New York
Terrorism and extremism — religious or sectarian — pose a serious threat to democracy, peace and sustainable development, Mohammad Ahmad Al Murr, FNC Speaker told a conference of world parliament speakers here on Monday.
In a speech during the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament hosted by the United Nations Permanent Headquarters. Al Murr said the choice of the issue of democracy at the service of peace and sustainable development reflects the great challenges facing national societies and international relations alike.
The conference was titled “Placing democracy at the service of peace and sustainable development”.
He pointed out that the UAE Parliamentary Division has presented a proposal on several occasions about the concept of “International Democracy”, that the making of resolutions, whether through the United Nations or other international labour organisations, must be conducted in accordance with fair democracy in a way that the sovereignty of various nations around the world is equal, leading to maintaining international collective security.
Al Murr said that the UAE Parliamentary Division sees the need to have collective international responsibility to stop the threats of terrorism and extremism, not only by governments, but also by the cooperation of parliaments and organisations of civil society, and all active powers within or outside national societies.
He added that the UAE has adopted stable and basic approaches to maximise the values of democracy in the life of peoples and nations, pointing out that this approach depends on the spread of tolerance and values of co-existence between nations and peoples to strengthen the spirit of cooperation and friendship between religions and cultures.
In conclusion, Al Murr expressed hope that the conference achieves the aspirations of effective and genuine cooperation among the parliaments of the world to create and accomplish sustainability of national and international democracy.
The delegation of the UAE Parliamentary Division participating in the conference included Rashid Mohammad Al Shariqi, Ahmad Obaid Al Mansouri, Faisal Abdullah Al Tunaiji and Dr Mona Juma Al Bahr, members of the Federal National Council, and Abdul Rahman Ali Al Shamsi, Assistant Secretary-General of Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs of the FNC.
The delegation also participated in a panel discussion on “Parliamentary oversight: Challenges and Opportunities”, held on the sidelines of the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament.
The panel discussion reviewed the experiences of some of the parliaments and their oversight role, which included the United Kingdom, Belgium, Kenya, Barbados, Chile and Indonesia.
During the session, the delegation presented proposals on the need to develop the oversight role of parliaments through spreading awareness of parliamentary culture.
