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After an interesting telephone conversation a few weeks ago, I asked Joshua Weiss to send along details about the e-Parliament Pilot Programme that I could forward to DO-WIRE. Additional information is available from: http://www.pon.harvard.edu/research/projects/ppw.php3 http://www.pon.harvard.edu/shared/docs/eparl.pdf http://www.earthaction.org/e-parl/ I have long <http://www.publicus.net/articles/transnational.html> been interested in ways to create online structures that foster inter- governmental/civic information exchange. Scroll about 2/3 of the way down and read from "Human Networks" down. In some ways my perspective was sharper, more fresh back in 1993 than it is today. Anyway, the idea of creating systems <http://www.landfield.com/govnews/> to promote global information sharing in the past may have been too broad. With the e-Parliaments focus on a few key issues it might give them the context to build the democratic overhead required for effective information exchange that can be extended to more issues over time. Steven Clift Democracies Online http://www.e-democracy.org/do From: Joshua Weiss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The e-Parliament Pilot Programme A proposal for funding March 2002 Section 1. Background The e-Parliament Concept The 'e-Parliament' is a new initiative to further global democracy through an internet-based forum linking the world's democratically elected legislators. The e-Parliament will enable parliamentarians from industrialised and developing countries to collaborate with civil society in a search for creative solutions to global problems such as AIDS, children's rights and climate change. The e-Parliament will contribute to global information exchange and the spread of good practice between legislators and will be of particular benefit to parliamentarians with few resources in developing countries. Through the use of internet-based research and discussion forums the e-Parliament will enable its members to get in touch with colleagues in other countries who share common concerns, and to find out what legislators in other countries are doing to address common global problems. It will provide the opportunity for groups of legislators to create joint recommendations for global action. The e-Parliament represents a positive response to the challenge of globalization. As more decisions move to the global level, on issues ranging from climate change to trade, there is an urgent need for a democratic global forum to bring greater accountability to world decision-making. And while global free markets are an efficient mechanism for meeting some of society's needs, there is a corresponding requirement to strengthen the role of democratic parliaments to advance global public goods that are not automaticallly provided by free markets. The e-Parliament is a unique concept fulfilling a proven need of legislators and civil society. No other forum of this nature is currently in existence. The e-Parliament project has been initiated by EarthAction (a global network of citizen groups and legislators), together with the Global Negotiation Project at Harvard University. More information on EarthAction can be found at http://www.earthaction.org A new legal entity called the "e-Parliament Initiative" is being created, with a board made up of distinguished legislators and civil society representatives. The e-Parliament's Purposes The e-Parliament will: * Provide a unique tool for the world's 25,000 democratically elected legislators to link up into a democratic global forum to deal with common problems. * Contribute to the promotion of global good governance through a 'library' of examples of good legislation and policy deposited on the e-Parliament site by parliamentarians and available for use and adaptation by legislators world-wide. * Establish a process for generating more creative and effective solutions to global problems by sharing ideas and research on issues such as AIDS, children's rights, prevention of terrorism or climate change. Recommendations will be generated and fed into national parliaments and global institutions for action. The active involvement in this process of civil society groups and parliamentarians from around the globe will be encouraged, in particular those from developing countries with direct experience of the particular issue. * Focus on generating new funds to meet global needs. Legislators vote national budgets and can influence both national and international priorities on budget spending. Their concerted action could make a difference to the amount of funds expended internationally for poverty reduction and environmental protection. . The e-Parliament in Practice Unlike other global institutions, the e-Parliament will be made up entirely of democratically-elected representatives. The structure will be quite simple: * Legislators can self-organise into "InterGroups" around specific issues. The bulk of the activity in the e-Parliament will take place in these InterGroups. The first such groups being created focus on the prevention of terrorism, the need for an AIDS vaccine, and children's rights. Each InterGroup will have a separate meeting space in which participants can: learn about an issue, discuss it with colleagues, consult with citizens and key stakeholders, draft proposals and conduct polls on non-binding recommendations. Those recommendations for action can then be taken to their national parliaments and on to international institutions. * An e-Parliament Council, elected by the full membership, will ensure that each InterGroup has regular opportunities to bring matters to the full e-Parliament in the form of: an information bulletin; an online hearing (e.g. questioning the head of an international institution or multinational corporation); or a poll of all members of the e-Parliament. * Citizen groups and others will also be encouraged to form