WORLD CITIZENS PARTY FOR A DEMOCRATIC WORLD GOVERNMENT

STATEMENT BY STEERING COMMITTEE

The Steering Committee of the World Citizens Party for a Democratic World Government supports in general the proposals submitted by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on March 21, 2005. The Steering Committee strongly qualifies this approval on the grounds that the proposed reforms fail to move the world body significantly toward the design of a genuinely democratic institution with adequate moral and governing authority to deal with the desperate political, social, cultural, economic and environmental problems that currently threaten our world.

PRESS RELEASE

The Steering Committee of the World Citizens Party for a Democratic World Government has given a general, but qualified, endorsement to the proposals advanced by Secretary General Kofi Annan and the High-level Panel he appointed. The proposals deal with changes in the membership of the UN Security Council, the creation of a new Human Rights Council, and reorganization of certain UN organs and programs. The proposals are submitted for consideration and decision by a summit conference of heads of state in September.

The statement by the Steering Committee, however, is a very qualified endorsement. The World Citizens Party holds that the UN as presently constituted is an inadequate institution for dealing with the desperate problems currently confronting the human race. Slightly improving its efficiency, and slightly broadening its representation, while worth supporting, is not a development justifying any complacency.

Restructuring must comprise true, worldwide democratic representation (1 person – 1 vote) in a world legislature, a legislature with authority to make binding law and levy taxes. The World Citizens Party advocates a UN with all the basic organs of a democratic government: the legislature; a directly or indirectly elected executive; an adequate court system; and no great-power vetoes. Support and enforcement of basic human rights must be written firmly into its constitution.

The World Citizens Party calls for a Charter Revision Conference under Article 109 to consider the basic restructuring it advocates.

The Steering Committee’s statement notes that the UN has been powerless to prevent or effectively stop the genocide in Darfur. It questions whether the reforms advocated by Annan, if they had already been adopted, would have enabled the UN to have taken effective action.

For more information, see www.worldcitizensparty.org