Most people understand, as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Pope Benedict have recently observed, that global problems require global solutions. For this to happen, we require two things: a change in our consciousness so that we recognize that the earth’s resources are finite; and more effective international institutions that can keep us from destroying one another and the environment.

The UN must be strengthened so that it becomes more than a talk shop, and has the resources to fulfill the great responsibilities it bears for peace, development and social justice. One idea is to give citizens and not just nations direct input into the system. Europe now has its own parliament and there could be one at the United Nations too.

The Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly (detailed at www.unpacampaign.org) proposes a consultative body, first composed of national parliamentarians and then transitions to holding direct elections, in the way that the European Parliament did. The world is now a global community and we need democratic global institutions that reflect this new reality.

A Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations would be a symbol of a new global consciousness, a lever for further reform, and a way for the world to start working together right now for the common interest.

LARRY KAZDAN, vice president, World Federalist Movement Canada-Vancouver Branch,
620 E. 23 Ave, Vancouver, B.C. Canada