Description

President’s Message

The year 2005 was strategic for PGA as we embarked on new programme initiatives in addition to continuing progress on our ongoing activities. Each of PGA’s programmes, Peace and Democracy, International Law and Human Rights, and Sustainable Development and Population, witnessed growth through key meetings, conferences and seminars. In addition, PGA commenced a strategic planning process to analyze the current international environment and determine the future direction of PGA s work.

In October 2005, PGA held the Strategic Planning Session at the Harvard School for Public Health which was facilitated by Professor Stephen Marks and received key input from PGA members and programme advisors. As a result of this meeting, a Strategic Plan was drafted which will serve as a working document for PGA. The Strategic Plan will be finalized in 2006 after an organizational review which will be conducted by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and a programme evaluation by the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Danida), two of PGA’s key core donors.

The 27th Annual Forum on the issue of Migration, Immigration and Integration provided the opportunity to address a new thematic area in line with PGA’s work on human rights and development. At the Forum, which took place in Dublin, Ireland, members engaged in discussions on a variety of issues related to the larger topic of migration such as economics, labor, human trafficking, integration, health, and gender. Many of these fundamental points of discussion and issues contributed to the adoption of the Dublin Declaration of Action. The Declaration incorporated concrete policy formulations aimed at improving the integration of new migrants into culturally distinct communities and enhancing adherence to relevant international conventions.

In parallel to the Forum, PGA presented the 10th Annual Defender of Democracy Award to Mrs. Mary Robinson, President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Mrs. Robinson was honored for her longstanding and continued work in promoting human rights, an essential foundation to democracy.

This past year, PGA’s Peace and Democracy Program explored the possibility of initiating work on addressing the illicit proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). After comprehensive research on the optimal channels for parliamentarians to take up the issue of SALW, a Strategy Session was organized in February 2005 in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations. The meeting looked at the efforts needed to curb proliferation and misuse of SALW at the national, regional and global levels. One of the direct results of the meeting led to the launch of PGA’s Parliamentary Policy Initiative on SALW in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) which officially commenced in January 2006. A series of high-level regional and sub-regional seminars are planned to take place in Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States as well as at the United Nations Headquarters. These significant developments are examples of the new ways PGA’s work has progressed in recent years.

The International Law and Human Rights Program has forged ahead regardless of a budget gap during most of 2005. There was much growth and expansion of the work undertaken in the Middle East/North Africa region as well as several new ratifications of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) concerning Kenya, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. By December 2005, there were a total of 100 State Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC. In countries such as Bahrain, Cape Verde, Chile, Comoros, Guatemala, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mozambique, the Russian Federation, Suriname and Turkey, the seeds are being sown to commence and advance the ICC process. These initiatives are progressing due to the effort of both PGA members as well as other concerned MPs through the PGA ICC Campaign. One of the key features of PGA s work in these under-represented areas is to make available current comprehensive information on the ICC. In 2005, PGA played an important role in supporting the referral of the Darfur situation by the United Nations Security Council to the ICC.

The year 2005 was a fruitful year for PGA s Sustainable Development and Population Program as it initiated a new line of work in the area of HIV/AIDS in South Asia. In January, PGA organized the first Sub-Regional Parliamentary Seminar on HIV/AIDS in Islamabad, Pakistan. There were 70 parliamentarians as well as numerous officials participating in the panels over the two-day period. Legislators from South Asia gathered for the first time in Islamabad to discuss the effects of HIV/AIDS in the region and the role of parliamentarians in addressing the pandemic.

The seminar proved to be beneficial to parliamentarians, particularly regional MPs who felt the awareness created at this initial conference should continue and expand through several strategic follow-up events. It was agreed that, in 2006, PGA would organize the Second Sub-Regional Parliamentary Seminar on HIV/AIDS in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in addition to a Provincial Parliamentary Seminar in Karachi, Pakistan.

In consideration of the wide-ranging meetings, seminars and conferences held over the past year in each of our three programmes, it is clear that PGA has continued to break ground in new areas while also furthering earlier goals. This year’s work will provide a foundation for the projects planned in 2006. As my term as President of PGA comes to a close, I am pleased to welcome the newly elected President of PGA, Senator Alain Destexhe of Belgium, who will lead the organization in 2006.

Hon. Kenneth Dzirasah MP (Ghana)