27 February 2009

Submission to UN Commission: Parliamentary Assembly should be part of renewed system of financial and economic governance

In a contribution to the NGO consultation of the Commission on Financial Reforms set up by the President of the UN General Assembly which ran from 26 January-13 February, the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (CEUNPA) commented on the theme of reforming the global financial architecture. According to the submission of the campaign, "the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly should be an important part of the renewed system of international financial and economic governance". The compilation report to the Commission on Financial Reforms, prepared by the UN's Non-Governmental Liasion Service (UN-NGLS), quotes from the campaign's contribution that a UN Parliamentary Assembly "could monitor the interlinkages and impact of the international system’s financial and economic policies in other fields such as sustainable development, food supply, education, health or eradication of poverty."

The "Commission of Experts of the President of the UN General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System" is chaired by the well known economist Joseph Stiglitz and is mandated to reflect on the causes of the global financial crisis, assess its impacts on all countries and suggest adequate responses to avoid its recurrence and restore global economic stability. "Given the short-time frame and heavy burden of the Commission’s work, this will likely be the only input from civil society that they will review," UN-NGLS states on its website. Other themes included financial regulation; multilateral issues; macroeconomic issues and addressing the crisis.

UN-NGLS report    UN-NGLS website