should be vested with “genuine rights of information, participation and control”, and could eventually be composed of directly elected members. In the long run, the campaign thus envisages the UNPA to evolve into a world parliament. “A Parliamentary Assembly would make the UN more ttransparent, more efficient and more democratic”, says former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, one of the supporters of the appeal.
More than 1000 people have registered their support for the campaign, including 378 MPs from over 70 different countries. We sent out letters and brochures promoting this campaign to all Federal parliamentarians – thanks to Michael de Mol and Hadrian Judge for helping with this. Most of the replies were merely polite acknowledgements; but Christine Milne of the Greens has indicated she will try to get in touch to discuss it. At last count, only four Parliamentarians, three of our members and a handful of others from Australia have signed up. Can we encourage everybody to lend their weight to this campaign? The appeal website is at www.unpacampaign.org
SPRING 2006
The international situation remains much as it was in our last bulletin, with even greater chaos in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a recent coup in Fiji adding to the instability in the Pacific. The UN has approved sanctions against Iran over its uranium enrichment program, but Iran remains defiant, not to say recalcitrant.
One gleam of light has appeared on the horizon, however, with the recent Congressional elections in the US delivering big gains to the Democrats. It appears that the US electorate has lost faith in the war in Iraq, and that the influence of the neoconservatives and unilateralists is on the wane. There is real hope that a similar shift in opinion may be occurring in Australia.
UNESCO Recognition
The UNESCO Executive Council has established closer relations with our sister organization, the World Citizens Registry, headquartered in France. The Registry has been registered again in UNESCO’s committee of NGOs. In the future, a relationship convenient to both parties will be developed, and the Registry will be required to give proof of its contribution towards achieving UNESCO’s goals.
UN Workshop
For the first time, the concept of a Peoples Parliament was included for discussion within the UN system. At the UN/DPI/NGO 2006 Conference in New York, September 6-8, a Peoples Assembly workshop was held as a Special Event, with presenters including Lady Rhyl Jansen, President, WFUNA, New Zealand; Benjamin Quinto, director of the Global Youth Action Network; and Susan Zipp, Chair, Global People’s Assembly. The workshop was to explore how a People’s Parliamentary Assembly, as a companion to the General Assembly under Charter Articles 22 or 7.2, could work for human security and sustainable development. The European Parliament was used as a model for gaining member support and youth involvement.
(from Doug Mattern)
Lucknow Conference
The Seventh International Conference of Chief Justices and Global Symposium, held in Lucknow in December 2006, proved historic in many ways. For one, for the first time in the history of this annual event, the Chief Justices got together and drafted a resolution in response the to the appeal by 31,000 City Montessori School (CMS} children asking the World Judiciary to ensure a safe and healthy future for world's two billion children and generations yet unborn.
The Resolution of Chief Justices - as the Judges termed it - urged the participating Judges to keep in mind the best interests of children whenever delivering a judgement in any case that came before their Court. It also called upon the Judges to disseminate the Resolution and the objectives of the Conference to all the judicial associations they were members of whether at domestic, regional or international levels.
While friends like Liliane Metz-Krencker, Rob Wheeler and Benton Musslewhite tried to get the Chief Justices to mention democratic global governance in the Resolution of Chief Justices, the Judges refused to do so on the grounds that Judiciary must avoid even faint references to anything that might have political overtones.
On another note, the Conference had a fiery start when, the night before the official inauguration, the auditorium caught fire. The fire tenders were late in arriving due to traffic jams and for a while it looked as if the whole place would burn down. Guests came out of the Guest Houses with their luggage in tow and fortunately the fire tenders arrived and battled the fire down. Unfortunately at about 2:00 am the fire re-started from smouldering embers and this time reached the ceiling of the auditorium burning town tiles in the false roof and even damaging the air-conditioning ducts. Once more the fire tenders had to be called and the fire was doused finally at 2.45 am.
Next morning (i.e. on the 9th of December) it felt really good to see the surprised faces of guests who found everything ready for the inauguration as per schedule, in the dining hall in the basement of the Convention Centre.
From Argentina
Feliz Navidad y Paz con Ustedes en el Ano Nuevo
It's a pleasure and an honour for me to announce that -after a year of hard work- the inaugural assembly of Democracia Global - Movimiento por la Unión Sudamericana y la Democracia Global- was held yesterday in Buenos Aires (ARG). The meeting was chaired by the famous editor Isay Klasse and by Juan José Sebreli, one of the most prestigious intellectuals of this country, who was also nominated to the presidency of our Comité de Honor. By the way, I am the General Secretary and many distinguished personalities, such as Guillermo Yanco, Héctor A. García and others, are on board.
We discussed our general strategy, agreed on the importance of
joining the main groups that work with similar goals all over the world
and to continue to support the KDUN campaign for a UN Parliamentary
Assembly. More urgently, we decided to participate in the civil movement in favour of a pacific resolution of the conflict between Argentina and Uruguay over a pulp factory on the Uruguayan side of the Río Uruguay, which manifesto Democracia Global had already signed and promoted individually and collectively.
We all hope that our assembly will be a significant step forward in our efforts to contribute to the high objectives that we share with all of you.
(from Fernando Iglesias)
Fall 2006
The past year has not been a good one for world citizens. The failure of the Summit on UN Reform was recorded in our last bulletin, as was the truncation of the draft Pacific Plan.
The Middle East
We have seen continued chaos in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the rate of bombings and incidents in Iraq reaching new heights, and renewed Taliban attacks in Afghanistan.
Iran has refused to halt its nuclear enrichment program, and is widely believed to be planning to build nuclear weapons. Its President has threatened to wipe Israel off the map. President Bush has threatened military action, with rumours of even nuclear ‘bunker buster’ strikes on Iranian facilities. This would be an absolute disaster, removing the taboo on the use of nuclear weapons and rendering futile all attempts to control their proliferation. For the moment, wiser heads have prevailed, and new diplomatic efforts are being made to resolve the impasse. But the Iranian president is refusing to budge, and the crisis remains unresolved.
The Pacific
There have been outbreaks of violence in the ‘arc of instability’ to our North, with violent riots in Honiara and Dili, renewed threats of conflict in Fiji, and instability in New Guinea. All the good work that Australia congratulated itself on doing in East Timor and the Solomons seems to have gone up in smoke. All this only highlights the need for better governance in the Pacific region, a long-term Australian involvement, and the need for a Pacific Community or partnership to speed the process, which forms one of our major goals.
Virtual Congress on World Citizenship and Democratic Global Governance
A web-based group called the Community of World Citizens (CWC) has been founded by Josep Ortega, and carries on a very active email discussion. They have organized a ‘Virtual Congress’ on World Citizenship and Democratic Global Governance, to run from July 1-31, 2006. The purpose of the Congress is to share views on global governance and how to advance towards it. It will take place via an interactive website where each paper will have its own discussion forum. One of the goals of the Congress is to develop a common strategy statement. A number of prominent leaders of the world movement have promised to take part. The deadline for submissions is June 15th
We have signed as an Association the Manifesto for World Citizenship and Democratic Global Governance developed by the CWC. Individual members who would like to sign the Manifesto or take part in the Congress should visit http://www.worldunitydays.net