Campaign for a more democratic United Nations
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| Name: | Campaign For A More Democratic United Nations |
| International Organization: | United Nations |
| Active: | No |
| From: To: | 1985 - |
| Promoters | International Network For A UN Second Assembly |
| Supporters: | Non-governmental organizations and institutions |
| Aim: | The establishment of an organ of the UN - a UN peoples' assembly - to represent the world's citizens as members of civil society |
| Focus: | A world civil society union - 4 papers: |
CAMDUN was established in 1989 as a project of the International Network For A UN Second Assembly (INFUSA), which was formed in 1983.
Objective
CAMDUN's main objective remains that of INFUSA - the establishment of an organ of the UN to represent the world's citizens as members of civil society ( a UN peoples' assembly), linked with the UN General Assembly (in which the governments represent the citizens as subjects of the member states). Such bicameral global representation could lead to the UN becoming a 'United Nations and Peoples' for permanent peace. CAMDUN also seeks democratization of other elements of the UN system, in support of individual and collective human rights, sustainable development and equitable international relations. Cooperating for a more democratic UN: Action for UN Renewal, Association of World Citizens, Campaign for a More Democratic United Nations, Communications Coordination Committee for the United Nations, NZ Forum for UN Renewal, Operation Peace Through Unity, UNGA-Link UK, World Civil Society Forum - UK Support Group.
CAMDUN Second International Conference On A More Democratic United Nations, Vienna 1991 made the following proposals:
-Instituting a UN duty on international trade, including financial movements between member states, to provide the core funding of the Organization.
-Enlarging the Security Council to 18 members.
-Abolishing the Security Council "veto", by instituting non-discriminatory voting powers or failing this by providing for a non-concurring vote f permanent members to be overridden by a concurring vote of the non-permanent members.
-Renaming the Security Council as "The Peace and Security Council" if under a revised Charter it continues to have "primary responsibility or the maintenance of international peace and security."
Promoter
The International Network for a United Nations Second Assembly, or INFUSA, is an organization devoted to the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. According to Citizens for a United Nations People's Assembly, "In 1982, during the second UN Special Session on Disarmament, Jeffrey Segall presented a proposal for a study on 'a UN Second or Peoples Assembly' which became the basis for an International Network for a UN Second Assembly (INFUSA). From 1988 to 1995 INFUSA and the Association of World Citizens collaborated on a series of annual conferences in New York, San Francisco, Vienna and back in New York". INFUSA once numbered more than 100 organizations.
Appeal
Appeal to the UN General Assembly to consider the proposal for a UN second assembly
PROPOSAL FOR A UNITED NATIONS SECOND ASSEMBLY
1987-8 edition
(I) PREAMBLE
The International Network for a UN Second Assembly, consisting of the non-governmental organizations and institutions listed in Supporters paragraph,
Recognizes that human beings exist not only as citizens of sovereign nation-states and as members of other separate groupings, but also as individuals who are globally united by common human values and by membership of the species that dominates, and hence has a responsibility for, Planet Earth;
Accepts that the governmental missions composing the General Assembly represent the peoples of the world primarily as citizens of the member-states, and that consequently they uphold the diverse and sometimes conflicting heritage, material needs and wants, and security interests of the people of their respective states;
Considers that the General Assembly therefore addresses international problems principally from national perspectives, and so is unable adequately to represent all aspects of human unity;
Concludes that there is a need for a supplementary, popular, world assembly to represent the unity of humankind, to enhance the status of universally recognized human values, to address global problems primarily from a global perspective, and to focus on the common interests of everyone in the survival and destiny of our species, in the protection of our planet, and in the creation of a peaceful and just world;
Proposes that such an assembly should be structurally linked to the UN General Assembly and should be composed of non-governmental representatives from the world's public;
Names such an assembly provisionally as the `United Nations Second Assembly', to signify that it would be analogous to a second house of a bicameral parliament; Believes that the Second Assembly would strengthen the efforts of the United Nations to fulfill its fundamental objectives;
Therefore appeals to the General Assembly to mandate a detailed study of this Proposal, to be carried out either by a UN Group of Experts or by an Independent International Commission.
(II) SUGGESTED PRINCIPLES
2. FUNCTIONS
(A) The Second Assembly would be a deliberative organ concerned from a global standpoint with problems and aspirations common to all che peoples of the world: disarmament measures, development, the environment, human rights (including social and economic rights), the prevention of war and other armed conflicts, and the prevention of the threat of nuclear war. It would support, supplement and stimulate (not replace) the activities of the world's non-governmental movements in these fields.
