Press
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“As our political parties start to draft their election manifestos, they would do well to think about how citizens’ assemblies, or juries in smaller form, could be used. Food and health are obvious issues to tackle but there are many new controversies coming along on which political parties will struggle to find agreed answers.
This is a time of year to enjoy some trust in each other, with a generous spirit. How encouraging it would be if some of that trust and generosity could be reinjected into public affairs. A bigger role for citizens is not the whole answer to the problems that will assail free societies in the year about to begin. But it’s part of the answer, and one important way of protecting and renewing democracy itself.”
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“Rich Wilson, a co-founder of Global Assembly, a global citizens' assembly set up in 2021 to convene people to discuss issues facing the world, told PoliticsHome that countries “face a choice” over who they would like to have the power over AI going forwards.
“In my opinion, we are living through the biggest backsliding in democracy we've ever seen, this is the reality right now. In my opinion, we face a choice,” he said.
“In either crisis we face, climate or AI, we're going to either have draconian responses, or we're going to have democratic responses.
“I'm really hoping we can have more democratic responses. If you're happy with more Draconian choices, if you trust Elon and Rishi to make decisions for you, then by all means, but I really don't.””
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“Deliberations among randomly selected participants have been tried out globally, too. On the sidelines of the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties in 2021, a pilot for a global climate assembly was convened online. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, also recently ran so-called community forums among 6,000 randomly selected users divided into smaller groups for discussing cyberbullying regulations in the metaverse.”
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“Assemblies have taken place all over the world on critical societal issues from abortion and same-sex marriage in Ireland to climate change in the UK, France and even the world’s first global climate citizen assembly, presenting its findings during the COP26 UN climate change summit in Glasgow last year.”
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“Proponents say that citizens’ assemblies can dissolve partisan boundaries, return power to the people, and — on the problem of climate change — break through a political gridlock that endangers the entire planet. Over the past several years, dozens of assemblies focused on climate change have taken place in Europe and the U.S. One group even attempted to create a 100-person “global assembly” on climate change in the run-up to this month’s international climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland.”
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“The Global Assembly will become a new piece of international governance infrastructure, sitting alongside the UN, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) , and others as a place for citizens to have a direct place in decision making.
Global Assembly member Mulki Devi, from Katihar, Bihar, shared that, “We have been facing crop losses in recent years due to climate change. As a member of the Global Assembly, I learned a lot about climate change. Now I want to form a women’s group in my village so we can understand more and work together.”
Kunal Jaiswal, cluster coordinator for the eighteen assembly members and community hosts in India, said, “The co-creation process of the Global Assembly is equitable, flexible and inclusive. I am hopeful that it will help us all to work and move together to clarify and achieve our common goals.””
Read on The Hindustan Times.
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“For the first time within the framework of a COP, a citizens' assembly will support climate negotiations between states. One of its organizers believes, in an interview with “Le Monde”, that this democratic exercise should be generalized but also integrated into the different institutions which govern our societies.”
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On the eve of COP26, Global Assembly Strategy and Stewardship lead Rich Wilson tells the BBC why global citizen voices are essential to global governance.
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“COP26 officially kicks off on October 31.
Governments, corporations, and investors all have an essential role to play to achieve a net-zero and more just economy. NGOs also have a role to play in pushing all of them. All of these groups will be represented in Glasgow.
But we also need new energy and fresh voices that are more representative of the world’s population. For instance, imagine a global governance body that automatically included 50% women, and with proportionate numbers of people from the Global North and South. We can get this from the Global Assembly (GA). The GA is a global citizens’ assembly, it officially launched with this online event on October 5, 2021. With so many other things going on, I suspect it may not get the attention at COP 26 that it deserves. What I’d like to do here is plant the seed, encourage all of you to get involved, and say “Watch this space for more to come.”
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“One hundred people from around the world are to take part in a citizens’ assembly to discuss the climate crisis over the next month, before presenting their findings at the UN Cop26 climate summit.
The Global Citizens’ Assembly will be representative of the world’s population, and will invite people chosen by lottery to take part in online discussions that will culminate in November, during the fortnight-long climate talks that open in Glasgow on 31 October.
Funded with nearly $1m, from sources including the Scottish government and the European Climate Foundation, the assembly is supported by the UN and UK and run by a coalition of more than 100 organisations.”
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“There had already been French, English, Scottish and German citizens' climate conventions. From now on, a global assembly will look into solutions to the climate crisis. Made up of 100 people, drawn at random from around the world, it will discuss possible actions and make recommendations to leaders.
A first series of proposals will be presented at the world climate conference (COP26) in November, during which States must accelerate their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Then a final report will be delivered in March 2022.
The initiative, which is intended to be a prototype “intended to be improved and sustained”, received the official support of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, the British President of COP26, Alok Sharma, and the Scottish government. “ -
People around the world will have a chance to deliberate about responses to climate change under plans to convene a “Global Citizens’ Assembly” to inform U.N. talks in Glasgow next year, organisers said on Thursday.
The project globalassembly.org aims to build on similar initiatives in countries such as Ireland, France and Canada, where citizens' assemblies have given politicians space to act by generating ambitious proposals on divisive issues.
The plan is to launch a core virtual assembly made up of 1,000 people chosen by lottery from around the world, in spring or early summer, to run for several months ahead of the U.N. COP26 talks in November.