Keynote Speech at the Homeland and Security Forum Crans Montana Forum - by Mr. Martin Chungong, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Geneva, 26 October 2018 Ladies and gentlemen, I am very honoured to deliver this keynote speech today and I thank you for the invitation. A lot has been said about the ravages corruption and other economic crimes cause to our societies and economies today. We are left in no doubt that they are threatening global stability and peace. Addressing these challenges is extremely relevant today and I very much welcome the links you make with youth education, democracy and parliaments. Let me start by giving you a brief introduction to the IPU. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) works for democracy that delivers for the people. We promote democratic governance, institutions and values, working with parliaments and parliamentarians to articulate and respond to the needs and aspirations of the people. We work for peace, democracy, human rights, gender equality, youth empowerment and sustainable development through political dialogue, cooperation and parliamentary action. We want a world where every voice counts, where democracy and parliaments are at the service of the people for peace and development. In this context, the IPU offers wide-ranging support to parliaments and parliamentarians in implementing standards of democratic parliaments, encouraging dialogue and bringing together MPs from across the world, always guided by the basic approach of protecting and promoting human rights. Beyond their legislative power, and using it to adopt comprehensive and effective laws against corruption and economic crime, national parliaments can also fight corruption by effectively exercising their oversight power. They can oversee the government s anticorruption policies and practices and hold them accountable for their action. Parliaments also approve budgets and oversee public investment, which can be an opportunity to push for more transparency and compliance with legal and ethical standards. In addition, national parliaments are also relevant stakeholders when it comes to engaging and cooperating with civil society and other public actors to build stronger and independent audit institutions and anti-corruption agencies. Indeed, we do encourage the forging of strong organic links between parliaments and supreme audit institutions.
I see four main possible avenues for parliaments to effectively contribute to the global drive against corruption and economic crime. The first one is strengthening democracy itself. At the heart of democracy are strong parliaments. By that, we mean parliaments that are representative, open and transparent, accessible, accountable and effective. Strong and democratic parliaments are the foremost guardians of the rule of law and are better prepared to fight corruption. However, this is no gainsaying that democracy is under threat today. Populism and authoritarianism are gaining ground. Human rights are being challenged in a context of growing international and internal conflicts, climate change, poverty and large-scale migration. We should not waver on principles, rights and ideals. This year we celebrate the 70 th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We also remember and honour Nelson Mandela, who would have turned 100 years in 2018. He personified the ideals of the Declaration and, in his own words, strove to uphold "the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities". Corruption is a threat to this harmony and equity; by guaranteeing these latter two points we can definitely counter the former. The second response is to build strong parliaments that have the capacity to hold government to account. Corruption flourishes in the absence of oversight. In a society riven by corruption, power is confiscated by a few, to the detriment of the many. Effective parliamentary oversight is a key strategy to fight corruption. It places the people their needs, their interests and their experiences at the heart of politics. It improves government performance in all policy areas. Oversight enhances the democratic process. Benefits include increased knowledge and understanding of government policies; greater accessibility to information and data; stronger investigation of policies and budgets to ensure value for money ; and more inclusive participation by a diverse range of stakeholders not least of whom are members of the public. Oversight is becoming a key marker of parliament s relevance in the twenty-first century. By holding government to account, identifying problems and seeking corrective measures through legislation, budget allocations, policy and administration, parliament provides a vital service to society. The IPU/UNDP Global Parliamentary Report (GPR) 2017 makes the point that effective parliamentary oversight acts as a check and balance on executive power and is an important safeguard in the democratic process. However, we are under no illusion that oversight is easy to exercise. A host of challenges need to be addressed effectively. In addition to political will, legal powers and mandate, for effective oversight to take place, particularly over financial matters, MPs need time, resources, knowledge and skills that are not always available. The role of the modern parliament in holding government to account is changing and becoming more and more demanding. There is a strong case therefore for parliaments to work with other external oversight stakeholders to use their expertise and, most importantly, to obtain information that does not come from the executive. These actors 2
include civil society organizations and citizens who can provide valuable information to parliamentary committees in the oversight process. Parliament requires the insights and expertise of such external bodies to complement and enrich its own oversight activities and conclusions. In short, partnerships are key. As we all know, corruption contributes substantially to the erosion of public trust in institutions. Parliaments and parliamentarians need to restore that trust, and they can do so only by being effective, representative, inclusive, transparent and accountable in their own work and behaviour. The message of oversight findings will only be taken seriously by the public if the messenger is perceived positively. The third response: parliaments and parliamentarians need to be exemplary role models. This flows from what I have just said about trust in governing institutions. Accountability of MPs is critical. Transparency of parliament is key as well. Guaranteeing accountability and transparency of parliament itself is a way to both build trust and combat corruption. Transparency of overall parliamentary work, and of the parliamentary budget and expenditures, allows people to better understand and support the work of parliament while preventing abuses and questionable practices. The world s voters, in particular young people, have for decades been losing confidence in democratic politics. They have been feeling excluded and powerless. Contemporary political debate is felt to have little relevance to the interests of ordinary people, and to be dominated by financial interests. In recent years, global indexes and surveys as well as scholarly