Program Areas

Program Areas

Advancing the common interest of humanity

Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly

The UN serves member states

Consider climate change. We have known for over 30 years that carbon emissions need to be reduced, yet we have failed to take effective action, risking environmental catastrophe. Why? Because the United Nations seeks consensus amongst almost 200 competing member states, a recipe for doing too little, too late.

A UNPA serves global citizens

A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) would give a voice to citizen-elected representatives and would make decisions in people’s best interest. For example, living sustainably is unquestionably in the collective interest of humanity, even if it may not be in the interest of any one nation to lead the way.  

An incremental approach

Initially, UNPA members could come from national parliaments. In the long run they should all be directly elected. Starting as a largely consultative body, the rights and powers of the UNPA could be expanded over time as its democratic character increases. Eventually it would become a real world parliament.

Join the global campaign

Democracy Without Borders coordinates the campaign for a UNPA supported by numerous civil society organizations, as well as individuals from 150 countries, among them over 1,600 current and former members of parliament and numerous distinguished personalities from all walks of life. Join them here.

Civil society statement

A UN Parliamentary Assembly is one of three demands of the “We The Peoples” campaign for inclusive global governance launched in April 2021 and endorsed by over 200 organizations and networks. 

Main partners
Award

The Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly received the 2nd prize in the NGO category of The Good Lobby Awards 2019, “symbolizing the sort of democratic innovations the world urgently needs.”

News and developments in this campaign

Experts urge governance of planetary commons to manage climate change
Earlier this year, an international group of 22 experts from a range of disciplines, including environmental science, governance, and law, emphasized the importance of establishing “planetary commons” in an article
Elena Frie | 04.03.2024
Planetary crisis requires urgent and bold international changes: report
A report of the Climate Governance Commission presents an array of proposals to be implemented within 1-5 years aiming at “vital and substantial governance improvements across the international system”
DWB | 30.11.2023
Global democracy and the UN discussed in New York
Proposals for improving citizen participation and representation at the United Nations took center stage at an event in New York that was part of this year’s Global People’s Assembly, a
DWB | 11.10.2023
UN must acknowledge need of “major overhaul”, civil society document says
The Coalition for the UN We Need has released the outcomes of the Global Futures Forum. The Interim Peopleʼs Pact for the Future presents thirty-three recommendations and next steps.
DWB | 26.05.2023