Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) was established in 1978 in Washington, DC by Members of Parliaments (MPs) from around the world who were concerned about the critical need for nuclear disarmament. Having proven the powerful contribution of parliamentary action to address global issues, PGA works today on an expanded list of issues of global concern such as fostering peace and democracy, conflict prevention and management, international law and human rights, sustainable development and health, population and migration issues.
As part of its activities, PGA holds annually a parliamentary Forum to galvanize concrete parliamentary action in international politics. Since 2000, the Forum has evolved from being held within the UN General Assembly process to being a stand alone event, taking place around the world in close cooperation with host Parliaments, such as those in Italy, Sweden, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Ireland, Japan and Nigeria. In 2008, PGA is pleased to hold its 30th Annual, global parliamentary forum in the Dominican Republic.
While the Annual Forum may address any global issue selected by the democratically elected PGA Executive Committee, every two years it coincides with the central event of the PGA ICC Campaign, the Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians for the International Criminal Court and the Rule of Law. The Consultative Assembly was originally launched by PGA members, led by Hon. Irwin Cotler, MP (former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of Canada) in 2002, the year in which the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) entered into force.
The Consultative Assembly to this day remains the only global gathering of legislators focused solely on the definition of strategies to advance the Rule of Law and the ICC. A common feature of all sessions of the Consultative Assembly has been the adoption of a final document which MPs use as road map to promote political initiatives to strengthen the role of the ICC as a universal, effective and credible institution designed to deter the future commission of crimes that shock the conscience of humanity.
PGA employs a methodology of trans-regional dialogue, peer-to-peer exchange and multi-party approach from which no single voice of democratically elected representatives is excluded. As such, the Consultative Assembly, and its thematic or regional working groups.
Actively seek out all opinions concerning the ICC and initiatives for the reinforcement of the rule of law, including from those parliamentarians who remain critical or skeptical of the role to be played by this institution. Hence, all parliamentarians concerned with the challenges faced by the ICC and related to the fight against impunity are invited to contribute to PGA´s Annual Forum and to the Consultative Assembly process.
Given the important role of ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries to the overall ICC universal process, and thanks to the pivotal contribution of Latin American parliamentarians in positively impacting the evolution of the US position towards the ICC and in sustaining the PGA ICC Campaign, the offer of the National Congress of the Dominican Republic http://www.camaradediputados.gov.do; http://www.senado.gov.do/PortalSILSenado to host the 30th. Session of the Annual Forum and the Fifth Session of the Consultative Assembly was warmly accepted by the PGA Executive Committee in 2007.
With the support of the European Commission, European Union, and the Governments of Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the National Congress of the Dominican Republic: and the Core Support of the Governments of Denmark and Sweden and The City of The Hague.
