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The parliament of the world? Reflections on the proposal to establish a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2020

Rossana Deplano*
Affiliation:
University of Leicester - Law School, University Road, LE1 7RH Leicester – Leicestershire, United Kingdom

Abstract

On 5 July 2018, the European Parliament adopted a recommendation to the Council endorsing a proposal for the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. Conceived as a new primary organ of the United Nations (UN), the Parliamentary Assembly aims at complementing the work of the General Assembly by giving direct representation to the peoples of the world and passing binding legislation. This article reconstructs the historical roots of the proposal and speculates about the possible legal implications for both the UN and its member states stemming from the establishment of an elected citizens’ chamber within an intergovernmental organization. An argument is made that in order to achieve the stated goals of the model of United Nations Parliamentary Assembly endorsed by the European Union (EU), the required institutional changes to the UN system would be so radical as to effectively repudiate it in favour of a newly established system of international co-operation.

Type
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Copyright
© Foundation of the Leiden Journal of International Law 2020

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References

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6 A proposal by the Philippines to empower the General Assembly with legislative powers was rejected at the San Francisco conference in 1945. See United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO) Doc. IX, (1945), at 70. See also Haviland, H. and Entezam, N., The Political Role of the General Assembly (1951), at 26Google Scholar.

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9 See Schwartzberg, supra note 4, at 15.

10 See Heinrich, supra note 8, at 8.

11 Ibid., at 9.

12 Ibid. The expression world government is not to be equated with the idea of world executive. The proponents of a UN Parliamentary Assembly see it as a means for governing the world. See Schwartzberg, supra note 4, at 15.

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18 See Declaration of Buenos Aires, ibid., para. 6.

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23 1945 Charter of the United Nations, 1 UNTS XVI, Art. 22. See also Heinrich, ibid., at 26; Leinen and Bummel, supra note 1, at 370.

24 See Declaration of Buenos Aires, supra note 8, para. 8.

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26 For example, through the exercise of a right of discussion equal to the one of the General Assembly ex Art. 10 UN Charter. See Leinen and Bummel, ibid., at 371.

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33 See The Proposal, supra note 19; Schwartzberg, supra note 4, at 31.

34 See Bummel, supra note 28, at 16.

35 See the outcome of the UN Parliamentary Assemblyʼs First International Meeting held in Geneva in 2007, available at en.unpacampaign.org/meetings/november2007/, accessed 1 April 2019.

36 See The Proposal, supra note 19.

37 See Declaration of Buenos Aires, supra note 8, para. 5.

38 See Conclusions regarding policies, supra note 21.

39 See The Proposal, supra note 19.

40 See Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security, supra note 2.

41 Ibid., at 4, para. A.

42 Ibid., at 6, para. 14 (emphasis added).

43 Ibid., at 13.

44 Ibid., at 13–14.

45 European Parliament, Motion for a resolution to wind up the debate on statements by the Council and Commission pursuant to Rule 103(2) of the Rules of Procedure by Armin Laschet on behalf of the Committee of Foreign Affairs (30 May 2005), B6-0328/2005, point 36.

46 See Amendment 111 to the draft motion for a resolution (4 May 2005), AM\563197EN.doc (amendment by Jo Leinen, Véronique De Keyser, Pasqualina Napoletano, Michael Rocard, Jan Marinus Wiersma, and Ana Maria Gomes).

47 European Parliament, Resolution on the reform of the United Nations (9 June 2005), Res P6_TA(2005)0237, point 39 (emphasis added).

48 See supra Section 2 discussion.

49 Verbatim report of proceedings (8 June 2005), P6_CRE(2005)06-08_DEF_EN, statement by Jo Leinen, at 44 (referring to the need to establish a Parliamentary Assembly within the UN); Verbatim report of proceedings (28 September 2005), P6_CRE(2005)09-28_DEF_EN, statement by Jo Leinen, at 69.

50 See P6_CRE(2005)06-08_DEF_EN, ibid., statement by Nirj Deva, at 47; P6_CRE(2005)09-28_DEF_EN, ibid., statement by Alexander Lambsdorff, at 66, and statement by Manuel António dos Santos, at 72.