(B) The Second Assembly would assist the General Assembly by expressing to it a wide range of non-governmental views on these subjects.
(C) The Second Assembly would also seek to foster international understanding at non-governmental levels, and hence would not take sides in international disputes or in ideological differences between UN member-states.
3. REPRESENTATION 1N THE SECOND ASSEMBLY
(A) The Second Assembly would be composed of non-governmental representatives from participating UN member-states. They should preferably come from many different walks of life.
(B) All candidates for membership of a Second Assembly should be required to undertake in n prescribed form that in their UN responsibilities they would be guided only by their humankind identity, and therefore by global and regional, not national, considerations.
(C) Within UN guidelines which govern the formation of subsidiary organs, and which would require to be specifically approved by the General Assembly, each member-state would have the right to decide on its own method of choosing the representative from its country. Some possible methods are listed in Annex 3.
(D) The tenure of the representatives’ membership of the Second Assembly could be limited to; say, four years. This could increase the opportunities for broad social, age/sex, and geographical representation from the participating member-states.
(E) Each member-state's quota of seats could be the square root of the number of millions of its population. (For example, in country with n population of 100 million would have 10 seats, and one with a population of 1 million would have 1 seat; countries with less than 1 million would also have 1 seat.) This method of representation would give a range of 1 to 31 seats, and a total Assembly of about 550 seats if all member-states were to participate. Other methods of representation in relation to size of population to give a smaller Assembly could be considered. Irrespective of the method of allocation of national numbers of seats, the Second Assembly's members should be grouped regionally, not nationally, and the regional groupings should be geographical, not geopolitical, eg: Africa, Americas, Central Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Western Pacific.
4. ORGANIZATION. The World Federation of United Nations Associations and the national UNAs could be asked to consider undertaking liaison functions between governments, non-governmental movements, and the representatives in the Second Assembly. Liaison should also be established between the Second Assembly and the non-governmental organizations and institutions in consultative status with ECOSOC and UN Agencies.
5. FUNDING (A) Each participating member-state would decide on its own method of funding the work and expenses of the representatives from its country. (B) Consideration should be given to establishing an international fund to help meet the expenses of representatives from low-income countries. (C) All possible methods of raising contributions from non-governmental sources for funding the sessions should be considered. (D) Contributions from member-states towards the funding of the sessions of the Second Assembly should be voluntary.
6. MEETINGS. There could be two regular sessions annually, one in the General Assembly Hall in New York and one in the Palais des Nations in Geneva, unless otherwise decided by the General Assembly. There could also be peripatetic sessions (perhaps one every two years) in capital cities. In addition to plenary meetings the sessions could include meetings of regional commissions, working groups, and occupational and other special interest groups.
7. INPUT. The agenda of the Second Assembly would be determined pursuant to guidelines in its Constitution. These should allow agenda items to be proposed by the representatives on behalf of non-governmental organizations and institutions, other interested groups, and concerned individuals. The guidelines should also provide for the right of the General Assembly, ECOSOC and UN Agencies to propose agenda items.
8. DELIBERATIONS. The Second Assembly would be obliged to give due consideration to al1 agenda items. It could establish expert groups to study specific problems from a global or regional perspective. Substantive conclusions of plenary sessions and the texts of final documents would be decided by consensus whenever possible, or failing this by other democratic means.
9. OUTPUT
(A) The output of the Second Assembly would aim at furthering the purposes and principles of the United Nations. It would be addressed in the first instance to the General Assembly. Recommendations agreed only by a majority should have minority views appended. Responses received from the General Assembly should be fully discussed by the Second Assembly.
(B) The representatives would be expected to report to their sources of input on the basis of the deliberations, substantive conclusions and final documents of the Second Assembly, and of responses received from the General Assembly.
(C) The Second Assembly should have the right to publicize its output after considering any responses it might receive from the General Assembly.
(D) The Second Assembly should also seek to signal to the public, via the media and the worlds of religion, culture, sport and entertainment, that it is legitimate, and indeed a responsibility, for everyone to take on a global loyalty, in addition to (not instead of) their existing national, political and ideological loyalties.
