Conference in Geneva calls for steps towards a world parliament

An international closed meeting organised by the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) for human rights workers, representatives of NGOs and politicians from 18 countries at the Palais des Nations in Geneva recommended last week that the United Nations should have an elected parliament. As the human rights organisation said on Tuesday, a parliamentary assembly of this kind would help to make the „United Nations and other international organisations more democratic, more transparent and more accountable”. „In the political bodies of the UNO, the World Bank group, the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund it is only representatives of the national government executives who make the decisions. In the course of globalisation this is no longer enough to vest the decisions of these organisations with an adequate degree of legitimacy”, is the criticism. A parliamentary body on the other hand would „reflect the political spectrum in the UN member countries because representatives of opposition parties also have a voice there.”

„It is our aim that minorities and victims of severe breaches of human rights be given a better international hearing through parliamentary representatives in a UNO parliament”, said the President of the GfbV International, Tilman Zülch. Governments would not be able to intervene directly in the deliberations and hearings of a parliamentary assembly. For this reason this body would have „considerably more leeway” and be less susceptible to „national power interests”. „We consider that the human rights committee of a parliamentary assembly would be much more effective than the present UN Human Rights Council”, said the GfbV expert for questions concerning the UNO, Andreas Bummel.

A parliamentary assembly must be seen as the first step on the way to setting up a directly elected world parliament. The conference in Geneva was the highest point so far in an international campaign for a UNO parliament. The campaign is borne by over 400 parliamentarians and 100 NGO’s from all over the world. The Society for Threatened Peoples is one of the initiators.

At this closed meeting there were representatives from Germany, Switzerland, USA, Italy, Haiti, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Mauritius, (Italien wird hier zweimal genannt) Spain, Sweden, Great Britain, Azerbaijan, Israel and New Zealand.

Further information on the campaign:

http://www.unpacampaign.org/