The parliamentary delegation of the
Canadian Branch of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF)
that attended the seminar of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
and the meeting of the Parliamentary Affairs Committee of the APF in Fribourg,
Switzerland, on March 23–25, 2009, has the honour to present its report.
Composed of the Hon. Pierre De
Bané, Senator and Chair of the Committee, the delegation was accompanied by
Mr. Jean Michel Roy, Executive Secretary to the Branch.
The following branches were
represented: Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, the French Community of
Belgium, France, Gabon, Jersey, Jura, Macedonia, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Quebec,
Switzerland, Syria and Valle d’Aosta.
Monday, March 23, 2009 – UNDP seminar
Guest speakers: Mr. Christian
Daubie, Secretary-General, Parliament of the French Community of Belgium, and
representative of the Association of Secretaries-General of Francophone
Parliaments; Mr. Claudio Fischer, Head, International Relations, Parliamentary
Services, Parliament of Switzerland; Mr. Louis Massicotte, Professor, Laval
University, Quebec; and Mr. Jean-Philippe Roy, Lecturer, François Rabelais
University, Tours.
The UNDP was represented by
Mr. François Duluc, Advisor. The Economic and Monetary Community of
Central Africa (CÉMAC) was represented by Mr. Laurent Gomina Pampali,
President; Mr. Sidick Amine Abba, Secretary-General; and Mr. Parfait
Etoung Abena, Executive Secretary.
The seminar on the democracy of
parliaments and criteria for its evaluation was chaired by the Hon. Pierre
De Bané.
The seminar covered three themes:
·Elections and the status of parliamentarians,
Mr. Louis Massicotte, presenter.
·Prerogatives of parliament,
Mr. Jean-Philippe Roy, presenter on the subthemes of the organization of
parliamentary business, the legislative function, the parliamentary oversight
and the parliamentary committee.
Mr. Claudio Fischer, presenter on
the subthemes of international relations, accessibility of parliament and the
dissemination of parliamentary information.
·Organization of parliaments, Mr. Christian
Daubie, presenter.
Before the speakers’ presentations, Senator
De Bané discussed the seminar and its goals. The seminar is the result of a
new partnership between the UNDP and the APF. It aims to create a document
laying out best practices for parliamentary democracy in the francophone world.
In doing so, the APF joins with the international community in debating the
criteria for evaluating parliamentary democracy.
The larger goal of the APF background
paper is the adoption of a universal declaration on parliamentary democracy by
the United Nations General Assembly.
Senator De Bané said that establishing
criteria for the functioning of parliaments has several advantages. It will not
only help parliaments in their own modernization efforts but also help
establish clearer and more objective intervention criteria for international
parliamentary development programs. This initiative includes a number of
challenges: each state has its own social, political and historical context
that influences the characteristics and practices of its parliament. However,
every parliament must strive toward a number of universal values, hence the
importance of this seminar.
Senator De Bané added that it was
equally important that the APF’s steps promote the characteristics of the
francophone world while defending those of francophone parliaments.
The document entitled “La réalité
démocratique des Parlements : Quels critères d’évaluation ?” takes into
account the comments and contributions of a number of APF branches on the
report titled “La démocratisation des Parlements”. The report was
presented to the branches at the APF Bureau meeting on January 21–22,
2009, at the United Nations headquarters in New York and was also debated at
the Steering Committee meeting of the APF Network of Women Parliamentarians in
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The report will be studied by the Political Committee at
the APF-UNDP seminar on April 8, 2009, in Luang Prabang, Laos.
The findings of the seminar, and all
other contributions, will be taken into account in the final version of the
document, to be ratified in principle at the Paris Session in July. The document will then be presented at the “Conférence
internationale sur les bonnes pratiques de la démocratie parlementaire” in
Paris on October 22–23, 2009. At the request of
the UNDP and the World Bank, this Conference will cover all the work carried
out by the APF, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the World Bank
Institute, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the National Democratic Institute
so as to achieve the adoption in 2010 of a universal declaration on
parliamentary democracy by the United Nations General Assembly.
Following Senator De Bané’s
presentation, Mr. Francois Duluc, UNDP Advisor, was asked to speak.
Mr. Duluc pointed out that the partnership between the UNDP and the APF
was completely natural and that a similar partnership existed with the
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the World Bank and the
Inter-Parliamentary Union. He explained that the UNDP’s interest in
parliamentarianism is based on the acknowledged link between economic
development and parliamentary democracy. He also pointed out that the UNDP has
links to 65 parliaments around the world.
During discussion of the document on
the democracy of parliaments, Senator De Bané moved that the following
section be added:
“A legal mechanism must oversee
relations between pubic office holders and interest groups. This mechanism
could take the form of a public registry of interest groups and their
activities.”
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 – Committee meeting
Before the meeting got underway,
Mr. Alain Berset, President of the Council of States of
Switzerland, welcomed the Committee members. In his speech, Mr. Berset
pointed out the importance of the whole issue of language in Switzerland and
the Francophonie in particular, underscoring the existence of four languages
and four cultures in Switzerland and the desire of its citizens to live in
harmony.
Address by the Chair of the
Committee
Senator De Bané discussed the Francophonie and its institutions. In the course of
his remarks, he pointed out that one of the characteristics of the
Parliamentary Affairs Committee’s meetings was that the people who participate
are, quite often, eager to debate issues under the jurisdiction of parliaments,
exchange experiences as parliamentarians and follow up co-operation programs of
the APF.
He also noted that the Committee has a
special feature that distinguishes it from the other three APF committees and
makes it one of the most valuable: in addition to examining substantive
reports, it also examines the follow-up reports on inter-parliamentary
co-operation programs. The APF implements inter-parliamentary co-operation
programs in collaboration with the Organisation internationale de la
Francophonie (OIF).
