A UN-blessed but democratic world constituent assembly?
The text below is a proposal submitted to the 2007 Congress in Geneva of the World Federalist Movement by Rufo Guerreschi, our Executive Director and at the time a young global democratization activist. It was approved by the Assembly and personally supported by its director at the time, Bill Pace.
We are reposting it to give a little background history of our Harnessing AI Risk Initiative and its call for a open international constituent assembly for AI, as well as an indication of how such initiative could catalyze a creation of a Caucus within the UN General Assembly to advance the same within the UN, without being subject to the UN Security Council veto or other UN organs that are subject to the same.
A UN-blessed but democratic world constituent assembly?
How to initiate a World Constituent Assembly “within the UN” but independent of UN Security Council veto holders’ undemocratic influence.
STEP 1. A Open Transnational Constituent Assembly Caucus is established at the UN General Assembly.
– It is open for all nations to join without restrictions or requirements.
– It may be started by as low as X (30?) of nations, representing at least Y(20?) percent of world population.
– Through the establishment of such Caucus, its members agree to substantially finance and initiate extensive and prolonged deliberative discussions, among national and transnational representative social, institutional, political and religious actors, aimed at the creation of a new Transnational Organization through the democratic drafting of “Rules for the Election of an Open Transnational Constituent Assembly“(or “the Rules”).
– Caucus Members will enforceably commit to a very high level of religious, economic and cultural diversity among future joining members, as well as to weighted voting to compensate for the eventual remaining diversity gap.
– Members of the Caucus actively promote and lobby the joining of more nations, individual citizens (!) and other representative national and global actors. All joining applications are automatically accepted on the basis of the basic requirements that national regime commits to protect – exclusively in regards to uniquely global political issues and in the context of its citizens participation in such transnational constituent processes – to international standards, the freedom of speech, privacy of communications, and right to secret vote of the overwhelming majority of its citizens.
STEP 2.
As membership in the Caucus reaches 30% of members of the UNGA, the Caucus starts lobbying other members of the UNGA to approve a resolution create an adjunct body to be called the Open Transnational Constituent Assembly, according to the UN Charter article 22 . Such lobbying will continue and intensify
STEP 3.
As the number of joining nations increases and, eventually, reaches 50% of UN member nations and 50% of world population, then:
— Members of the Caucus will propose and approve the above mentioned UNGA resolution, if it has not been already approved.
— A final round of Z years of deliberative discussions and further expanded constituent processes, leads to the ratification of Final “Rules for the Election of an Open Transnational Constituent Assembly”
STEP 4.
All nations whose citizens approve the Final Rule, through Caucus-managed popular referendums, will become official Members of the Open Transnational Constituent Assembly, and will each be enforceably bound to its resulting Constitutional Treaty. In fact, the eventual choice by any nation to refuse to fully honor its commitment to the resulting Constitutional Treaty, or to abandon the treaty before 10 years from its approval have elapsed, will be strongly discouraged through severe economic penalties and other sanctions to be imposed on the violating nation by all other members.
STEP 5+.
Whatever will be democratically determined by the new organization.