51 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, Amendments 1-120 (4 April 2011), PE462.624v01-00, Amendment 118, at 70 (tabled by Kinga Gál).

52 European Parliament, Recommendation to the Council on the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly (8 June 2011), P7_TA(2011)0255, point (be) (emphasis added).

53 See PE462.624v01-00, supra note 51, Amendment 120, at 71 (tabled by Jo Leinen, Elmar Brok, Alexander Alvaro, and Andrew Duff).

54 See P7_TA(2011)0255, supra note 52, point (bf) (emphasis added).

55 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, Report with a proposal for a European Parliament recommendation to the Council on the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (13 May 2011), A7-0189/2011, at 22.

56 European Parliament, Debates (8 June 2011), P7_CRE(2011)06-08_EN, statement by Diogo Feio, at 81 (arguing that ‘[t]he creation of a United Nations parliamentary assembly within the framework of the United Nations system is an interesting proposal that is worth studying and debating’); statement by José Manuel Fernandes, at 82 (pointing out ‘the need to foster debate on the role of parliaments and national assemblies in the UN system, and on creating a UN parliamentary assembly’).

57 European Parliament, Question for written answer to the Council (28 November 2011), P-008768/2011.

58 See P7_TA(2011)0255, supra note 52.

59 See Bummel and Leinen, supra note 1, at 113–14.

60 Inter-Parliamentary Union Council, Preparations for the 3rd World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (15 February 2010), CL/186/13-R.1, Annex I, at 2, para. 7.

61 Declaration of Brussels, supra note 17.

62 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, Recommendation to the Council (5 June 2012) 2012/2036(INI).

63 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, Draft Report (11 May 2012), PE486.097v01-00, Amendment 43 (tabled by Helmut Scholz) and Amendment 135 (tabled by Jo Leinen, Alexander Alvaro, Elmar Brok, Corina CreŃu, Andrew Duff, Kinga Gál, and Graham Watson).

64 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, Recommendation to the Council (5 June 2013), 2013/2034(INI).

65 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, Draft Report (29 April 2013), PE506.222v01-00, Amendment 104 (tabled by Graham Watson, Jo Leinen, Andrew Duff, and Franziska Keller).

66 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, Draft Report (15 September 2016), PE582.127v01-00, Amendment 255 (tabled by Jonás Fernández).

67 European Parliament, Recommendation to the Council concerning the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (5 July 2017), P8_TA(2017)0304, point (bm).

68 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, Draft Report (6 April 2017), PE601.127v01-00, Amendment 247 (tabled by Jo Leinen, Soraya Post, Elmar Brok, and Andrey Kovatchev).

69 European Parliament, Answer given by Vice-President Mogherini on behalf of the Commission (16 January 2017), E-006879/2016(ASW).

70 European Parliament, Recommendation to the Council (5 July 2018), P8_TA-PROV(2018)0312 point (m).

71 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, Draft Report (2 May 2018), PE619.283v01-00, Amendment 88 (tabled by Jo Leinen, Elmar Brok, Soraya Post, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Helmut Scholz, Eugen Freund, and Andrey Kovatchev).

72 See Leinen and Bummel, supra note 1.

73 Ibid., at 369–70; Heinrich, supra note 8, at 10, 20.

74 For a chronological list of resolutions see www.un.org/en/sections/documents/general-assembly-resolutions/index.html, accessed 1 April 2019.

75 Arguably, the foremost example is the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UNGA Res 217A(III).

76 For an analysis of political influence at the General Assembly see D. Panke, Unequal Actors in Equalising Institutions: Negotiations in the United Nations General Assembly (2013).

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78 See Bummel, supra note 28, at 9.

79 A. Strauss, ‘Overcoming the Dysfunction of the Bifurcated Global System: The Promise of a Peoples Assembly’, (1999) 9 Transn’l L & Contemporary Problems 489, at 490 (referring to the lack of democracy at the international level ‘the most glaring anomaly of the global system today’).

80 See Bummel, supra note 28, at 9. For similar remarks see A. Strauss, ‘On the First Branch of Global Governance’, (2007) 13 Widener Law Review 347.

