DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by the Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly [highlights by CPNN]

At an event convened by Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) in The Hague on May 15, representatives of regional parliaments, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) and academia came together to explore mechanisms to increase democratic representation and accountability of the United Nations.

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The Roundtable that was hosted by the House of Representatives of the Netherlands with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands provided an opportunity to exchange ideas and to assess options like the creation of a UNPA or an improvement of existing mechanisms. The opening remarks were delivered by the even’s co-hosts Pieter Omtzigt, a member of the Dutch House of Representatives, and Nico Schrijver, member of the Dutch Senate, both of which are also members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The first panel was started with a presentation by Andreas Bummel, coordinator of the UNPA Campaign, who stressed the need for creating a formal parliamentary body at the UN that would provide new space for members of parliament to be involved in the UN’s work. He said that the campaign’s goal was a UNPA vested with distinctive rights and powers that could be created, in a first step, by the UN General Assembly based on Article 22 of the UN Charter. He suggested that the apportionment of seats should be based on the principle of “degressive propotionality” which means that on a sliding scale smaller states would get more seats per capita than larger ones.

According to the second speaker, Anda Filip, Director of External Relations at IPU, the IPU already attempts to bring the voices of parliaments and parliamentarians to the UN and its agenda. She said that going through the IPU as an institution separate from the UN would maintain a clear separation of powers and promote independence and autonomy. She suggested that existing tools provided for by the IPU should be strengthened instead of creating new institutions.

Hans Köchler, Professor emeritus at the University of Innsbruck and President of International Progress Organization, elaborated on the democratic deficit at the UN, in particular with respect to the Security Council and the veto privilege of its five permanent members. He argued that a UNPA would represent an important step towards making the UN more democratic and raised the idea that such a new body might be better suited to monitor and oversee actions and decisions of the Security Council.

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Proposals for Reform of the United Nations: Are they sufficiently radical?

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Subsequently, Charles Santiago, a member of parliament from Malaysia, shared his experiences as legislator and chair of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) whose objective is to investigate and raise awareness of human rights violations in the Asian South Eastern states. In particular, he elaborated on the difficulties of establishing an inter-parliamentary assembly with consultative powers within ASEAN, given that member states insist on the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs.

The second session on lessons-learned from regional parliaments and organizations was opened and facilitated by Margareta Cederfelt, member of parliament from Sweden, Chair of PGA’s International Council and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). As an introduction, Mrs. Cederfelt briefly explained the mandate of the OSCE which consists of 57 participating states from Canada to Mongolia.

Among other things, the panelists discussed the added benefits of regional parliaments and the challenges that arise from working in both regional and national parliament at the same time. According to Felipe Michelini, a former member of parliament from Uruguay and of the Latin-American Parliament, it was PGA and not regional parliaments that helped mobilize legislators so that Latin-American countries would join the International Criminal Court despite pressure from the US against doing so.

The Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), Bernadette Lahai, shared her experiences in the African parliamentary body and as a member of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, a transregional parliamentary body created to democratize the framework of development cooperation. She discussed the structure of PAP, how members are elected and the roles they fulfill. Based on this she provided examples of the roles that a UNPA could play such as monitoring implementation processes and making recommendations to the UN General Assembly. She suggested that the preparations for the creation of a new parliamentary body at the UN would benefit from studying the powers and operations of existing international parliamentary bodies.

The second session ended with remarks from Niels Blokker, a Professor at Leiden University and former Deputy Legal Advisor at the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs, who presented his research on different types of international parliamentary bodies. With regard to a UNPA he raised questions such as whether each state should have the same number of MPs or if it should vary by population size or whether or not the body should have budgetary or legislative powers.

The event was concluded by Mr. Schrijver and David Donat Cattin, Secretary General of PGA. As PGA’s summary of the event points out, they highlighted “the necessity of parliamentary representation in the form of a decision-making or advisory body to the UN.” At the same time, they emphasized the importance of further examining existing methods and their effectiveness. Participants were called upon to engage with this topic at the national and international levels, in particular, to determine which existing models of regional parliamentary bodies may serve as inspiration for a UNPA.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament

A Parliamentary Action Plan for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World was released at the United Nations in New York today, during the final few days of UN negotiations on a Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons. The release of the plan also came one day after the North Korean test of an inter-continental ballistic missile, which has raised the nuclear tensions in the North East Asian region. The Action Plan, which has been developed by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament [PNND] in consultation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), includes 14 key nuclear disarmament actions that can be taken by parliamentarians.

