Mission Statement:
Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), a non-profit, non-partisan international network of 1,100 legislators in approximately 139 elected parliaments around the globe, aims to promote peace, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, gender equality and population issues by informing, convening, and mobilizing parliamentarians to realize these goals.
 
History:
PGA was established in 1978-1979 in Washington, DC, U.S.A. by concerned parliamentarians from around the world to take joint action on global problems, which could not be solved by any one government or parliament. While its initial driving force was on the critical need for nuclear disarmament, PGA today works on an expanded list of global issues such as fostering democracy, conflict prevention and management, international law and human rights population, and environment.
 
How We Work:

  • An essential feature of PGA has been, since its inception in 1978, its genuine independence and the consequent ownership of the organization's agenda exercised by its member parliamentarians. PGA increases the capacity of MPs through a peer-to-peer interaction and cooperation. PGA brings together MPs from the North and the South, government and opposition, and different sides of the political spectrum to work together on issues of global dimension. Being a non-partisan organization, PGA strives to consolidate multiparty membership in each country where it works.

Membership
PGA Membership is open to individual legislators from elected parliaments. Currently it consists of over 1,100 members in approximately 139 parliaments.
PGA includes in its membership a concentration of high-level politicians, including Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers, and Chairs of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Population, Health, and Defense Committees.
Many of PGA's members leave parliament for higher government posts such as the Presidencies of Iceland, Botswana, Trinidad & Tobago, the Philippines, Prime Ministership of New Zealand and Pakistan, and Vice Presidency of Dominican Republic. With a membership of only elected parliaments, PGA members bring authority and mandate of their constituents and a responsibility to them as well.

The network of legislators programme of work is under the political direction of an Executive Committee of 15 members. This structure allows PGA to effectively push policies at the national, regional, and international levels.
By regulation the Executive Committee must retain a 40:60 gender ratio for either gender. The Executive Board elected by 40-member International Council represents all the regions of the world. PGA also works closely with the UN system through the advisory body of the UN Committee for PGA - comprising senior UN ambassadors, high-level UN officials, and some leading NGO representatives.
PGA also has had an extremely effective track record with intergovernmental agencies such as the UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNESCO, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and International IDEA. PGA's programs on peace and democracy, sustainable development and population, and international law work in close cooperation with NGOs and leading research institutions in these fields.
 
The Campaign for the Universality and Effectiveness of the Rome Statute system
PGA mobilizes political will and legislative backing on select vital issues, often in close co-operation with other organizations. In 1989, PGA initiated and mobilized governmental and parliamentary support for the establishment of a permanent ICC.
Since 17 July 1998, PGA Members contributed to 76 out of the 122 finalized-processes of ratification of the Rome Statute and the ICC world-wide and to the adoption of comprehensive legislations implementing the Rome Statute in more than 30 countries. On account of this Campaign, PGA is widely recognized as the parliamentary network working on international justice and the ICC.

Regions of work
Worldwide
Category
Non-governmental organization
Contact

Leyla Nikjou (LL.M.)
Senior Programme Officer, Int'l Law and Human Rights Programme
Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA)
132 Nassau Street (suite 1419)
New York - NY 10038 | USA
Tel: + 212-687-7755 ext.104
Fax: + 212-687-8409
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.pgaction.org


PGA office in The Hague:
Maia Trujillo
Programme Officer, International Law and Human Rights Programme
Bertha von Suttner Building,
Laan van Meedervoort 70,
2517 AN The Hague, The Netherlands
Tel: +31-70-360-4433 | Fax: +31-70-364-22-55

Three most relevant areas of work
Advocacy; Capacity Building; Rule of Law and Development