Report on visit of Andreas Bummel, global director of the campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly, and Director of the new association Democracy Without Borders.
(The Canberra component of Andreas’ visit was organized due to the amazing and tireless efforts of Pera Wells, for which much thanks!)
Symposium “Towards a more democratic United Nations”, Thursday 5 September 9.30am–1.00pm
Weston Theatre, JG Crawford Building, ANU
A Symposium sponsored by World Citizens Association of Australia, Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU Institute for Global Peace and Sustainable Governance
Chairs: Pera Wells, Former Secretary-General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, and Lindy Joubert, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, and founding Director of the inaugural UNESCO Observatory at The University of Melbourne Speakers: Andreas Bummel, Global coordinator of the international Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, and Executive Director of Democracy Without Borders “Towards a World Parliament: A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly” Andreas told us about his very impressive campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. He began by highlighting the misrepresentative nature of the present UN, where in theory a 2/3 majority of the General Assembly could be assembled by the world’s smallest states making up just 8.4% of the world’s population (which means the great powers will never allow the Assembly to have real power itself). He then talked about how our present system is made up of an assembly of sovereign states, whereas we would like to see a system of global democracy based on the individual citizen, and ‘one man, one vote’: a world parliament. He then gave us a brief outline of his scheme for a UNPA, as the first step towards an eventual world parliament. It could be set up as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly by a vote of the Assembly itself, without requiring any change in the UN Charter. It would initially be made of MPs elected in their home parliaments, and nominated or selected to take part in the UNPA. It would also initially have a largely advisory role, but hopefully also an oversight role, to the General Assembly. The idea is that it could evolve over time into a genuine world parliament, following the example set by the European parliament. Ramesh Thakur, Former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. “Minding the Gaps: The Global Governance of Nuclear Arms Control” Ramesh talked about five ‘gaps’ in global governance, giving rise to a crisis in the world order, carrying a risk of catastrophic collapse. He referred particularly to the two major problems of climate change and nuclear weapons. The gaps he enumerated as:- Knowledge: What are the facts, and how should they be explained?
- Normative: the nuclear-armed states plus their allies, including Australia, start from where we are today and therefore forever postpone the disarmament destination as beyond reach. He did note, however, the nuclear ban treaty as a hopeful sign. It is the first humanitarian treaty adopted by the ‘periphery’ to control the behaviour of the ‘core’, and the first example of the UNGA defying the UNSC on security policy
- Policy: he referred to Article VI of the NPT: ‘Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament’. Yet the nuclear powers continue to ignore this undertaking.
- Institutional: he referred to deficits in the NPT, and the lack of any enforcement mechanisms;
- Compliance: e.g. the US exit from the Joint agreement with Iran. We must either reform the Security Council, or build a new body that is fit for purpose.
- The theme, “The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism.”
- UN@75 – The UN Secretariat’s ambitious plan for “global dialogues” on “The future we want, the United Nations we need.”
- A UN Parliamentary Network (under Charter Article 22)
- A UN Global Partnership that engages civil society organizations and the business community
- An empowered UN Peacebuilding Council (in place of the UN Trusteeship Council with a special focus on Prevention)
- Revamping UN-G20 relations through a new “G20 +”
- Expansion of the Security Council (short and medium-term proposals)