A/HRC/24/38 45. Progress toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the ongoing efforts to make the post-2015 sustainable development agenda meaningful are commendable. The summit of the Peoples of Latin American and the Caribbean and Europe in January 2013 on the theme “For social justice, international solidarity and sovereignty of peoples” rejected the commercialization of nature and life, and led to the adoption of the Declaración de Santiago de Chile. 46. He welcomes the Quito Communiqué of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, adopted on 27 March 2013 by the 128th IPU Assembly, stipulating in part, “well-being policies require all citizens, and particularly vulnerable groups such as women, youth, indigenous peoples and the poor, to participate in decision-making. Being able to participate in the decisions that affect our lives and the social and environmental context around us is in itself a key dimension of well-being. Inversely, well-being is also necessary for citizens to participate effectively in the management of public affairs. Participation and its attendants of transparency and accountability are in turn key pillars of democracy and of the way democracy applies to the functioning of government at all levels - global, national and local - and in response to citizens’ needs.” 72 All parliaments worldwide should act in accordance with this declaration. 47. Public initiatives and referenda that lead to democratic change should be applauded, e.g. the Swiss referendum on executive pay of 3 March 2013, aimed at a more equitable domestic order. This is direct democracy in action. 73 48. He welcomes the fact that civil society is becoming increasingly vocal in advancing initiatives. An example of a civil society initiative that has grown universal, leading to the adoption of the Declaración de Santiago de Compostela 74 of 10 December 2010, Oswiecim Declaration75 of 16 May 2013 and workshops throughout the world,76 is the Declaration on the Right to Peace. Worldwide participation in this movement has placed the imperative of peace-making on the agenda of the Human Rights Council 77 and its Advisory Committee,78 and will no doubt lead to an increased awareness of the core value of peace as a condition for a just and sustainable world order. 49. For many decades, the idea of a World Parliamentary Assembly79 or a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly has been under discussion. The idea is to address democracy deficits by giving expression to global public opinion and including citizens in global decision-making through elected officials. Such an Assembly could be set up by a vote of the United Nations General Assembly under Article 22 of the United Nations Charter, or it could be created on the basis of a new international treaty between governments, followed by an agreement linking it to the United Nations. Neither 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 See http://www.ipu.org/conf-e/128/quito-comm.htm. See http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403530_text. See http://www.aedidh.org/?q=node/1292. See http://www.aedidh.org/?q=node/2191. A/HRC/14/38. See http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/rule_of_law/workshop/. See http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RightPeace/Pages/WGDraftUNDeclarationontheRightto Peace.aspx; Report of the Open-Ended Inter-Governmental Working Group on the Draft United Nations Declaration of the Right to Peace, A/HRC/WG.13/1/2. See http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/AdvisoryCommittee/Pages/RightToPeace.aspx; and http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/advisorycommittee/docs/session6/A.HRC.AC.6.CRP .3_en.pdf. Joseph Schwartzberg, Creating a World Parliamentary Assembly, Committee for a Democratic United Nations, Berlin, 2012. Richard Falk and Andrew Strauss, “Toward Global Parliament”, Foreign Affairs 2001, http://ssrn.com/abstract=1130417; A Global Parliament, 2011. 15