Election 2005 and beyond

We would like to thank UNA members for being so instrumental in highlighting UN issues at hustings during this election. We would now be grateful for your help in raising awareness of the UN and its work among parliamentarians and have provided a list of suggested questions to pose to your new MP.

As always, we are interested in hearing about your dialogue with your new MP, and encourage you also to share with us your new MP's views on the UN. Any such material can be sent to vlie@una-uk.org or by post to Veronica Lie, United Nations Association, 3 Whitehall Court, London, SW1A 2EL.

Parliament and the UN

According to a recent poll by the BBC World Service there is overwhelming popular support for a strong, credible and effective UN in international affairs. This poll, which questioned citizens of 23 countries, registered particularly robust support in the UK: 74% of British respondents, for example, advocated expansion of the Security Council so as to render it more effective and representative.

Given this popular support for the UN, shouldn’t parliamentarians also demonstrate interest in the Organisation and in its ability to safeguard international security and promote economic and social well-being across the world?

In 2003 the UK government committed itself to holding an annual debate on the UN. The first was held in September of that same year; the second and most recent took place on 28 October 2004.

Only seven MPs participated.

This is clearly insufficient. Make it plain to your new MP that you will hold him or her to account on support for the United Nations.

Development, security and human rights for all

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s recently released report In Larger Freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all has a key message for governments as they formulate their positions in advance of the UN Millennium Summit, in September - namely that development, security and human rights are fundamentally interlinked:

"We will not enjoy development without security, we will not enjoy security without development, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights."

UNA strongly supports this message and advocates a comprehensive approach to global issues which takes into account the linkages among international development, peace and security and human rights. To that end we suggest that you concentrate on the Millennium Development Goals, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the UK's human rights obligations, but we also encourage you to lobby on other issues that you feel strongly about.