Building a World Federation and Democratic International Institutions

Resolution submitted by PC3 – External Affairs and Global Governance

Adopted by the European Congress in Liège on 21 November 2021

The idea of a federal Europe and the promotion of peace, multiculturalism and a vision to unite the world’s citizens has given a substantial impetus throughout history towards the goal of achieving a world federation. Federalism could not only provide a new form of governance, but also establish a new international order – the only order fully capable of maintaining peace as well as achieving a perpetual peace – by transforming the existing international relations based on Nation’s power into relations based on the rule of law and subsidiarity. This can only be achieved if citizens are given the right to participate democratically in shaping the power that governs relations between states, to be represented in federal institutions and to preserve, protect and foster international democracy.

JEF Europe,

• Recalling its political platform, in particular point 5.2 stating that achieving federal institutions at all levels and a world federation represent JEF Europe’s long term objective;
• Recalling the resolution of PC2 “Environment does not stop at borders: Towards a sustainable Europe and a sustainable Global Climate Policy” which, among others, urges to include, in the reform of multilateral institutions, the creation of an International Court having competence over transnational environmental crimes;
• Recognizing that the European Union (EU) represents the very first example of an integrated multi-level regional actor and constitutes a possible unification model for all other regions of the world;
• Recalling that the world federation is based on subsidiarity, not centralisation of power, which is a two-way process that includes a strengthened role for local, transnational and regional organisations;
• Emphasising that insecurity at the global level requires the strengthening of multilateral structures and forums to enhance dialogue and cooperation to ensure that human rights and peace are fully preserved and respected;
• Deeply convinced that only federalism can ensure peace not only in the sense of the absence of war, but as a situation in which war is not employed as a means of resolving conflicts;
• Noting that the climate crisis, new scientific and technological era/discoveries, global inequalities, the redistribution of resources, and migration can only be managed at the international level and thus require strengthened global governance;
• Taking note of recent trade disputes and wars, their consequences for the global economy and the inability of the Dispute Resolution Mechanism to resolve disputes;
• Bearing in mind that if the world federation is based on the application of democratic principles and the rule of law, it is therefore required that the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is recognised and enforced universally so that the citizens of the world can be truly equal before the law;
• Noting with concern that no reform of the United Nations (UN) Security Council is still seriously taken into account as well as noting its lack of representativeness and undemocratic decision-making;
• Stresses that as long as the UN does not adopt its own budget, the most influential states will continue to be unaccountable to the international community;
• Denouncing the drawbacks of voluntary contributions to UN’s agencies which lead to a lack of stability and predictability to the budget, recurrent underfunding of important priorities and are used as a power instrument.

Therefore JEF Europe,

1. Urges the EU to become a stronger international actor via effective action through multilateral structures and united, foreign policy that can inspire other regional organisations to start forming a multilevel international structure;
2. Demands the EU to play a leadership role in the process of democratisation and development of regional and international organisations, without whom global multilevel governance could not be achieved;
3. Encourages the EU to offer its expertise on regional integration to similar institutions in different regions around the world and create channels for mutual learning with the purpose to strengthen regions in a World Federation;
4. Urges state and non-state actors to work towards creating, as a first step, a global governance framework for the defence, protection and promotion of human rights and recalls that this requires each State to commit itself to ensuring an adequate state of democracy and respect for the rule of law;
5. Calls for the contentious jurisdiction of the ICJ to be extended to cases initiated by a single state, without requiring the consent of both parties to initiate proceedings and deliver binding judgments, and further calls for non-state actors to be given the possibility to initiate cases at the ICJ;
6. Urges states to sign and ratify the Rome Statute, as to ensure that the International Criminal Court will have full jurisdiction and power in all States;
7. Insists on the need to concretely develop the concept of multilevel democracy through the creation of supranational regional organisations, inspired by the subsidiarity and proportionality principles;
8. Calls for regional organisations to start concluding multilateral trade agreements to ensure true and effective freedom of movement of goods, persons and services in the world as a basis for economic integration and prosperity for all;
9. Calls on the regional organisations to reshape the UN political system and the representation of the world’s citizens within it as a first step towards the establishment of international federated institutions;
10. Calls the EU to support a more democratic and representative system at international level in which states, regional organisations and representatives of the world’s citizens are equally represented;
11. Strongly demands the abolishment of both veto power and the permanent members system in the UN Security Council;
12. Encourages the creation of a UN budget based on its own resources, which would allow the institution to decide its priorities and strategies for the challenges ahead; or at the very least a higher share of assessed contributions compared to voluntary ones;
13. Calls, as a first step to build and consolidating a world parliament, for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) to be established within the United Nations decision-making system to represent all citizens of the world equally;
14. Calls for a reform of the conditionalities of the International Monetary Fund, in particular for the allocation of permanent and exception Special Drawing Rights so as not to finance the oppression of the population of undemocratic regimes, for example, by the Belarusian dictatorship;
15. Reaffirms its commitment to strengthening cooperation with the World Federalist Movement in tackling new global challenges and promoting peace, sustainability, citizens’ participation and global democracy.