InterGroups among themselves on a parallel site, to develop proposals for the e-Parliament. The engagement of civil society organizations from the start is a key ingredient for the success of the initiative. Key NGOs and research institutes will be involved in the work of the parliamentary InterGroups. * The Website, a virtual "Parliament Building" will be created in a style resembling other parliament buildings. The web address will be www.e-parl.net * Membership : every member of a national legislature (or the European Parliament) who has been elected in fair, open and democratic elections will be entitled to be a member of the e- Parliament. Ways can be explored to enable citizens of closed societies, such as China, to participate online until the time comes when their countries hold democratic elections. There are currently around 25,000 legislators world-wide who will be entitled to become a member of the e-Parliament. They represent approximately 60% of humanity, of whom 60% in turn live in absolute poverty on less than $3 a day. Section 2 - InterGroups Pilot Programme In order to establish and test the e-Parliament concept we will initiate a two-year pilot programme, centred around the development and launch of two e-Parliament InterGroups on an HIV/AIDS vaccine and on Children's Rights and Education for All. By starting on a smaller scale with two specific issues, we can "learn by doing" and refine our strategy before launching the full e-Parliament and other InterGroups on issues such as climate, biotechnology, conflict prevention or corporate social responsibility. In parallel with work on the InterGroups, we will continue to steadily prepare for the launch of the full e-Parliament. This will involve: building up a global network of legislators and civil society organizations that are ready to help build support for the initiative; engaging legislators from all regions of the world in the design of the e-Parliament; creating a unique database of all 25,000 of the world's democratically elected parliamentarians; and building the overall e-Parliament website. The pilot programme will run from 1 May 2002 to 1 May 2004. i) e-Parliament InterGroup for an AIDS Vaccine More than 60 million men, women and children world-wide have been infected with HIV. Ninety-five per cent of new HIV infections occur in developing countries, where AIDS is undermining economic stability, reversing decades of progress and devastating families and communities. AIDS demands a comprehensive global response including the urgent development of preventive vaccines that can be distributed world-wide. In the end, a safe vaccine offers the best chance of halting the epidemic once and for all. The past two years have witnessed remarkable advancements in AIDS research with global funding for vaccine research quadrupling since 1996, and multiple promising vaccine candidates in development world- wide. Several major pharmaceutical companies now have AIDS vaccine research and development projects, including Merck & Co., GlaxoSmithKline and VaxGen. In March 2001, a trial of the first AIDS vaccine made for Africa began in Nairobi, Kenya. The product of a partnership among the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the UK's Medical Research Council and the University of Nairobi, this vaccine candidate is based on subtype A, the most common strain of HIV circulating in Eastern Africa. Within the next two years, IAVI expects to begin human trials of more vaccines tailored to the strains of HIV predominant in Africa and Asia. Yet despite some progress the world's commitment to AIDS vaccines is inadequate. We must ensure that the promising AIDS vaccine candidates now in development are moved forward as quickly as possible. It takes nearly a decade to move a vaccine from concept to final-stage human testing. It is critical that multiple products be developed simultaneously and tested in parallel. This way, if one vaccine proves ineffective, work on alternatives is already underway. Legislators have an essential role to play in ensuring that a vaccine reaches those who need it as quickly as possible. They vote the national budgets and can press for funding to accelerate vaccine efforts. They can ensure that national mechanisms are in place for rapid assessment and approval of vaccines once developed. They can press for effective world-wide distribution programmes and appropriate pricing policies. And, not least, they have the democratic mandate from the voters to monitor the performance of their governments in combating the AIDS epidemic. The e-Parliament AIDS Vaccine InterGroup will provide the first global forum for legislators to collaborate on these matters. The AIDS vaccine is a good example of an issue where global free markets alone are not delivering a public good: namely a vaccine to stop the AIDS epidemic. The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative is being told by many pharmaceutical companies that they are withholding major investment in AIDS vaccine research because of uncertainty about whether parliaments will allow them to sell a vaccine at sufficient profit to cover their reseach and development costs. There is a clear need for international parliamentary intervention to lay the groundwork for a differential pricing system which can ensure access for even the poorest citizens to a vaccine, while ensuring that the companies can make a commercial profit from their investment in the richer Northern nations. This in turn could help to create the incentives needed to release large-scale research funds. With the rate of infection increasing as it is, every month that can be saved in making a vaccine available to the world public could save 500,000 lives. ii) e-Parliament InterGroup on Children's Rights and Education The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989 and has now been ratified by 191 countries. It commits governments to ensure, among other things, that