Some of these are actions that parliamentarians from States Parties to the forthcoming nuclear prohibition treaty can take to implement the treaty in their parliaments. These are all non-nuclear States, as the nuclear-armed and allied States are not participating in the prohibition treaty.

Other actions in the Plan are those that parliamentarians from nuclear armed and allied States can take to reduce the risks of nuclear weapons being used, and move their governments to adopt incremental disarmament measures, phase out the reliance on nuclear deterrence and negotiate for nuclear disarmament.

And some actions in the Plan are those that parliamentarians from all States can take to build public awareness and political will for the achievement of a nuclear-weapon-free world.

The plan draws from reports and resolutions on nuclear disarmament adopted by the IPU in 2009 and 2014, as well as resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and a series of consultations undertaken by PNND in key capitals and UN centres during 2016-2017.

Actions by parliamentarians to implement the nuclear prohibition treaty

The Plan encourages parliamentarians from States that join the forthcoming nuclear weapons prohibition treaty, to implement the treaty in their parliaments by prohibiting the threat, use, production, stationing and testing of nuclear weapons in their territories.

Such actions would not impact directly on the policies and practices of the nuclear-armed States, but would reinforce a norm against nuclear weapons.

Impact on the nuclear-armed States: transit and nuclear investments

The Action Plan suggests that States Parties to the nuclear prohibition treaty could also adopt measures that are not specifically required by the nuclear prohibition treaty, but which would would impact considerably on the nuclear armed States. These measures include prohibiting transit of nuclear weapons through their territories (ports, airfields, territorial waters and airspace), and prohibiting the financing of nuclear weapons.

PNND provided information to the UN negotiations on how a national prohibition on transit of nuclear weapons can work, drawing primarily from the experience of the New Zealand nuclear weapons ban. See The Ban Treaty, Transit and National Implementation.

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Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

A UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament: Distraction or progress?

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PNND has joined with the World Future Council and International Peace Bureau in a project ‘Move the Nuclear Weapons Money’ which provides information about parliamentary actions in nuclear-armed States to cut nuclear weapons budgets and re-direct these funds to economic, social and environmental needs (including protecting the climate); parliamentary actions in non-nuclear States to end investments of public funds and banks in corporations manufacturing nuclear weapons and their dedicated delivery systems.

Other actions by parliamentarians in nuclear armed and allied states

The Action plan includes a number of actions that parliamentarians in nuclear-armed and allied States can take to reduce the risks of nuclear weapons use and advance nuclear disarmament measures. These includes proposals on de-alerting, no-first use, stockpile reduction, verification, transparency, establishing additional nuclear-weapon-free zones, and supporting nuclear disarmament negotiations.

The Plan includes examples of such actions in national parliaments and in inter-parliamentary bodies including the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Nuclear-Weapon Free Zones

The Action Plan reports on proposals and parliamentary actions for the establishment of nuclear-weapon free zones in the Middle East, Europe and North East Asia.

The NE Asia proposal is particularly relevant as a possible solution to the nuclear crisis unfolding in the region over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile development.

UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament

The Action Plan focuses on key multilateral forums where parliamentarians can advance nuclear disarmament, including the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conferences, and the United Nations.

The Plan highlights the unique opportunity provided by the 2018 UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament. Similar UN High Level Conferences (HLCs) over the past few years have been very successful in adopting global agreements on sustainable development goals (2015), climate change (2016), refugees and migrants (2016) and oceans (2017).

The 2018 HLC on Nuclear Disarmament could build considerable political will for nuclear disarmament, if governments attend at the ‘highest level’. It could provide a forum to elevate the nuclear prohibition treaty, make progress on nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament measures by the nuclear armed States, and advance regional measures such as nuclear-weapon-free zones in the Middle East and North-East Asia.

Public awareness and political will

The Action Plan also includes a number of actions that parliamentarians can take to increase public awareness and build political will for nuclear disarmament. These include:

– Commemorating key dates including the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons;

– Endorsing the joint statement of mayors, parliamentarians and religious leaders for nuclear disarmament;

– Supporting peace and disarmament education in schools and communities including through peace parks and museums.