Summary
Meeting of the Association of
Secretaries General of Parliaments
New York, 7 September 2005
The Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments held a meeting at the United Nations General Assembly building in New York on 7 September 2005, attended by more than 70 delegates. The meeting was scheduled to coincide with and complement, a meeting of Speakers of Parliaments organised by the Inter-parliamentary Union. The Speakers' meeting in turn, complemented the Heads of Governments summit scheduled for the following week.
The ASGP and Speakers' meetings had similar agendas focussing on strengthening the role of national parliaments in international affairs. The substantive agenda items for the ASGP meeting were:
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an address by Dr Robert Orr, the UN Assistant Secretary General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning on The Process of Reform of the United Nations in light of the report "In larger Freedom" by the Secretary General of the UN, Mr Annan; and
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a general debate on Bridging the democracy gap in international relations and the concept of a parliamentary dimension of the United Nations.
Dr Orr provided the meeting with an overview of current issues involving the UN specifically in relation to social and economic development, peace and security issues, human rights and the rule of law, and institutional change and the United Nations. Dr Orr's comments were very much appreciated by secretaries general. They provided an opportunity to reflect on the international context of their own work and that of the parliaments they serve.
The second agenda item took as its starting point a paper prepared by Mr Anders Forsberg of the Swedish Riksdagen. Mr Forsberg's presentation elicited a lively debate on the role of national parliaments and parliamentary secretariats in international affairs generally and the United Nations in particular, as well as the role of the IPU and its relations with the ASGP.
There was a general consensus that the IPU alone could not address all aspects of a parliamentary dimension for the United Nations. Nevertheless, to the extent that there is a need for an institutional parliamentary presence at the UN, the IPU was the proper body to fulfil the role.
Ways in which the IPU can support parliaments and parliamentary democracy were considered. There was agreement that the IPU's role should be a coordinating one, using the expertise of members of parliament and parliamentary secretariats rather than generating that expertise itself. In this regard it was noted that there is a great deal of expertise within parliamentary committees, encompassing both members of parliament and staff.
A view was expressed that the ASGP should be cautious about involvement in international relations and other issues not directly related to the administration of parliaments. Another delegate considered the ASGP should be focussing on IPU reform rather than UN reform. In particular there was a need for closer cooperation between the secretariat of the IPU and the secretariats of parliaments so the latter could be more fully informed about issues relevant to parliaments.