The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa finds itself operating in an evolving international relations environment and there is a need to adapt to developments.

In an age where the line between the domestic and the international is becoming blurred, and where there is a globalisation of problems, it is no longer conceivable that parliaments can only focus on national policy and leave it to governments to take decisions with wider implications. To do so, would amount to relinquishing their role as the people's representatives and doing no more than ratifying decisions while excluding themselves from the real problems.

Parliament should take into consideration an increasing responsibility and reliance placed on South Africa internationally and actively oversee how the government follows through on, and ensures the implementation of, its international commitments and obligations. What is required is a balanced political and legal framework that is well tuned to the changes taking place in the world.

Parliament's initiative to define its role in the sphere of international affairs therefore needs to take cognisance of global developments and, at the same time, ensure that it does not encroach upon the executive responsibilities of the Ministry and Department of Foreign Affairs.

It further needs to distinguish between Parliament's responsibilities as a legislature having international relations and its constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight over the executive, which has been delegated to the Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Select Committee on Economic and Foreign Affairs. These committees are departmentally aligned and exercise oversight over national foreign policy and process legislation.

As part of its transformation, Parliament has already undergone and instituted changes with regard to the manner in which it conducts its international relations and the types of good practice it has adopted in that sphere. However, these practices have not yet been codified. The Joint Rules Committee agreed on 24 August 2005 on the need for Parliament to define its international relations policy, informed by the national foreign policy.

South Africa's national foreign policy objectives are informed by the following key principles:

• A commitment to the promotion of human rights.

• A commitment to the promotion of democracy.

• A commitment to justice and international law in the conduct of relations between nations.

• A commitment to international peace and to internationally agreed upon mechanisms for the resolution of conflicts.

• A commitment to Africa in world affairs.

• A commitment to economic development through regional and international cooperation in an interdependent (and globalised) world.

In the context of these principles, the following key priorities have been identified:

This entails the restructuring of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in order to make it effective, the strengthening of the African Union's (AU) organs and structures, the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), and ensuring peace, stability and security in Africa.

1.2 South-South cooperation

South-South cooperation is a conscious initiative by countries of the South to address the challenges of underdevelopment, economic and political marginalisation through partnership. South Africa views its partnership with countries of the South as critical for advancing the African agenda. South-South cooperation is therefore central in addressing the challenges facing Africa.

1.3 North-South dialogue

Existing global imbalances which favour countries of the North compel the South to engage these well-resourced countries as partners. South Africa engages at the highest level with developed nations to address the challenges posed by poverty and underdevelopment, inequalities within the global system, unequal exercise of global power, and the existing economic and trade imbalances.

Global changes have brought issues of economics and development to the centre stage of international relations. South Africa's security, the well-being of its people and international peace are all linked to economic growth. Therefore, favourably positioning South Africa in the regional and world economy is a central part of the country's foreign policy. Furthermore, as a member of the African Union (AU), South Africa supports and contributes to African efforts to reform the United Nations (UN), in particular the Security Council.

The above core principles and priorities have informed Parliament's proposed approach and programmes in the area of international relations.

2. The role of Parliaments in international affairs

2.1 Parliamentary international relations is the continuation of a political process and dialogue among legislatures brought about by significant change in the world. At different international meetings, members of Parliament (MPs) and presiding officers have had the opportunity to exchange views on a range of international challenges. It is precisely these forums that have forced national parliaments to reconsider their own role in international affairs.

2.2 However, the exact role that parliaments can and should play in the sphere of international relations is still a matter of considerable debate globally.

2.3 The multiplicity of actors in international affairs is a reflection of the changes that are taking place in societies, where there is a growing interest in a variety of policy issues. This emerging interest has also translated into an interest in foreign policy as societies become aware of the extent to which they are affected by the policies of their neighbours.

2.4 Furthermore, in the nature of global issues, each country is affected sooner or later by the problems of other countries and parliamentarians have a duty to engage with phenomena and policies that impact on the future and welfare of society as a whole.

3. International best practice

3.1 In assessing the options that are available to Parliament to strengthen its parliamentary relations, it is worthwhile considering objectives identified by other countries that could assist in gaining a better understanding of these approaches.

3.2 The list below includes useful objectives that could provide guidance:

• Strengthening ties with other parliaments to enable them to have a better understanding of one's country.

• Establishing friendship groups to promote friendship and solidarity, exchange views, expand communication and build mutual trust between nations.

• Ensuring that Parliament's initiatives in the field of international relations are conducted in a coordinated and focused manner.

• Promoting one's culture and civilization, especially among other parliaments.

• Contributing towards building a world community based upon democracy, peace, justice and prosperity.

• Improving Parliament's profile internationally, including making members available to serve in the governing structures of international bodies, which will ultimately improve the profile of the country.

Parliament has pursued certain core objectives that reflect broad good practice in international affairs. These are encapsulated in its commitment to

• prioritising Africa;

• advancing multilateral ism;

• establishing bilateral relations for strategic reasons;

• ensuring follow-up at parliament-to-parliament level (bilateralism) on the government's international involvement or engagement, particularly in Africa;

• facilitating public participation;

• promoting and protecting human rights;

• reinforcing democratic values and ideals;

• advocating gender justice;

• promoting activism;

• upholding international law and justice;

• strengthening South-South cooperation;

• initiating and strengthening interaction and dialogue between North and South; and

• initiating contact with other parliaments.

1.1 Parliament, in line with the country's foreign policy, should give special attention to Africa in its overall international relations policy framework.

1.2 This would include engaging proactively with some of the legislative assemblies of countries where the South African government has been involved in peace-building efforts.

1.3 Parliament should proactively design an international relations policy framework in which it undertakes to engage, on a parliament-to-parliament basis, with its counterparts from African countries which are coming out of conflicts in general, and those where the government of South Africa has been involved in particular.

