On 17 February 2016, PGA held its first UN Committee Meeting of 2016, hosted by the Chair of the PGA UN Committee Ambassador Wenaweser, at the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the UN.
The PGA UN Committee is an advisory body of PGA, comprised of senior UN Ambassadors and high-level UN officials. The group is chaired by the Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein to the UN, H.E. Ambassador Christian Wenaweser. The meeting provided an opportunity for current Committee members and newly appointed UN Ambassadors to learn about PGA’s strategic plan for 2016 and the objectives of the 3 PGA Programs.
Amb. Wenaweser opened the meeting by welcoming the 20 Ambassadors, UN Officials and other representatives present. He underlined PGA’s unique mission, which stands out among the rich and vast NGO networks of today, as well as the work that his mission has done in close collaboration with PGA.
PGA was honored to receive the keynote address by Mr. Adama Dieng, Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on Prevention of Genocide, and Member of the PGA UN Committee.
Special Advisor Adama Dieng began by stating that PGA’s mission and activities in respecting the rule of law and human rights are close to his heart. Part of Mr. Dieng’s mandate as a Special Adviser is to work towards a more peaceful, accountable, and responsible world, but today the world faces a conflict of prevention. He underscored three main points that would help end atrocity crimes, the first being a need to act early and effectively. Action should be taken prevent violence from breaking out in the first place. Second, states must strengthen their legal frameworks of accountability by removing obstacles that prevent high-ranking officials from prosecution and implementing atrocity crimes in their own domestic legislations. Finally, state structures must be fair and accountable by promoting diversity and respecting judicial systems.
Following Mr. Dieng’s remarks, PGA Secretary-General, Dr. David Donat Cattin presented a brief overview of PGA’s mission and strategic plan for 2016-18. In his presentation, he echoed Mr. Dieng’s comments on the need to not only repress the most serious crimes of international concern, but to prevent them. Dr. Donat Cattin then touched upon each of PGA’s active campaigns, beginning with the recent success of the Campaign for the Rome Statute of the ICC’s work in El Salvador towards Rome Statute ratification. This was followed by a discussion on PGA’s Campaign for the Ratification and Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), and the Gender, Equality and Population Program’s event next week in the Parliament of Ghana on the subject of ending child, early and forced marriage which was welcomed by the present Ambassador of Ghana. The Secretary-General concluded by addressing several additional areas for development, including the shrinking space for civil society, the protection of human rights of parliamentarians, and strengthening the effectiveness of the UN system.
The floor was then open for questions and comments, in which Deputy Permanent Representative of Estonia to the UN, Amb. Minna-Liina Lind touched on the success of PGA’s recent Parliamentary seminar on the ICC in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and brought up the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) initiative, in which PGA participates. Amb. Per Thöresson of Sweden posed a question about how PGA’s work differs from that of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and was followed by Amb. Oh Joon of the Republic of Korea, who posed a question about the diversity of PGA’s membership.
Dr. Donat Cattin shared that PGA’s 1300 members come from all over the world, representing 143 different states. He added that PGA is unique in its mission because of how it interacts with individual parliamentarians, not parliaments as a whole, as the IPU does. Amb. Peter Lehmann of Denmark commented on the importance of working directly with parliamentarians, for they are the actors who implement meaningful legislation in their domestic capacity. Amb. Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee of Ghana questioned how PGA chooses its subjects and target countries, and Amb. Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg followed by asking how parliamentary members are recruited and what PGA’s campaigns look like in a practical fashion.
In wrapping up and responding to a few final questions, the Secretary-General clarified as PGA is a member-driven organization, all members volunteer their time, and share a collective commitment to upholding the rule of law and a more democratic world. He touched on how prevention for the gravest crimes of international concern is one of PGA’s most serious topics, citing both a potential upcoming Chatham House meeting on the topic of preventing violent extremism, and the commitment of many members from the Middle East who are committed to targeting the root causes of violent extremism. On Africa, he took note of the African Union’s concerning attempts to withdraw from the ICC, and underscored that many of PGA’s members from Africa do not support these AU resolutions.
The final question came from the Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko, who asked for those present to keep the deeply important issue of Crimea afloat, and invited all to an Arria formula meeting on the topic on 18 March. Amb. Wenaweser responded with a short discussion on the importance of the Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute, to which PGA has been a key partner along with Liechtenstein in its promotion. It is politically essential for the ICC to have more ratifications of these amendments, particularly because after receiving 30 ratifications on or before 1 January 2017, the Court will have jurisdiction over the crime of aggression.
Dr. Donat Cattin added that there is no excuse to allow for the continued illegal activity and failure of upholding the rule of law in Crimea any longer. He underscored that there is no military solution to this conflict, and that it is even more important to support the democratic institutions of Ukraine, adding that aggression is perpetrated every day a state is illegally occupied. Finally, he took note of Ukraine’s acceptance of Court jurisdiction as per Art. 12.3 of the Rome Statute, but underscored the necessity for Ukraine to ratify and sign on as a full state party to the ICC.
The Chair of the PGA UN Committee Amb. Wenaweser invited all Ambassadors present to join the PGA UN Committee.
The next meeting shall be held in June 2016, with the presence of the PGA Board.
For any questions on the work of the PGA UN Committee and PGA’s involvement in the Strengthening of the Working Methods of the UN please contact the PGA Specialist on Rule of Law and UN Strengthening Ms. Leyla Nikjou at leyla.nikjou@pgaction.org
