On 14 February, PGA held its first meeting of the UN Advisory Committee in 2019, hosted by the Chair of the PGA UN Advisory Committee, H.E. Mr. Christian Wenaweser, Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein to the UN, at the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the UN.

The meeting provided an opportunity for current committee members, invited UN Ambassadors and officials to learn about PGA’s campaigns and plans for 2019 and to discuss the role parliamentarians can play in implementing the UN Agenda at the national level.

PGA Secretary-General, Dr. David Donat Cattin, presented a brief overview of PGA’s programmes and campaigns, as well as the newly-adopted Strategic Plan for 2019-2021. In light of the outcomes of the 40^th Annual Forum and 10^th Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Rule of Law held in Kyiv, Ukraine, in November 2018, he highlighted PGA’s Campaign on the Universality and Effectiveness of the Rome Statute of the ICC system, which remains the largest PGA campaign. In that regard, the Secretary-General also presented PGA’s proposal to reform the nomination process of candidate-judges at the ICC. This proposal of reforming nomination process received favorable reactions by participants, as evidenced in the direct questioning on its feasibility by H.E. Ms. Louise Blais, Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the UN.

Two new PGA areas of work were presented as well, namely the Campaign on the Protection of the Oceans and the new Campaign for Democratic Renewal and Human Rights in order to advance the process of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). Dr. Donat Cattin also noted available resources like the parliamentary handbooks on Preventing Violent Extremism and Mass Atrocities, Advancing the Human Rights and Inclusion of LGBTI People (co-edited with UNDP) and on the Biological Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 1540.

Mr. Adama Dieng, the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, discussed the UN’s strategy to fight hate speech and his appreciation for PGA’s work. Mr. Dieng mentioned alarming developments around the world, including in Mali, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Myanmar and the Central African Republic. Mr. Dieng laid emphasis on the prevention of mass atrocities that includes the implementation of a stronger educational curriculum, including on historical instances of mass atrocity. Some UN agencies like UNESCO and UNICEF are involved in such efforts.

Among topics discussed, an update on the Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute was presented by H.E. Mr. Christian Wenaweser, who mentioned that at the margins of the High-Level Political Forum in July 2019, the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein would be organizing a side-event. Regarding amendments to the Rome Statute, H.E. Amb. Dominique Favre, Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the UN spoke about the Swiss proposal to include starvation under war crimes committed in the framework of an armed conflict not of an international character, which received the support of PGA since the Assembly of States Parties of 2018.

H.E. Mr. Antonio Gumende, Permanent Representative of Mozambique to the UN, expressed his appreciation for PGA’s work and noted the active presence of PGA Members in parliament, who were instrumental to the process that led Mozambique to become the 100^th State Party to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).  Mr. Ambassador Gumende recalled the historic significance of the UN ceremony in which he deposited its instrument of the ATT ratification in December 2018.

H.E. Mr. Volodymyr Yelchenko, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, brought up the success of the 10^th CAP-ICC and 40^th Annual Forum, which took place in Kyiv in November 2018. Ambassador Yelchenko also discussed the importance of the ICC in Ukraine and shared Ukraine’s work toward the ratification of the Rome Statute. He emphasised that the Executive branch of Ukraine truly appreciated the holding this major inter-parliamentary event on International Justice in Ukraine and the PGA strategy to relaunch the ratification process in July 2019 when the new Constitutional provision on the ICC, which was passed unanimously by the Rada, will enter into force.

H.E. Mr. José Luis Rocha, Permanent Representative of Cabo Verde to the UN, welcomed cooperation between PGA and Cabo Verde including as host of PGA’s 2019 41^st Annual Forum. Also the Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic, Amb. Juan Avila Ceballos, pledged the full support from the host country for a PGA Workshop on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) to be held in Parliament in Santo Domingo in 2019.

All Participants agreed that parliamentarians can play a crucial role in safeguarding multilateralism, which is currently under pressure around the world. Participants also discussed opportunities for future collaboration around the Commission on the Status of Women in March, the High-Level Political Forum in July and PGA’s 41^st Annual Forum in November.

For more information on PGA’s UN Committee please contact the PGA Senior Legal Officer Ms. Melissa Verpile at melissa.verpile@pgaction.org .