81 E. Childers and B. Urquhart, ‘Renewing the United Nations System’, (1994) 1 Development Dialogue 176.

82 See Bummel, supra note 1, at 17.

83 Ibid., at 16 (emphasis added).

84 See Heinrich, supra note 8, at 10–11 (emphasis added).

85 See Childers and Urquhart, supra note 81, at 176.

86 See, for instance, Nerfin, M., ‘The Future of the United Nations System: Some Questions on the Occasion of an Anniversary’, (1985) 1 Development Dialogue 5Google Scholar, at 24 (advocating the creation of a ‘Citizens Chamber’ at the UN General Assembly); Heinrich, supra note 8, at 20. See also Leinen and Bummel, supra note 1, at 27–41.

87 As discussed infra.

88 The Campaignʼs website lists the name of 441 academics endorsing the proposal to establish a UN Parliamentary Assembly, available at en.unpacampaign.org/supporters/overview/?mapcountry=allpro&mapgroup=pro, accessed 1 April 2019.

89 As discussed in supra Section 2.

90 Falk, R. and Strauss, A., ‘Globalization Needs a Dose of Democracy (The International Herald Tribune, 1999)’, in Falk, R. and Strauss, A. (eds.), A Global Parliament: Essays and Articles (2011), 29Google Scholar, at 31 (‘The global assembly could usefully contribute to the creation of planetary norms by expressing views on critical issues of global policy…’ (emphasis added)).

91 See Schwartzberg, supra note 4, at 79 (emphasis added).

92 See Franck, supra note 3, at 484.

93 Ibid., (emphasis added). For a similar proposition in relation to a reformed General Assembly see Habermas, J., ‘The Constitutionalization of International Law and the Legitimation Problems of a Constitution for World Society’, (2008) 15 Constellations 444CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 451.

94 See UN Charter, supra note 23, Art. 39. See also Deplano, R., ‘The Use of International Law by the United Nations Security Council: An Empirical Framework of Analysis’, (2015) 29 Emory International Law Review 2085Google Scholar, at 2098–9.

95 Reparations for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations, Advisory Opinion of 11 April 1949, [1949] ICJ Rep. 174, para. 182. With specific regard to implied powers of the Security Council see Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) Notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276, Advisory Opinion of 21 June 1971, [1971] ICJ Rep. 16, para. 52. For a commentary see Blokker, N., ‘International Organizations or Institutions, Implied Powers’, in Wolfrum, R. (ed.), Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law VI (2009), at 1827Google Scholar.

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101 See Certain Expenses Advisory Opinion, supra note 99, at 167.

102 For instance, the Security Council could not acquiesce in acts of genocide. See Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Yugoslavia [Serbia and Montenegro]), Further Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures, [1995] ICJ Rep. 325, at 440. See also Akande, D., ‘The International Court of Justice and the Security Council: Is There Room for Judicial Control of Decisions of the Political Organs of the United Nations?’, (1997) 46 ICLQ 309CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 322–3.

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107 Joined Cases C-402 & C-415/05 P, Kadi v. Council of the European Union, and Al Barakaat Int’l Found. v. Council of the European Union, [2008] ECR 299. See also de Wet, E., ‘The Role of Human Rights in Limiting the Enforcement Power of the Security Council: A Principled View’, in de Wet, E. and Nollkaemper, A. (eds.), Review of the Security Council by Member States (2003), 7Google Scholar, at 19 (focusing on the right to fair hearing).

108 Bosphorus Hava Yolları Turizm ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi v. Ireland, Decision of 30 June 2005, [2005] ECHR (App No 45036/98).

109 L. Sicilianos, ‘The European Court of Human Rights Facing the Security Council: Towards Systemic Harmonization’, (2017) 66 ICLQ 783.

110 As discussed in supra Section 2.

111 See Heinrich, supra note 8, at 32. See also Schwartzberg, supra note 4, at 56, 79 (recognizing a co-decision power with the General Assembly).

112 See Heinrich, ibid., at 32 (arguing that resolutions passed with certain majority in both the UN General Assembly and the UN Parliamentary Assembly ‘could be accorded some higher status, conceivably even the status of binding international law in some situations’).

