Op-ed from Stephen Twigg
As Commonwealth leaders gather in Antigua and Barbuda for the 28th CHOGM, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Stephen Twigg examines how Parliaments champion democratic engagement.
Across the world, democracy is under attack from antidemocratic actors whose tactics include spreading misinformation and subverting the rule of law, At the same time, many voters feel disconnected from the institutions that are supposed to represent them. States are facing overlapping crises – from climate change and natural disasters to anaemic economic growth and debt crises – and a return of interstate warfare that we had hoped to consign to history.
Autocrats target independent democratic institutions because they know something that is too often forgotten: the greatest threat to their power is strong, independent institutions. Parliaments, courts, independent media, an active civil society: none alone can make a democracy resilient, but together they can stand up to common threats. Parliaments don’t exist in a vacuum, sealed away from the population. Threats to Parliamentarians – whether through online hate or anonymous death threats – are not just an issue for legislators and their families but affect us all. When MPs are threatened or abused just for doing their jobs, they can’t safely go into their communities to meet with constituents; they can’t see issues with their own eyes outside of a police escort; they can’t have conversations unmediated by security concerns. This makes our democracies poorer and seals MPs away from the people they represent.
At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua and Barbuda, thousands will be meeting. The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s message there will be simple: inclusive, effective Parliaments help make our democracies resilient. I’m glad that we’re not alone in fighting for this message. The Commonwealth Secretariat has recognised how crucial democratic resilience is and pushes for these principles through engagement with governments or through programmes like its election observation missions. In bringing together people from across the Commonwealth for CHOGM, we have a timely opportunity to share stories of how our institutions are embedding democratic resilience.
Our networks, and our engagement at CHOGM, will be proof of this. We won’t have to look far for Parliamentary leadership: Antigua and Barbuda’s Parliament is represented on the CPA’s Executive Committee and has provided a model for the local link between the Parliament and the people. A common feature of Commonwealth jurisdictions is that not only do local politicians represent local people, but they also often live in the same communities as them. This is especially the case in our CPA Small Branches network, which represents Parliamentarians in jurisdictions with under a million people.
To fight the threats against Parliamentarians, we need to understand them. Despite making up fewer than half of Commonwealth Parliamentarians, women legislators are disproportionately targeted by online hate and harassment. Our CPA Gender work and the discussions of our Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) network are a recognition of this. Later this year, we’ll be releasing a regional study on sexism, harassment and violence against women in Parliaments in the Americas and Caribbean with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and ParlAmericas.
Finally, we recognise that, apart from just representing their constituents, Parliamentarians need to work directly with the communities their policies affect. If a Parliament isn’t even physically accessible for persons with disabilities, how can it hope to make inclusive policy? That’s why our disability work at CHOGM will emphasise how vital it is to include disabled people in policy processes from the beginning. As we’ve moved from a medical model of disability to a social one, it’s become clear that a country is not a democracy until all of its citizens’ voices are heard.
This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: OPINION: Ensuring All Citizens Are Represented in the Commonwealth.