Supporters
Organizations and institutions participating in the network for a UN second assembly
(October 1989)International
Action Health 2000 (International Voluntary Health Association)Anuvrat Global Organization (Anuvibha)
Association for World Education
Campaign for UN Reform
Christians Against Racism and Fascism
Communications Coordination Committee for the United Nations
'Disarmament Campaigns'
Environmental Liaison Centre
European Liaison and Coordination Office of UN University for Peace
Global Education Associates
International Association of University· Days for Peace
International Council of Psychologists
International Evangelical Church
International Federation of Social Workers
International Institute of Concern for Public Health
International Peace School on Crete
International Public Policy Institute
Internationale Weltfrieden [World Peace] Partei (IWP)
Pensioners for Peace International
The International People's College
The Networking Institute
The One World Movement of the Ecumenical Community
The Open International University for Complementary Medicines
The Organization Development Institute and The International Registry of Organization Development Professionals
Transnational Perspectives
Unitarian Universalist UN Office
United European-African Society
United Nations and Related Agencies Staff Movement for Disarmament and Peace (Geneva and New York Branches)
Unity-and-Diversity World Organization
Universala Esperanto-Asocio
Universidad para la Paz (University for Peace)
World Alliance of NGOs for Disarmament, Development and Security (VANGUARDS)
World Citizen Diplomats
World Citizens Assembly
`World Democracy News'
World Referendum Association
National
Alpha-peace-building from grassroots (UK)
American Referendum Association, Inc (USA)
Americans Against Nuclear War (USA)
Americans for Democratic Action (USA)
Anglican Pacifist Fellowship (UK)
Association of World Federalists (Australia)
Association of World Federalists (UK)
Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation (UK)
Bob Geldof's BAND AID (UK)
British Christian Peace Conference (UK)
California Peace Academy (USA)
Center for Advancement of Human Cooperation (USA)
Centre for Multicultural Education, University of London Institute of Education (UK)
Clergy Against Nuclear Arms (UK)
Co-operative Women's Guild (UK)
Datum International (UK)
Department of Peace Studies, Irish School of Ecumenics (Ireland)
Dutch Association for a Ministry for Peace in the Netherlands (NWMN)
Dutch Medical Association for Peace Research (Netherlands)
Fellowship of Reconciliation - UK
Fellowship Party (UK)
Foundation for Alternatives (UK)
Friends of the Earth - UK
Fundacio per la Pau (Spain)
Gandhi Peace Foundation (India)
Green Deserts Ltd (UK)
Humanitas - UK
Institute of Labour Management and Research (India)
International Registry of World Citizens- USA
Labour Federalist Group (UK)
Light on the Bay (USA)
London Centre for International Peacebuilding (UK)
Medical Association for Prevention of War (UK)
Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons (UK)
Minority Rights Group (UK)
Movimento Brasileiro Pelo Desarmamento e a Paz (Brazil)
National and Local Government Officers Association [NALGO] (UK)
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (USA)
Nuclear Weapons Freeze (UK)
Paz y Cooperacion (Spain)
Peace Chariot (UK)
`Peace News' (UK)
Peace Research Institute, Dundas (Canada)
People's Assembly for the UN (USA)
People's Assembly Network of San Francisco (USA)
Philosophers and Historians for Peace (UK)
Project for Peace (UK)
Promoting Enduring Peace (USA)
Safe Earth Network (Australia)
Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK)
Southern Region Trade Union Information Unit (UK)
Sserulanda Nsulo Y'Obulamu Spiritual Foundation (Uganda)
Swedish World Federalists (Sweden)
Teachers for Peace (UK)
Teilhard Centre (UK)
The InterFace Association (UK)
Ties International Peace Relations and Educational Trust (UK)
United Nations Association of Australia
United Nations Reform [part of WFAM] (USA)
US Federation of Scientists and Scholars
Voluntary Health Association of India
World Association of World Federalists of West Germany
World Conference of Religions for Peace (UK and Ireland Group)
World Disarmament Campaign-UK
World Federalists of Canada
World Federalists of USA
Local
Croydon Peace Council (UK)
Frome & Distria Peace Forum (UK)
Gadfly (UK)
United Nations Association - UK branches: Bangor; Cheltenham; Falmouth; Glasgow; Hampstead Garden Suburb & Golders Green; Sutton Coldfield
Sources:
- http://www.camdun-online.gn.apc.org/
- Summary of proposals to reform the system of international institutions - UBUNTU Forum Ad Hoc Secretariat - Main Author: Núria Molina – December 2002