Description

President's Message

2002 has proven to be a year of great achievements for the global community, one of which was the ratification and entry into force of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court (ICC). Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) has played a viral role in the ratification process of the Statute. PGA initiated its work on the ICC in 1989, when Hon. A.N.R. Robinson, member of PGA and then Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago submitted a resolution to the UN and when other PGA members presented similar bills to their respective parliaments, including the US Congress. The ICC-related work has culminated in the Rome Treaty signature in 1998 and its entry into force in 2002.

Following the ratification of the Statute, PGA has continued coordinating a worldwide process for universal ratification of the ICC, through numerous conferences, including the 24th Annual Parliamentary Forum entitled "Consultative Parliamentary Assembly for the ICC" held by PGA in Ottawa, Canada in November 2002. Additionally, during 2002, PGA's International Law & Human Rights Program has kept the momentum going by holding conferences and briefings promoting the ICC in Francophone Africa, Ibero-American states, India, Japan, Sweden and South Africa.

PGA's Peace & Democracy Program has also been increasingly active in working on numerous sectors of peace and democracy building. Among the activities undertaken by the program were a series of Regional Seminars on Strengthening United Nations Peace Operations-International Parliamentary Input in Ghana, India and Egypt that culminated with an Informal Briefing on the results of the series with representatives of the UN Security Council, G-77, and senior United Nations officials, held at the UN Headquarters in New York in May 2002. In the course of these series participants were able to share their knowledge and experience in peacekeeping operations amongst themselves and with the representatives of various branches of the UN and G-77. The meeting reiterated the importance of parliamentary peacemaking in parallel with UN peace operations. Additionally, as a part of the 24th Annual Forum, PGA has conducted a Seminar on the Responsibility to Protect, which further examined the concept of peacemaking in the context of state' responsibility to protect.

Within the framework of Task Force on Peace & Democracy PGA has also organized a Subregional Seminar on Integration, Immigration & Naturalization at the Assemblee Narionale of Core d'Ivoire, which was the most important contribution of PGA to peace and democracy this year. As the result of the seminar participants have signed the Abidjan Declaration, which called on all participants to recognize and implement international human rights norms, encourage tolerance towards and protection of all peoples, while ensuring full and equal civic participation within a democratic and transparent system. The series of watermanagement dialogues between the delegations of Armenian and Azeri as well as Greek and Turkish parliamentarians, started by PGA in the end of 2001, have successfully continued throughout 2002 and have led to a number of substantial achievements that were reported by the parliamentarians at PGA Workshop on Clean Air/Clean Water, a parallel event to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), organized by PGA Sustainable Development and Population Program in Johannesburg, South Africa in August 2002.

The Johannesburg Workshop was a great success as it gathered together some 150 participants over the course of two days and resulted in a declaration calling for effective national legislation to reduce air and water pollution. The Sustainable Development & Population Program has also continued its Junior Professional Program in West Africa at the Parliament of Mali and ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja, Nigeria with great success.

In the course of this year PGA members have shown intensifying dedication to the work of the organization, proving that cooperation across parry lines and geographical boundaries is capable of bringing forth change for a better world.

Hon. Kenneth Dzirasah, Deputy Speaker (Ghana)