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

Want democracy to win President Biden? Start at the United Nations
In his foreign policy pronouncements since Inauguration Day, President Joe Biden has put forth what, if no one has done so already, we might as well call “The Biden Doctrine.”
Tad Daley | 27.07.2021
Proposals for a more democratic UN broached at Gwangju Democracy Forum
Civil society statement and UN75 On May 20th, Democracy Without Borders hosted a fruitful online session at this year’s Gwangju Democracy Forum in collaboration with Democracy International, CIVICUS, Together First
Amy Oloo | 27.05.2021
Over 100 civil society groups issue statement for a more democratic UN
On the occasion of the International Day for Multilateralism on 24 April, a group of 100 civil society organisations has issued a joint statement calling for a more democratic UN.
DWB | 23.04.2021
Three proposals to create a UN that listens
The UN was conceived as a ground-breaking experiment in global cooperation and people-centred multilateralism. Born out of the ashes of the Second World War, its Charter outlines four lofty aspirations in the
Lysa John and Mandeep Tiwana | 20.01.2021