Promoting interests of small States
M Mohsin Iqbal
Today, the world is facing a trial of international co-operation and
multilateralism. There is a greater need than ever to find global
solutions to global problems such as poverty, communicable diseases,
environmental threats, acts of terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass
destruction, organized crime and armed conflicts. United Nations and
other international as well as regional forums must meet these global
challenges together and strive to give the citizens of the world a safer
and more prosperous life. A life with dignity for all is essential for
which the United Nations must be a stronger and more effective actor on
the world scene. In this regard elected representative of the people
around the world along with United Nations could make a significant
contribution by bridging the democracy gap in international relations
through enhancing Inter-Parliamentary Co-operation and Diplomacy to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals 2015.
Parliaments have a key role to play in scrutinizing the policies set by
their governments and carried out by their representatives in fora such
as the United Nations. Parliamentarians can make an immense contribution
to the work of the UN through Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) support at
conferences, summits, special sessions and other events on key global
issues and through its work in familiarizing lawmakers with the UN and
the Organization relates to the needs of their constituencies.
Parliamentarians should assume an active role in ensuring the
implementation of UN decisions by member states. Apart from exercising
their legislative responsibilities, parliamentarian can play an
important role in spreading public awareness of the decisions. That can
be achieved by encouraging debates on issues discussed at the United
Nations in National Parliaments as well as Regional Parliamentary
Assemblies.
Parliaments and their members should be involved at an early stage in
discussions and negotiations leading to international agreements and
treaties. It enables them to understand the complexity of the issues at
stake and thus places them in a better position to translate the outcome
of international negotiations into legislative and other Parliamentary
action. Parliaments are also important opinion makers and can build
national support for international action. Parliamentarians can tackle
many of the world’s challenges, including poverty, underdevelopment,
diseases, environmental degradation, unequal distribution of resources
and human rights abuses.
The IPU could set up specialized structures whereby members of
Parliamentary committees working on specific issues like Trade, Finance,
Human Rights, Development or Labor would interact regularly with the
international organizations mandated to address the same issues, like
WTO, UNDP, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, etc. The IPU has a
clear role to play in encouraging Parliaments around the world to take
more of an interest in the work of the UN and in publicizing it to their
citizens. By bringing together Parliamentarians from around the world,
the IPU is a unique forum for them both to exchange views and to channel
their concerns into the UN.
It is essential that cooperation between peoples be reinforced.
Parliamentarians are very well placed to advocate such cooperation.
Moreover, Parliaments can provide the vital political support to the
construction of a more peaceful and prosperous world. Therefore the
promotion of peace and cooperation among peoples through parliamentary
channels is more necessary than ever before.
By promoting closer cooperation between parliaments, by proclaiming loud
and clear the universal value of the fundamental human right to be
represented by an elected person, and by alerting governments to the
need to associate representative institutions with international
cooperation, the Inter-Parliamentary Union is making a valuable
contribution to greater understanding of the role of parliaments in
bringing nations closer together. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
must make all necessary efforts to strengthen the United Nations and
their institutions, by co-coordinating its activities in the field of
consolidation of peace, security, economy and fair trade. It is not a
secret that the IPU has a lot of experience in the resolution of such
problems by organizing many special conferences in a number of different
fields. On the agenda of such conferences are many of the vital problems
facing the contemporary world.
Parliaments must be active in international affairs not only through
inter-parliamentary cooperation and parliamentary diplomacy, but also by
contributing to monitoring international negotiations, overseeing the
enforcement of what is adopted by governments and ensuring national
compliance with international norms and the rule of law. Similarly,
parliament must be more vigilant in scrutinizing the activities of
international organizations and providing input into their
deliberations. Parliament embodies democracy and is, the central
institution through which the will of the people is expressed, laws are
passed and government is held to account.
Therefore the democratization of international relations and their
transformation in the interests of fair and mutually beneficial
co-operation should be main task of the parliaments. Therefore giving a
parliamentary dimension to the United Nations is the only mean to
achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG). |