inquiries have pointed to a decline in people s overall trust and confidence in democracy and its institutions, including parliaments. The response to this waning trust, in earlier decades, was the establishment, in many jurisdictions, of codes of ethics for MPs, together with mechanisms and structures to enforce compliance. It has become evident, however, that this focus on the ethics of individual MPs, while beneficial, has not been sufficient to halt the decline in trust in modern democratic institutions. Parliamentarians who wish to mobilize public support must, first of all, adhere to demonstrably high ethical standards. We cannot emphasize enough, the need for parliaments to harness modern technologies to connect with the people and more easily interact with those who want and need to know more about the work they carry out. At the IPU, we help parliaments become more open and accessible. Open parliaments conduct their business transparently. Proceedings are open to the public and the media. Debates are publicized in advance and documents are published on the Internet. Open parliaments have their own public relations teams, and make effective use of technology to put information in the public domain. Accessible parliaments involve the public in their work. They have various means for citizens to reach their MPs, and effective ways for the public to be consulted before laws are passed. Other hallmarks of accessibility include people s right to ask for action on particular subjects, and make complaints if they have grievances. Interest groups lobby within agreed legal provisions that ensure transparency. Given the power that parliamentarians wield, and the temptation for third parties to want to influence the exercise of that power, it is essential that parliaments impose 3
special openness obligations on their members to help prevent or at least expose conflicts of interest. These obligations may be imposed through legislation, standing orders or through codes of conduct focusing on financial transparency, conflict-ofinterest issues, including wider frameworks of ethics, and general principles of behaviour. Transparent and exemplary parliaments and parliamentarians can combat the existing widespread sense that today s systems have become distorted and that somehow, modern-day democratic practice is failing to produce ethical, responsive, fair and representative government. And this brings me to the fourth response: building inclusive decision-making processes. A democratic parliament should be representative of the people and society. In the first instance, this means that parliament should reflect the popular will as expressed in the choices electors make for their representatives and for the political parties in whose name they stand. A parliament that is significantly unrepresentative in this respect, whether through flaws in electoral procedure or the electoral system, will to that extent forfeit legitimacy, and be less able to reflect public opinion on the important issues of the day. A democratic parliament should also reflect the social diversity of the population in terms of gender, language, religion, ethnicity, or other politically significant characteristics. A parliament which is unrepresentative in this second sense will leave some social groups and communities feeling disadvantaged in the political process or even excluded altogether, with consequences for the quality of public life or the stability of the political system and society in general. At the IPU we are convinced that representation is fundamental for democracy and we have identified two important groups that have been relegated for too long, to the margins of public life: women and youth. Many women around the world still lack equal rights and empowerment opportunities, and face discrimination and violence. The world s parliaments are no exception to this pattern of inequality. With women accounting for just over 23% of parliamentary membership worldwide, most parliaments remain male-dominated, and women MPs often lack equal representation in senior positions or on decision-making bodies. We feel strongly about achieving gender equality, recognizing the link between democracy, representation, and the equal participation of men and women in parliaments. We need therefore to rededicate our efforts to increase the number of women in parliament; support women in parliament to enable them to contribute effectively to policy making; and build parliaments that are gender-sensitive and that deliver on women s rights and gender equality. In the same vein, for us at the IPU, youth participation in politics is a must: it is a must for democracy, a must for effective and legitimate policy-making, and a must for peaceful societies. Without the inclusion of young people, democracy is incomplete and policies cannot be well designed and implemented. The risk of exclusion is high, Exclusion can lead to apathy, discontent, and in the worst cases, violence. 4
Marginalization and exclusion of young people not only drive resentment, but they also deprive us of their valuable talent and energy in efforts to address societal challenges. Today: Only 1.9% of MPs are under 30. 30% of parliaments have no MPs under 30. In 73% of countries, the age to qualify as an MP is higher, sometimes much higher, than the age to vote. It is for this reason that we, at the IPU, have promoted what we call a youth movement. The IPU is committed to promoting youth participation and and making the voices of young people heard because we are convinced that we need their talents, creativity and energy to craft today s policies and laws for a better tomorrow. I am convinced therefore that having more women and more youth in parliaments would contribute to a better democracy; as well as more inclusive decision-making processes resulting in laws and policies that are better adapted to reality, thus responding to the needs of society and reducing personal enrichment by those who are in positions of power. Also, we cannot under-estimate the role of parliaments in educating the people and in particular the youth. Parliaments and parliamentarians, as they are in direct contact with the people, can promote the rule of law and democratic standards that contribute in no small way to the drive against corruption. Ladies and gentlemen, The IPU cannot fight corruption alone and national parliaments are not the only variable in the equation. It is more important than ever that the international community understands the magnitude of the scourge and coordinates efforts, as corruption is a global phenomenon and knows no national borders. In addition to its cooperation with the United Nations, the IPU is open to collaborating with other organizations and institutions that nurture democratic values, in efforts to address all challenges that may hinder democratic and economic development. We believe in the power of dialogue and strongly advocate for creating platforms for further cooperation between international, regional and national organizations, to share experiences and information and build effective networks to combat corruption and economic crime. I invite you to reach out to parliaments and encourage them to act against corruption but also to take action as individuals. Thank you. 5