2007 Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations

ECOSOC Chamber

20-21 November 2007

 

 

Reinforcing the Rule of Law in International Relations:

The Key Role of Parliaments

 

The Delegation of Romania expresses its appreciation for the way in which this meeting was prepared and organised and for the very interesting presentations by the distinguished key-note speakers.

 

For the Romanian Inter-Parliamentary Group, like for the other National Groups represented here, this year’s Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations, convened as joint informal UN-IPU event, has a particular significance. Our debates are all the more relevant as they follow the first meeting of the newly established IPU Committee on United Nations affairs.   

 

One of the most pressing challenges before us all is climate change, a threat to sustainable development, which requires - as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rightly put it - “a decisive global action”. The challenge is complex for at least two reasons: firstly, because our knowledge and understanding of global warming as such are not complete; secondly, because this is a cross-cuting issue and, in this regard, we believe that for a truly effective approach, the ways in which climate change connects to peace and security must be, them too, carefully addressed.

 

In April this year, the UN Security Council organised a landmark debate on climate change as a matter of international peace and security. We would like to know which has been the follow up of this debate and what measures are taken in order to ensure a coherent approach to climate change within the UN system, taking also into account the fact that UN members have different views as to which are the most appropriate UN bodies to deal with this issue.