Democracy in the United Nations.

• Author: McCarthy, Bill
• Position: Thinking Aloud

With democratic institutions being established in countries around the world, the number of democratic nations in the United Nations rising significantly, especially since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the creation of a democratic fund at the United Nations, it is only a matter of time before democracy comes to the United Nations with the establishment of a people's parliamentary assembly.

This is not a new idea, as the beginnings of this movement could be traced to 1889, when the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the oldest international organization of parliamentarians of sovereign States, was established and later changed to an association of national parliaments. In the 1920s, the idea of a people's assembly was proposed to be part of the League of Nations, but was rejected.

Since then, there have been numerous proposals, conferences and international gatherings on the creation of this democratically elected second assembly within the UN system, which is envisioned as a companion to the General Assembly. The People's Parliamentary Assembly would function initially as an advisory body, gaining credibility over time until it reaches its full political participation at the global level, similar to the status that the European Parliament has achieved at the regional level.

The year 2005 has been a landmark period for this international movement. In January, The Club of Budapest called for the creation of a civil parliament at the United Nations, and in February 108 Swiss parliamentarians signed an open letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, calling for the establishment of a people's parliamentary assembly at the United Nations. While meeting in Sophia, Budapest in May, the 53rd Congress of Liberal International, a world federation of liberal parties, put forth a resolution to establish a parliamentary assembly.

In June in San Francisco (United States), the Citizens for a United Nations People's Assembly presented a special United Nations sixtieth anniversary event, chaired by former UN Assistant-Secretary-General Robert Muller. The focus was the signing of an open letter to the Secretary-General, requesting him to appoint a high-level panel to determine the steps necessary for the creation of this democratically elected second assembly at the United Nations. The European Parliament also called for the establishment of a body that would increase "the democratic profile and internal democratic process" of the world Organization.

In a...