every child receives a primary education, that no child serves as a soldier, that no child is engaged in work which interferes with its education, and that children without families are cared for. Governments have a legal and moral obligation to advance the cause of child rights through administrative, legislative, judicial and other measures in order to implement the Convention. The promises, sadly, have not always been followed by action. A recent UNICEF report shows that, in the developing world, 120 million children who should be in school are not. UNICEF estimates that just an additional $9 billion more each year for the next 15 years is needed to achieve universal primary enrolment by the year 2010 - this is less than Europeans spend on ice cream or people in the United States spend on cosmetics. Today, more than 60 million children live on the street, cared for by no one. Many documented cases exist of abuses of the basic human rights of these so-called 'street children' such as being forced into prostitution, being physically abused, and often dying from cold, malnutrition or disease. Amnesty International says that an estimated 300,000 children are currently fighting in conflicts around the world. Significant recruitment starts at the age of 10 and the use of even younger children has been recorded. Legislators have an essential role to play in meeting the needs of the world's children - by shaping policies, voting budgets and monitoring Governments' commitments. The InterGroup on Children's Rights and Education could, among other things, help to obtain funding for universal primary education and the care of homeless children. It could help strengthen national legislation to protect children by spreading good practice globally, and sharing information about legislative initiatives that have (or have not) worked well in different countries. The goal of universal primary education is simple and essential: children should be in school, not in the army, in the factory or on the street. Here again is an example of a global public good which neither global free markets nor intergovernmental negotiations are providing: to get every child into school. There is a clear need for an international parliamentary initiative to redirect resources and policies to achieve this public good. e-PARLIAMENT MANAGEMENT TEAM The management team for launching the e-Parliament, before any new staff are hired, includes: LOIS BARBER Lois Barber is co-founder and an Executive Director of the EarthAction Network, which consists of over 1,800 citizen groups in more than 150 countries. EarthAction mobilizes world-wide public pressure on issues of environment, development, peace and human rights. She is also Founder and President of 20/20 Vision, a US citizen network focused on peace and environmental security. She has received the Woman of Distinction Award and the Environmental Leadership Award. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] NICHOLAS DUNLOP Nicholas Dunlop is also co-founder and an Executive Director of the EarthAction Network. A citizen of Ireland and New Zealand, he was for ten years the first Secretary- General of Parliamentarians for Global Action, an international network of legislators. In 1984, he coordinated the launching of the Six Nation Peace Initiative, bringing together the presidents and prime ministers of Argentina, Greece, India, Mexico, Sweden and Tanzania work on nuclear disarmament issues. He was a co-recipient of the first Indira Gandhi Peace Prize, and of the first Better World Society Peace Prize, awarded to Parliamentarians for Global Action. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TESS KINGHAM Tess Kingham was a Labour member of the last British Parliament representing Gloucester. She was an active member of the Select Committee on International Development, where she took a keen interest in IT in development issues. She chaired the All-Party Group on Western Sahara, and was a key member of the All-Party Group on the Great Lakes region of Africa. She previously worked as a campaign manager at Oxfam UK and as fund-raising manager for War on Want and other non-profit organizations. She chose not to run again for parliament in order to return to work full-time on development issues. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SIRPA PIETIKÄINEN Sirpa Pietikäinen is a member of the Finnish Parliament for the conservative Moderate Party. She served previously as Environment Minister of Finland. She is Chair of the Executive Committee of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, which consists of more than 80 national organizations around the world. She also chairs the Finnish NGO network on conflict prevention. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WILLIAM URY William L. Ury co-founded Harvard's Program on Negotiation where he currently directs the Global Negotiations Project. He is co-author of Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, a five-million-copy bestseller. His latest book is The Third Side: Transforming Conflict at Home, at Work, and in the World. He has served as a consultant to the Crisis Management Center at the U.S. White House, initiating an upgrade of the nuclear hotline. He consults on negotiation and problem-solving processes to the heads of various major corporations. Ury is the recipient of the Whitney North Seymour Award from the American Arbitration Association and the Distinguished Service Medal from the Russian Parliament. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] . 4 ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - W: http://www.publicus.net Minneapolis - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - - - ICQ: 13789183 *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To unsubscribe instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please forward this post to others and encourage *** *** them to subscribe to the free DO-WIRE service. ***
