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ISSUE N°7
SEPTEMBER 2002
Page 2 of 8

C O N T E N T S
OF THE ISSUE

white cube Special guest: Mr. Pier Ferdinando Casini
white cube Editorial: Democracy, you said?
white cube Event: Parliaments and the FAO World Summit
white cube Dossier:Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians to celebrate its 25th anniversary
white cube Gender issues: Parliament and the budgetary process, including from the gender perspective
white cube Financing for Development: View of British MPs
white cube IPU and UN MPs and the World Summit on Sustainalbe Development
white cube Parliamentary Developments

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The World of Parliaments
 Editorial

Democracy, you said?

Human Development Report
Human Development Report 2002

As the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Pier Ferdinando Casini, states in our columns, "parliamentary diplomacy is changing gear". And there is no gainsaying that from Rome - World Food Summit - Five years later - to Johannesburg - Summit on Sustainable Development and New York - Summit on Children, legislators have never worked so hard to find solutions to the problems facing citizens throughout the world.

The notion of parliamentary diplomacy implies the democratisation of institutions, which means greater justice. So why this bitter analysis which the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) sums up in its Human Development Report 2002: "Economically, politically and technologically, the world has never seemed more free - or more unjust"?

It may relate to the fact that citizens, whatever their political persuasions and geographical origins, all seem to feel that while they enjoy greater political freedom - even though, following the September 11 attacks, the fight against terrorism raises a few questions - they have lost control over their destiny, because the major decisions that affect their daily lives are taken elsewhere than in the parliaments that represent them, in places where their voices are not heard. It is therefore no coincidence that UNDP recommends strengthening democratic practices in international institutions.

So what can be done to humanise democracy and democratise the international institutions that govern people's lives? The answer to this question lies partly with parliaments, which are fighting for more leverage on the international political scene and for closer cooperation with the United Nations and the international financial institutions. Democracy, you said?

L.B.

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