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The UNPA (United Nations Parliamentary Assembly) is the democratic government of the world and is the lower house of the United Nations Assemblies.

History[]

The UNPA was founded in 2042 after the Toba Humanitarian Crisis. Under Article 22 of the UN Charter, the UNGA (United

UNPA flag

The flag of the UNPA

Nations General Assembly) founded the UNPA as a subsidary body to more effectively co-ordinate humanitarian efforts at the time. The advantage that the UNPA had over the UNGA was that in the UNPA the weight of a country's vote is determined by its population, and therefore countries of billions of people would be able to receive the same attention per capita as countries with just a few million people.

Over the years the powers of the UNPA quickly grew to be comparable to those of the UNGA. The UNPA had its representatives democratically appointed by governments around the world (though it was members of national governments, not the people, that voted who their representative would be) and was run by donations from national governments, but mainly from private organisations. However, the UNPA was unable to secure funding via a taxation system; neither could it have its representatives voted directly by the population of a country, as this required legaslative power over national governments (which the UN did not have).

The UNPA repeatedly held Charter Review Conferences under Article 109 of the UN Charter to have the UN Charter amended to allow the UNPA legislative power over national governments, allowing them to hold worldwide democratic elections and fund humanitarian efforts though global taxes. These conferences repeatedly failed as members of the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) kept vetoing the vote. China, and soon Russia, both supported the UNPA because their voting system favoured large countries; France, too agreed with the UNPA as the organisation could support France, which was taking heavy punishment from climate change. The UK, which had become more authoritarian over the years, did not support the UNPA until 2048, when the European Union's solar power deal with North Africa collapsed and the EU closed its borders against climate refugees.

The USA, however, continued to veto as it had always had a strong opposition to the UNPA, partly due to the fact that the USA was easily out-voted by countries such as India and China in the UNPA. However, in 2055 Central Valley in California dried up, and most aquifers west of the Mississippi were pumped dry; the USA found itself paying Canada huge sums of money to compensate for the water pumped out of the Great Lakes to irrigate the Old Northwest and feed the 400 million Americans. To afford these payments the US government had to sell huge numbers of bonds; the interest rates on American bonds sky-rocketed causing the USA's credit rating to plummet.

After this disaster, it was in the USA's interest to support the UNPA; the 2056 Charter Review Conference was a success and the UNPA received the full legislative power it holds today.

Organisation[]

Despite the UNPA receiving full legislative power, the UNGA still

InterPol

The logo of InterPol

exists. The UN is now a two-tier system consisting of the UNGA and the UNPA; the UNGA operates in a similar way to the Senate in the USA or the House of Lords in the UK, while the UNPA operates like the House in the USA or the House of Commons in the UK.

The UNPA controls dozens of subsidary bodies, and, although the organisation is not a direct subsidary body of the UNPA, UN law is enforced by InterPol

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