Accountability is the grease that lubricates the machinery of democracy at all levels - from the national to the global - and within all organized groups. That was the overarching conclusion of the 2011 Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations, entitled Strengthening political accountability for a more peaceful and prosperous world, held on 28 and 29 November at UN Headquarters in New York.

The Hearing examined how a lack of accountability is the root cause of dissatisfaction with decision-making at the United Nations, young people’s socio-economic exclusion and alienation from the world of politics, poor management of public funds, and the excessive influence of interest groups that often did not have the greater good at heart.

One clear weakness in global democratic governance is that the decisions of the UN General Assembly are not systematically implemented at the country level and that there is often no pressure on governments to abide by their own decisions. It would be normally the responsibility of parliaments to prompt governments to act. The problem, however, is that parliaments are not informed regularly of decisions taken by the UN General Assembly. Accountability for such decisions, therefore, depends critically on sound and timely information transmitted directly to parliaments.

Information is also critical to enhancing the transparency of public funds. The budget process is the main instrument of accountability for taxpayers’ money, but in many countries, it remains inaccessible to the public and even, in less obvious ways, to parliaments. One solution may be the adoption of a global budget transparency standard that all parliaments at any stage of development can refer to.

Another discussion during the Hearing dealt with the emergence of social media and how they were empowering civil society, and particularly youth, and making their voices heard. The Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement are clear expressions of this empowerment. The question, however, is how to channel the energy of these spontaneous movements and organized groups in ways that can impact decision-making in parliaments and in politics at large. Asked differently: to what extent can virtual forums effectively substitute institutionalized politics?

The two-day Hearing brought together MPs from some 50 countries under the joint auspices of the President of the General Assembly, H.E. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, and the Vice-President of the IPU Executive Committee, Mr. Alonso Díaz-Caneja. Ambassadors and senior UN officials, representatives of civil society, academia and the media contributed to the discussion.

The report of the Hearing will be issued and circulated to relevant UN bodies in spring 2012. More information about the Hearing, including main speeches and the preliminary summary, is available on a special page on the IPU website.