113 See supra note 6.

114 See Namibia Advisory Opinion, supra note 106, at 45.

115 For instance, in Lockerbie, the ICJ held that two resolutions of the Security Council adopted under Ch. VII of the UN Charter could not have made Libyaʼs application inadmissible, since they had been adopted after the date of the filing of the application before her. Hence, they did not supersede, as such, the rights that Libya was claiming. See Lockerbie case (Libya v. United States), supra note 105, para 43.

116 Northern Cameroons (Cameroon v. United Kingdom), Judgment of 2 December 1963, [1963] ICJ Rep. 3, at 33.

117 See Schwartzberg, supra note 4, at 69.

118 Ibid., at 80.

119 Ibid., at 81.

120 Ibid., at 18, 63–4.

121 See UN Charter, supra note 23, Art. 4(2).

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126 See Heinrich, supra note 8, at 31. See also Leinen and Bummel, supra note 1, at 373–4, 378.

127 See Schwartzberger, supra note 4, at 18, 90–4.

128 See Strauss, supra note 80, at 390. See also Falk and Strauss, supra note 90, at 43.

129 Ibid., at 23.

130 See Haviland and Entezam, supra note 6, at 29–30 (also quoting from UNCIO VII, at 36–7).

131 See Zweifel, supra note 122, at 74, 80 (pointing out that it is unrealistic to expect the General Assembly to represent world public opinion).

132 See Heinrich, supra note 8, at 22.

133 Ibid., at 9–10.

134 Treaty on European Union, Art. 14(2) reads: ‘The European Parliament shall be composed of representatives of the Unionʼs citizens. They shall not exceed seven hundred and fifty in number, plus the President. Representation of citizens shall be degressively proportional, with a minimum threshold of six members per Member State. No Member State shall be allocated more than ninety-six seats …’ (emphasis added). See also Schwartzberg, supra note 4, at 17, 23; Bummel, supra note 28, at 11, 25–31 (discussing models to elect the UN Parliamentary Assembly).

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153 Ibid., at 25.

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156 As discussed in supra Section 4.1. See also Charlesworth, supra note 122, at 41.

157 Ibid., at 35; Ben-Ari, R. H., The Normative Position of International Non-Governmental Organizations under International Law (2012CrossRefGoogle Scholar), at 311.

158 See Leinen and Bummel, supra note 1, at 379–80.

159 Ibid., at 380.

160 See Falk and Strauss, supra note 155, at 209.

161 See Leinen and Bummel, supra note 1, at 380 (emphasis added).

162 See Falk and Strauss, supra note 155, at 193.

163 See Strauss, supra note 79, at 496, 499–500.

164 See Leinen and Bummel, supra note 1, at 381.

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169 See Childers and Urquhart, supra note 81, at 180.

170 See also Leinen and Bummel, supra note 1, at 292–329.

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172 Message on the occasion of the Fifth International Meeting of the Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, 17 October 2013, available at en.unpacampaign.org/393/martin-schulz-european-parliament-may-serve-as-a-model-for-a-un-parliamentary-assembly/, accessed 1 April 2019.

173 ‘Appeal for a Parliamentary Assembly presented at the United Nations in New York’, 10 November 2015, available at en.unpacampaign.org/7259/appeal-for-a-parliamentary-assembly-presented-at-the-united-nations-in-new-york/, accessed 1 April 2019.

174 A. M. de Zayas, Report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, UN Doc. A/HRC/24/39 (1 July 2013), para. 49.

175 United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report (2013), at 112.

176 UNGA, Decision 49/747, UN Doc. A/49/747 (9 December 1994).

177 UNGA, Cooperation Between the UN and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, UN Doc. A/51/402 (25 September 1996), annex.

178 UNGA, Res. 72/278, UN Doc. A/RES/72/278 (23 May 2018), para. 14; and UNGA, Res. 57/32, UN Doc. A/RES/57/32 (20 January 2003), para 1.

179 UN Secretary-General, Report on the Cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, UN Doc. A/55/996 (26 June 2001), para. 5.