Follow-up on election observer
missions
Ms. Françoise Fassiaux-Looten
(French Community of Belgium) presented this report, which dealt with observer
missions under the auspices of the OIF in which members of the APF participate.
One mission has been carried out since July 2008, and one APF parliamentarian
participated in it. The mission was to the legislative
elections in Rwanda in September 2008.
Senator De Bané read the news release of the APF of March 20, 2009, in which
the APF noted the unconstitutional change of executive power in Madagascar and
the suspension of Madagascar’s parliamentary activities. The APF also noted
that section 5.6 of its by-laws provides for the suspension of a member
when the constitutional law of a state is overthrown and Parliament is
dissolved or deprived of its powers. The Madagascar Branch of the APF has
therefore been suspended.
Parliamentary seminars and
traineeships
Ms. Ramatou Rahimou (Niger)
presented this report. She noted that these two inter-parliamentary
co-operation programs have existed for 10 years and that, since the
meeting in Quebec City in July 2008, the APF has held one parliamentary seminar
in Togo and another in the Democratic Republic of Congo and organized training
for parliamentary officials at the École nationale d'Administration (ÉNA) in
Paris.
A parliamentary seminar was held in
Lomé, Togo, in October 2008. It dealt with the following topics: parliamentary
budget oversight; the role of citizenship in a democracy and how to strengthen
it; the development of legislation; and support in carrying out a mandate.
A parliamentary seminar on the status
and role of the opposition in parliamentary democracy was held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in November 2008. It
dealt with the following topics: the problem of the opposition in parliamentary
democracies; political parties in parliament; representation of the opposition
in various parliamentary bodies and the organization of parliamentary business.
Senator De Bané then told Committee members about the Canadian Parliament’s
initiatives on training senior parliamentary officials.
He pointed out that co-operation has
always been an integral part of inter-parliamentary relations in the Parliament
of Canada, which has demonstrated this value by holding exchanges for senior
parliamentary officers.
Initially, these exchanges took the
form of seminars or field trips. In 1997, however, the information that was
presented to senior officers on an ad hoc basis was consolidated into a
structured program that allowed the Parliament of Canada to host a number of
representatives from foreign parliaments all at one time. In the Parliamentary
Officers Study Program, visitors tour the various sections of the Senate, the
House of Commons and the Library of Parliament to learn about the broad range
of services necessary for the functioning of Parliament.
The Program is held over a two-week
period and includes briefings, question and answer sessions, tours and
networking opportunities.
The Noria program
Ms. Mireille Eza, Director
of the Noria program (APF General Secretariat) presented this report. She
explained that the purpose of the program was to support the dissemination and
management of parliamentary information and to narrow the digital divide by
assisting partner legislatures in computerizing and modernizing the management
of and access to parliamentary information. The program has since been
broadened to include Burundi, Gabon, Nova Scotia, Laos and Togo.
With respect to Nova Scotia,
Ms. Eza noted that the selection of documents to translate and the identification
of suppliers was successfully underway and on schedule. The website of the Nova
Scotia Legislative Assembly now has a French-language section. The organization
of a French-language course and the distribution of holdings should follow
shortly.
The Francophone Youth Parliament
(FYP) and national youth parliaments
Mr. Bachir Dieye, chargé de
mission for the FYP within the APF General Secretariat, presented this report
on the state of preparation of the Francophone Youth Parliament, which will
hold its fifth session on July 2–7 in Paris.
The agreed-on themes for the next
session of the FYP are as follows:
·child soldiers (Political Committee);
·child labour in the francophone world
(Education, Communication and Cultural Affairs Committee);
·youth and political parties (Parliamentary
Affairs Committee);
·the food crisis, the financial crisis, cost of
living, purchasing power: social consequences for francophone youth
(Cooperation and Development Committee).
As to youth national parliaments, the
APF has decided to extend its youth-related actions by introducing, in
collaboration with the OIF, a support program for these parliaments. This
program has a twofold objective: to strengthen youth parliaments within APF
member branches and to promote the creation of such structures in branches that
do not yet have them. The APF will therefore bring its past experience in this
area and material support to these parliaments. The parliaments of Niger, Mali,
Gabon and Burkina Faso were the first to benefit from this program. Cameroon,
Senegal, Congo-Brazzaville and Madagascar are next in line.
Report on the APF-UNDP seminar of
March 23, 2009
Senator De Bané discussed the seminar’s objectives. Ms. Michèle André
(France) summarized the seminar.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 – Committee meeting
Access to parliamentary information
for all citizens
In the absence of a rapporteur from the
Quebec Branch, Mr. Dominic Dumont, Interparliamentary Relations
Advisor with the National Assembly of Quebec, presented on behalf of the Quebec
Branch a questionnaire on the freedom of the parliamentary press in the
Francophonie. The questionnaire aims to provide a snapshot of the media
situation in each APF member parliament.
Legislative assemblies in the
francophone world: compendium of procedures and practices
Ms. Michèle André (France)
presented the follow-up report of the compendium’s Chapters VII, VIII, IX and X
on legislation, oversight procedures, institutional communication and
inter-parliamentary relations, respectively. It should be noted that the
Canadian Branch submitted a contribution to the four chapters.
Globalization issues and challenges
for the francophone world
Mr. Alain Berset
(Switzerland) presented a draft report.
The Committee’s next meeting will be
held on July 4, 2009, in Paris, as part of the XXXVth Session of the APF.
Respectfully submitted,
Pierre De Bané, Senator
Member of the Canadian Branch of
the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF)