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1993 Annual Report PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOB AL A CT ION ANNUAL REPORT 1 9 9 3 211 East 43rd Street, Suite 1604 New York, New York 10017 (212) 687-7755 Fax: 687-8409 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1993: Global Governance for a Planet Under Stress . ..... 1 Building A Global Security System for the 21st Century . .. ... 3 A Submission to the UN Secretary-General . 5 PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES "Global Dialogue on the New World Order" ........................ .. 7 DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT Sustainable Development and Population .. .... 8 Parliamentary Initiative for Democracy. 11 Special Project on Africa . .. 14 PEAC E AND SECURITY UN Collective Security . .. .... .. 16 International Law: International Criminal Court .... .. .18 Nuclear Test Ban and Non-Proliferation . .21 Chemical Weapons Convention .. 24 MEMB E RSHIP ... .... .. ... .26 ORGANISATION AND PUBLICITY .......... .28 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE . .... .29 INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL. .... .32 STAFF .... .33 FINANCES. .34 OUTLOOK '94. 35 GLOBAL ACTION 1993 CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS .... .................. .......... 36 A P P E N D Ix - Audited Accounts 1993 Parliamentarians for Global Action is a non-profit organisation under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States. 1993 GLOBAL GOVERNANCE FOR A PLANET UNDER STRESS Two events of personal significance to me symbolise the year of 1993. One morning in May, an eight-year old girl sat beside me in an august hall of the United Nations as I delivered a submission, developed at Global Action's own Workshop, to the Preparatory Committee for the UN Population and Development Conference. "The Earth," I said to the gathering of diplomats, "cannot sustain the increase in population numbers and the continued excessive consumption pattern of some societies that we are witnessing today. Things have to Members of Parliamentarians for Global Action unite to resolve the problems facing the planet: "In each change ... On behalf of the 19 case, it is their own children and mine whom they have in mind when they join and work for our goals," says million citizens which this International President Silvia Hernandez. Above, children in Bangladesh endure one of that country's devastating hurricanes. Workshop of our members represents, we convey to you a The North-South dichotomy is the achievement for the United Nations. political mandate for change. In the obscenity of our generation: while And the agreement for the transition name of parliamentarian colleagues 23% of the world's people enjoy to majority rule in South Africa and and my daughter Maria del Mar, I 85% of its income, the 1 billion the plans for non-racial elections present this Declaration to you." "absolute poor" survive on less than there vindicate the struggle against Maria looked around her at the $1 a day. But even the privileged apartheid by brave men and women distinguished UN gathering, children in the North face global inside and outside that country. All symbolising the vulnerability of problems that they cannot escape, three developments bring the world children the world over before the anywhere on the planet. They, a step closer to political maturity. mounting problems of the planet, equally, are dependent on our Such positive political dependent on our ability to resolve foresight, our commitment and our developments, however, were them in time. political skills to help them. accompanied by individual acts of That is what motivates and In the Introduction to our 1992 violence. Tension and killing drives me and my colleagues in Annual Report, I emphasised the continues in the Middle East and Parliamentarians for Global Action. process of transition which the world South Africa, while conflict rages in I have not met all of the 900 was undergoing as it emerged from Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and members in the organisation, but I the Cold War into a new era of Georgia. Political maturity is an know many of them. And I know co-operation. The past year, 1993, essential quality for a world that, in each case, it is their own has been a continuation of those threatened with problems of a new children and mine whom they have trends. magnitude. The hallmark of our in mind when they join and work for Further hopeful developments organisation is "the planetary our goals. Many of course are less occurred around the world that lay interest" - perceiving the world as fortunate than Maria del Mar. Those to rest the vestiges of the Cold War. a single whole, and responding, of my African colleagues share a The remarkable breakthrough for politically, with global solutions that doctor with 24,000 others, compared Middle East peace is one of the with 470 in the North. Some 34,000 political milestones of our century. die each day around the world The successful elections and through disease and malnutrition. associated progress toward national unity, democracy and stability in Cambodia represent another major ANNUAL REPORT 1993 1 