Parliaments Must Unite for a Peaceful and Just Future

Parliaments around the world must come together to address the pressing global challenges of armed conflicts, geopolitical competitions, climate change, and economic inequality. As the world faces unprecedented upheavals, the Chair of the Vietnamese National Assembly, Tran Thanh Man, has emphasized the importance of inter-parliamentary cooperation in promoting multilateralism and ensuring peace, justice, and prosperity for all. In his address to the sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Geneva, Switzerland, the NA Chairman stressed that parliaments have a responsibility to pioneer in promoting multilateralism and contributing to a better world for future generations.

Key Takeaways:

• The world is undergoing unprecedented upheavals, with armed conflicts, geopolitical competitions, climate change, trade wars, economic inequality, and humanitarian crises threatening global peace and stability.
• Parliaments have a responsibility to pioneer in promoting multilateralism and contributing to ensuring peace, justice, and prosperity for all.
• Inter-parliamentary cooperation is crucial in addressing global challenges, and parliaments must commit to turning words into action, ideas into reality, and hopes into real opportunities for billions of people around the world.
• The top Vietnamese legislator proposed several directions for future inter-parliamentary cooperation, including strengthening dialogue and building trust, promoting justice and equality, and acting for the environment and sustainable development.
• Parliaments must take the lead in enacting laws that protect human rights, reduce inequality, and ensure that no one is left behind.
• The National Assembly of Vietnam is committed to multilateralism and inter-parliamentary cooperation, and believes that peace, justice, and prosperity can only be achieved when all countries respect international law, cooperate on an equal footing, and place the interests of the people at the centre of all efforts.

Statistics:

• There are over 1,000 conflicts globally, affecting over 418 million people (Source: UN News, 2022).
• 14% of the world's population lives in extreme poverty, with over 736 million people surviving on less than $1.90 a day (Source: World Bank, 2020).
• The global refugee population has increased by 50% over the past decade, with over 27 million people displaced due to conflict and persecution (Source: UNHCR, 2022).

Sources:

• "Address by H.E. NA Chair Tran Thanh Man at the General Debate of the 6th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament" (Vietnamese National Assembly, July 29, 2023).
• "UN News" (United Nations News Service, various dates).
• "World Bank" (World Bank Publications, 2020).
• "UNHCR" (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, various dates).