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President's Message

I am pleased to report that Parliamentarians for Global Action has made some vital contributions in each of our program areas during the year 2000. PGA's 22nd Annual Parliamentary Forum, Debt for Development: Debt Relief Targeted to Poverty Eradication, built on PGA's past and ongoing activities relating to sustainable development and economic revitalization. Due to the theme of the Forum and its relevance to Jubilee 2000, it was held at the Italian Senate in Rome and was the first meeting hosted by PGA's Italian National Group. It was at the Forum that PGA finalized a network of members working on economic issues.

Although it has taken more than a decade. the road started by PGA members Mr. Arthur N.R. Robinson, currently President of Trinidad and Tobago, and U.S. Rep. James Leach in 1989 to set up an International Criminal Court is now closer to becoming a reality, with President Clinton signing the ICC statute on December 31 , 2000. Additionally, during the year 2000 PGA's International Law & Human Rights Program has kept the momentum going by holding conferences and briefings promoting the ICC in Argentina, Botswana, Canada, Ghana, Italy, Senegal, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa, and in the East African Community. PGA will continue to work towards ensuring the ICC comes to fruition.

The Peace & Democracy Program effectively showed the role legislators play in peace building by organizing a conference in Lusaka, Zambia: Parliamentary Track Diplomacy: Peace Building in Central Africa. The workshop was the first major effort by the region's parliamentarians to forcefully and unambiguously go on record in favor of the July 1999 Lusaka Cease-Fire Agreement as the only viable plan to peacefully resolve the conflict which has engulfed the region. Forty-nine members of parliament from seventeen countries participated in the conference. The results of this workshop were presented to the United Nations Security Council (in an Arria's formula meeting), PGA's UN committee, the International Peace Academy and at briefings in the Canadian Senate and in the United States Congress.

The Sustainable Development & Population Program held its third annual conference on implementing the ICPD agenda at the Ghanaian parliament in May. The conference enabled members of parliaments, non-governmental organizations, and government ministries to exchange information and learn from their counterparts regarding the work each is contributing towards implementing the ICPD Program of Action. As a result of the success of PGA's West African Anglophone/ Francophone project in Ghana and Senegal, PGA is in the process of exploring the possibility of replicating the project in two other West African countries.

Continuing with the development of the Empowerment of Women Program, the Women in Gegislative League (WILL) project, an online legislative resource where legislation affecting women from eight countries is posted, was formally launched at PGA's Women in Power Conference, which was held on June 9th in conjunction with the Beijing +5 Review at the United Nations. This conference addressed the frequently overlooked and unsupported challenges that female legislators face in balancing their personal and professional lives. It was the largest PGA conference to date with two hundred and fifty women attending. Also, in an effort to network with United States Representatives and encourage their interest in PGA, the Women in Power Network sent a delegation to meet with seven representatives in Washington DC.

The year 2000 has been quite an exciting time for PGA, which started the new millennium out on the right foot! We will strive to continue our work in the same manner while broadening our horizons in the years to come.

PGA's President, Mr. Allan Rogers, MP (UK)