180 Ibid., para. 13(a).

181 UNGA, Res. 70/298, UN Doc. A/RES/ 70/298 (9 August 2016), para. 4.

182 ICAPP Charter, Art. 1(c).

183 UNGA Sixth Committee, Summary record of the 8th meeting, UN Doc. A/C.6/66/SR.8 (5 January 2012) (statement by the representative of Korea).

184 UNGA Sixth Committee, Summary record of the 8th meeting, UN Doc. A/C.6/66/SR.8 (5 January 2012) (statements by the representatives of Venezuela, Cuba, and Argentina).

185 UNGA Sixth Committee, Summary record of the 11th meeting, UN Doc. A/C.6/67/SR.11 (20 December 2012) (statement by the representative of the Russian Federation); and UNGA Sixth Committee, Summary record of the 12th meeting, UN Doc. A/C.6/71/SR.12 (2 November 2016) (statement by the representative of Syria).

186 See, for instance, UNGA Sixth Committee, Summary record of the 11th meeting, UN Doc. A/C.6/70/SR.11 (9 November 2015) (statement by the representative of Argentina).

187 See ICAPP Charter, supra note 182, Art. 2.

188 Letter dated 11 August 2015 from the representatives of Australia, Cambodia, Japan, Nepal, The Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Sri Lanka to the United Nations to the Secretary-General, UN Doc. A/70/194 (18 August 2015), at 7. See also UNGA Sixth Committee, Summary record of the 11th meeting, UN Doc. A/C.6/70/SR.11 (9 November 2015) (statements by the representatives of Korea and the Philippines qualifying the ICAPP as a quasi-intergovernmental organization).

189 See, for instance, the Final adoption of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2008, 2008/165/EC, Euratom (14 March 2008), at 189, para. 1004.

190 European Parliament, Debates, P7_CRE(2011)09-12 (12 September 2011), at 9 (statement by Niccolò Rinaldi).

191 ‘Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organization’, available at www.ipu.org/our-impact/global-governance/parliamentary-conference-world-trade-organization, accessed 1 April 2019.

192 Wheatley, S., ‘A Democratic Rule of International Law’, (2011) 22(2) EJIL 525CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 529; Scholte, J. A., ‘Civil Society and Democracy in Global Governance’, (2002) 8 Global Governance 281CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 291.

193 See supra note 134; Schwartzberg, supra note 4.

194 ‘How can citizens of states without democratic elections be represented?’, available at en.unpacampaign.org/proposal/faq/, accessed 1 April 2019.

195 ‘How could a Parliamentary Assembly contribute to national democratization?’, ibid.

196 Keohane, R. O., Macedo, S. and Moravcsik, A., ‘Democracy-Enhancing Multilateralism’, (2009) 63 International Organization 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 18.

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199 UNGA, Res. 60/251, UN Doc. A/RES/60/251 (3 April 2006), paras. 7–8.

200 Pevehouse, J. C., ‘Democracy from Outside-In? International Organizations and Democratization’, (2002) 56(3) International Organization 515CrossRefGoogle Scholar. More generally, on the democratizing effects of international organizations, see Keohane, Macedo and Moravcsik, supra note 196.

201 Ibid., at 9.

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203 See Diamond, supra note 136, at 12.

204 Fukuyama, F., ‘Why Is Democracy Performing So Poorly?’, (2015) 26 Journal of Democracy 11CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 17.

205 See Keohane, supra note 197, at 344.

206 See Wheatley, supra note 198, at 244.

207 Maisley, N., ‘The International Right of Rights? Article 25(a) of the ICCPR as a Human Right to Take Part in International Law-Making’, (2017) 28(1) EJIL 89CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 110–11.

208 European Comissionʼs ‘Consultations’, available at ec.europa.eu/info/consultations_en, accessed 1 April 2019.

209 For information on European Citizenʼs Initiative, see ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/welcome, accessed 1 April 2019.

210 For a discussion of transnational digital constitutionalism see Celeste, E., ‘Digital constitutionalism: a new systematic theorisation’, (2019) 33(1) International Review of Law, Computers & Technology 76CrossRefGoogle Scholar.