In the clamour of events surrounding the UN General Assembly, one that has been receiving increasing attention is the Annual Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations.
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| 2003 Parliamentary Hearing at UN Headquarters, New York. |
As the United Nations reaches out to new stakeholders to help it grapple with the major objectives on the international agenda, parliaments are a natural choice for such a partnership. They are constitutionally endowed with legislative powers that entitle them to approve national budgets, reallocate funds or cut them as they see fit. They oversee action by Governments and their observance of international commitments. Parliaments also play a key role in ensuring broad support from national constituencies for the multilateral agenda and in galvanizing effective action on their home territory.
These are the principles that have guided the steady development of relations between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). From the Cooperation Agreement signed between the two organizations in 1996 to the permanent observer status in the General Assembly granted to the IPU in 2002, new and imaginative forms of cooperative action have been set in motion.
At the First Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments in New York in August 2000, speakers pledged to provide a parliamentary dimension to international cooperation, and in particular to the work of the United Nations. This commitment was welcomed by the heads of State or Government attending the Millennium Summit in New York a few days later, who in their Millennium Declaration resolved to “strengthen further cooperation between the United Nations and national parliaments, through their world organization—the Inter-Parliamentary Union—in various fields, including peace and security, economic and social development, international law and human rights, and democracy and gender issues”.
Cooperation between the IPU and the United Nations serves to provide support to the world Organization. But members of parliament are elected to scrutinize the executive, and the parliamentary oversight role applies—or should apply—with equal force to the United Nations and other worldwide multilateral agencies. The IPU has made no secret of its conviction that the principle of democratic accountability must apply to multilateral organizations, and this, moreover, is a role the Union is being increasingly asked to assume by those organizations themselves.
The report by the UN Secretary-General on cooperation between the United Nations and the IPU, which is before the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly, reflects the dynamics of this growing cooperation. It entails practical support from parliaments for a wide range of UN projects, parliamentary meetings supporting major UN events, specialized parliamentary committees debating major issues on the international agenda, technical assistance to parliaments, often in countries emerging from conflict, and efforts to bolster respect for the human rights of members of parliament. In essence, the IPU is engaged in improving governance by making democracies work. With the recent release of the conclusions of the High-level Panel on United Nations-Civil Society Relations, these activities are gaining even greater relevance.
In mid-October 2004, the hearing at the United Nations will centre on “Disarmament to Lasting Peace: Defining the Parliamentary Role”. The agenda will address three closely related issues: arms control and disarmament, peacekeeping in the twenty-first century, and an integrated approach to peace-building. The debate will serve two purposes: help parliamentarians better understand UN decision-making processes and the status of a variety of conflict and post-conflict situations; and, conversely, make it possible for parliamentarians from a large number of countries to take a fresh look at the issues on the table and convey to UN Member States their own views born of their national experiences. |
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