Mr. Mélégué Traoré
President of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso

Parliaments must become more involved in the foreign policy of States

Q : Is Parliament still the venue for politics?
M.T: Politics never left parliament. Indeed, parliament is the ideal forum for politics. As far as globalisation is concerned, international financial flows and the complexities of trade might give the impression that not only parliaments but also governments have been eclipsed. Throughout the world, the political currents and structures that run States appear to have been completely overtaken by events, but these appearances are deceptive, for when all is said and done the decisions that must be taken are indeed taken - by governments. And in the final analysis, governments cannot take them without the assent of parliamentary assemblies. So there is no contradiction between the globalisation movement and the role of parliaments. What there may be is a change in the functions, duties, practices and activities of parliaments.

Q : How can we raise awareness of parliaments’ activities on the international scene?
M.T: It is important to reassert the role of parliaments within the nation State before seeking a wider understanding of the role of parliaments internationally. This is just as important for old nations, where parliamentary politics is well established – and sometimes so deeply engrained as to become trivialised – as it is for the new States and new democracies in Africa, where parliament has taken its place as a pivotal institution. A few years back, owing to the single-party regime, when a parliament did exist, it was a sort of appendage of the executive branch. At the end of the 60s and until the middle of the 90s, when states of emergency and military coups prevailed, parliament either did not exist or existed so intermittently that its institutional authority all but disappeared. And without an institutional memory, parliament does not amount to much. Since the democratic renewal in Africa, parliaments have become the major forum for the people to voice their views. How can we boost parliaments’ international standing? I believe that parliaments must become more involved in States’ foreign policy. Traditionally, parliament’s function with regard to foreign policy has been to vote credits for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to authorise the ratification of international agreements. Parliament’s foreign policy role has consisted of exercising oversight a posteriori. Parliament must broaden this role so that it can intervene a priori. This can be seen within the framework of the policy of humanitarian intervention, where citizens can offer their opinions or lend their approval, and this can only be done through parliament. Parliaments must also be the forum from which independent initiatives spring.

There is no gainsaying that parliaments have helped greatly to ease the tense relations between certain African States, for parliament has one enormous advantage over governments – its procedures are more flexible. Parliament encompasses both the opposition and the majority. When a delegation from the Parliament of Burkina Faso travels abroad, it is always composed of majority and opposition MPs, radical and moderate, which means that when we express ourselves it is Burkina Faso that is expressing itself by consensus. This is not the case with Government. Parliament is becoming the forum for diplomatic initiatives, and this is where parliamentary diplomacy has to operate. Today, parliament has taken on a broader role in West Africa, southern Africa and Central and South America. Inter-State relations in West Africa would be infinitely more difficult without the very intense inter-parliamentary activity conducted on a bilaterally or multilaterally. And this is where the Inter-Parliamentary Union must play a new role.

Q : So Parliaments can be a sort of link, a messenger between “political decision-makers” and citizens?
M.T: Yes. The MP is a link, an institutional bond between the population and government, who generally claims to act behalf of the former. And parliaments must continue to play this role. Even the smallest village in Burkina Faso, Mali or Senegal is attached to central government through parliamentarians. In countries where the administration falters or where the government is not able to reach out to all of the villages throughout the country, only the parliamentarian can provide the link between the central power and this or that distant hamlet or village. This is especially important in view of the fact that in our country, parliamentarians are often elected according to their region of origin, not the place in which they live. This role is essential; it is particularly evident with development projects. Governments take action in the most remote areas of Africa because needs have been expressed by parliamentarians. Parliaments and parliamentarians act as mediators between citizens, singly or in groups, associations and government. The decision-makers are parliaments and parliamentarians. There is a need to go beyond mediation – parliament must also be the place where decisions are taken. With parliament’s help, problems such as AIDS can become international issues. Epidemics flare up regularly in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, and it is the responsibility of parliaments to put such things on the agenda. This also holds true for the developed countries. In Europe, the debate on public health and food quality would never have developed as it has by virtue of government action alone. These debates can only spring from the impetus provided by associations and by the institution that represents citizens, i.e. parliament.

Q : The Inter-Parliamentary Union is attempting to give a parliamentary dimension to international cooperation, to the UN and the WTO. How can it do so in practical terms?
M.T: If we require democracy within a State, if we believe that - say - the British people make their grievances heard through the House of Commons and that the policy carried out by Mr. Blair’s government must be overseen by parliament, then we must also accept the same principle at the international level. The inter-State structures set up at the sub-regional level, for example in West Africa, Central Africa, southern Africa, East Africa and North Africa, and at the regional continent-wide level, or in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and even North America, and the creation of sub-regional and regional bodies, must move in tandem with the impetus provided by parliaments. At this level, international structures require a parliamentary dimension. Naturally, the same holds true at the world level, e.g. as far as the United Nations is concerned. This is where the Inter-Parliamentary Union comes in. The IPU has to be more ambitious. Naturally, if the IPU is to be able to fulfil its mission, if it is one day to become the parliamentary arm of the United Nations, for example, it must contribute something new, for there is no point in simply duplicating what governments do. The IPU must provide something new in the choice of topics, challenges and approaches. And in order to do so, the Union must rethink its structures. It is clear that we can no longer define the Union as being part of the association-based movement, and this process has picked up speed since the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments held at UN Headquarters in New York last August.

Q : The 106th Inter-Parliamentary Conference is scheduled to take place in Burkina Faso. What will be the focus of this event?
M.T: We must demonstrate that parliamentarianism and parliamentary democracy exist in Africa. Burkina Faso intends to continue what was started in Cairo in 1997 and in Windhoek the following year: show that parliamentary diplomacy works in Africa. We intend to show that an event of this size in Africa does not need to copy the organisational arrangements made elsewhere. I do not wish to imply that the other continents are not hospitable. Every people has its own unique talent. With our limited means, we are going to try and offer a warm reception to the Conference delegates. Everything depends on how these limited means are managed. We would like two questions to be taken up in Ouagadougou. The first concerns the women MPs. The Meeting of Women Parliamentarians is a stroke of luck for us, because Burkina Faso is probably one of the African countries with the strongest women’s associations. Women's village groups are responsible for the bulk of development in Burkina Faso. We hope that the debate in the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians on 9 September will involve the women’s associations of Burkina Faso, so that the women MPs bear testimony to a reality that can serve as an example and usher in a true debate on problems of concern for today’s women – be they American, French or German. Not only the problems of African women who live in big cities, the intellectuals, but also the problems of women who live in small villages will be addressed. Another subject we would like to see taken up is the key issue of AIDS and the impact of endemics and epidemics. AIDS must be analysed not only in terms of the number of fatalities but also its deeper impact on the African nations. Studies have shown that a number of African countries are ultimately threatened with extinction because of AIDS. Some nations have been hit so hard that their population is gradually shrinking. We hope that there will be a genuine debate on this issue.