reflect an enlightened national devolution of authority below the interest for each of our countries, nation-state, so that issues that are not one that is narrowly conceived either too big or too small for the and competitively pursued. We must nation to handle can be dealt with not only think of our world as one, more effectively and democratically we must base political decisions and in the future. During the year action on it - along with our role several conferences focused on the as parliamentarians who are notion of global governance, and the committed to each country's concept is clearly attracting interest. essential values. Above all, the new Independent The philosophy of the planetary Commission on Global Governance, interest is what underpinned the led by co-chairmen Ingvar Carlsson second event that marked 1993 for and Sir Shridath Ramphal, is me. For during the year, I led a preparing a report on the subject. Global Action delegation to meet Global Action has been co-operating Senator Silvia Hernandez, Chair of the Human with the UN Secretary-General, with the Commission during 1993 Rights Commission of the Mexican Senate, has been and awaits its report with interest International President of Parliamentarians for H.E. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and Global Action since the beginning of 1992. Above, passed over a submission to him that and anticipation. with her daughter Maria del Mar, Sen. Hernandez presents Global Action's "Parliamentary Declaratiou set out our organisation's vision of a It is new ideas such as this that on Population and Development" to the second future world. Entitled "Towards a the world needs. Now is the time for meeting of the Preparatory Committee of the UN International Conference on Population and Global Security System for the 21st innovative ideas to be conceived and Development, 17May1993. Century", the document is a nourished. Not all will gain manifesto of the principles and acceptance at the bar of global policies which Global Action has public opinion. But some will, and developed and pursued in recent some must. The 50th anniversary of years for the betterment of the the United Nations is only a year planet. It contains the "seven away. It must not be simply a principles of global politics" which I celebration of our limited outlined in the 1992 Annual Report, achievements over the half-century; namely democracy, the rule of law, it must be a substantive occasion, collective security, the regulation of one for reflection on the past, and of armaments, sustainable develop­ imagination and resolve for the ment, economic equity and human future. Global Action places rights. Each of these principles profound importance on the contains a set of prescriptive opportunity which the end of the measures which Global Action is Cold War provides for building pursuing. better norms and institutions for the During 1993 a new concept 21st century. The opportunity will emerged that offers potential for not last forever. It must be seized progress in strengthening our now. Maria del Mar and her billion capacity to deal with the problems of or so fellow humans under 10, our time: "global governance". This demand, and deserve, no less. D reflects no ambitious faith in a world government for which our world is Senator Silvia Hern~ndez not ready. Rather it is a judgement International President that the world is ready for, and in need of, a systemic development of the United Nations. Also a 2 PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOBAL ACTION BUILDING A GLOBAL SECURITY SYSTEM FOR THE 2 lST CENTURY We live in a time of supreme challenge and opportunity. In the wake of the Cold War, the 1990s were proclaimed the "era of co-operation" by the US and Soviet presidents at Malta in 1989, an era of "assertive multilateralism" in which the United Nations was to fulfil the potential of the Charter. But the fluidities of a dynamic and diverse world in an age of sovereign states make rational planning by political leaders an exacting task, and support for such strategies, from the world's citizenry, uncertain. The global problems the world Global Action's parliamentary delegation on the International Criminal Court initiative meets with UN faces are identifiable readily enough: Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 17 March. • a burgeoning global population, concentrated in the developing The aspiration of Parliamen­ programmes. regions, and excessive consump­ tarians for Global Action is to bring tion patterns and co~sumer_ . In addition, work continued waste, mostly in the mdustnahsed a global approach to bear on these intensively in the other programmes regions; problems. The method followed is to where the organisation has earned • a concomitant strain on the identify the interests of the planet some recognition over the years for planet's resources, exacerbated by and humankind, and to ensure that creative political thinking and a development ethic that is the formulation of each country's effective parliamentarian action: unsustainable and environmen­ national interest is compatible with tally damaging; supporting UN collective security, it.
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