2. Advancing multilateralism

2.1 Evolving international structures have imposed a heightened responsibility on parliamentarians, in view of their oversight role, to interact with one another on matters such as respect for the rule of law, human rights, and their governments' transparency and accountability.

2.2 Parliament's participation in international parliamentary bodies should also be aimed at making significant progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and support for Africa's development agenda, as contained in Nepad.

3. Bilateralism through friendship societies

3.1 Parliament should, in the initial stages, focus on building bilateral relations with other legislative bodies through proactively forming "friendship groups", as this seems to be a flexible way of building towards formal and established relations.

3.2 Criteria or guidelines should be drawn up to determine with which countries Parliament establishes such friendship groups and how they will operate.

4. Providing for public input

4.1 Parliament should make provision, through the relevant offices, committees and other mechanisms to ensure that there is ongoing engagement with the public on important international relations issues, in line with the vision and programmes of Parliament.

Delegates to regional, continental and international parliamentary bodies should be prepared and mandated, properly and timeously briefed and efficiently supported so as to maximise their participation in those bodies, and should ensure proper follow-up to their delegation report within specific timeframes.

There are two key areas for Parliament to consider changing in order to accommodate its expanding role in international relations: -

• Its internal political structures; and

• its administrative and content support.

The following steps are recommended for implementation:

1. Internal political structures

1.1 Establishment of Joint Subcommittee on International Relations

Parliament should establish the Joint Subcommittee on International Relations, as set out in Joint Rule 76 to 79, to manage and direct its involvement in international relations, subject to adjustment of the Rules to accommodate policy positions emanating from the agreed policy guidelines.

• Provision must be made for proportional multiparty representation.

• An adjustment of the current Rules will have to be considered, as the mandate of the committee should be clearly set out in the Rules, including its reporting requirements.

• It is very important to distinguish between the mandate of the joint subcommittee and that of the portfolio committee and select committee dealing with foreign affairs. The subcommittee will concern itself with Parliament's interaction with other parliaments, parliamentarians and parliamentary bodies, while oversight over the executive's participation in foreign affairs remains the responsibility of the portfolio committee and select committee.

• The subcommittee should meet at least once a term (term as identified on the agreed parliamentary programme framework). However, a small executive committee (exco) should be set up that can meet more regularly to consider urgent matters emanating from the focus groups and make recommendations in this regard to the Presiding Officers. The exco will report on any such developments at every meeting of the subcommittee.

• The convenor/a member of each focus group will serve in the subcommittee, ie the size of the subcommittee will be determined by the number of focus groups that are set up.

• Special attention must be given to the size of the committee and its focus groups to ensure that they function properly, are able to meet regularly and are accountable.

1.2 Clustering Parliament's international relations programme

Parliament should consider clustering the international relations programme into the following categories in accordance with its core objectives and programme of action: Africa cluster, Multilateral cluster and Bilateral cluster.

1.3 Establishment of focus groups

Smaller focus groups should be set up in the first two categories, ie the Africa cluster and Multilateral cluster, in accordance with the following guidelines:

• Provision must be made for multiparty representation.

• The focus groups need to be strongly programme-driven and accountable, ie the meetings of the focus groups will be determined by the agenda or programme of the multilateral body that it is aligned to.

• Each focus group will have a representative/(s) in the subcommittee, subject to the requirements for multiparty representation.

• The size of the focus groups will be influenced by whether the multilateral body it represents has delegates appointed by the House for the duration of the parliamentary term or whether members are appointed on an ad hoc basis for each conference or activity of that multilateral body.

• Each focus group should have a core group of members to drive the agenda of its particular body and to lend continuity to Parliament's participation in that body.

• On the recommendation of the focus groups, the subcommittee will identify issues that are topical and require debate in Parliament and propose them for scheduling by the Programme Committee.

The third cluster in the international relations programme will be the Bilateral Cluster and should be set up in accordance with the following guidelines:

• Non-strategic bilateral relations could be pursued by means of friendship groups.

• The establishment of friendship groups should be approved in principle as informal groups of members who may meet with visiting parliamentary delegations to promote the relationship between the SA Parliament, the legislature of the specific friendship group and other agencies relating to that country. However, such groups cannot speak on behalf of Parliament.

• Requests for the establishment of such groups should be directed to the Joint Subcommittee on International Relations for consideration and recommendation.

• Each request should be considered on its merits in accordance with a set of guidelines agreed by the Joint Subcommittee on International Relations.

Strategic bilateral relations could be pursued by means of specialised strategic committees/groups.

• Recommendations for the establishment of such committees/groups will be made by the Joint Subcommittee on International Relations to the Joint Rules Committee.

2.1 The subcommittee and focus groups will be supported administratively by the International Relations Unit, assisted by the Table Offices of both Houses, the Research Unit, the Protocol Unit, the Offices of the Presiding Officers, and other relevant units.

2.2 The International Relations Unit, in particular, must have the capacity required to perform key tasks such as providing content and logistical support to the international relations committee and its focus groups, preparing and briefing South African delegations.

2.3 The International Relations Unit should also create and maintain an up-to-date databank on the institution's international participation, including information on the various international protocols that South Africa is party to.

ANNEXURE 1

• Prepare proposals for approval by Joint Rules Committee in respect of the number of focus groups to be established, to which bodies they will relate, their composition and functions.

• Consideration of Parliament's affiliation to the APU and other international parliamentary forums.

• Consideration of establishment of South Africa-European Union Committee/Group.

• Consideration of mechanisms that can be put in place to enable Parliament to express itself on "emergency items" before multilateral bodies such as the IPU, eg multi-referrals to portfolio and select committees by the Speaker and Chairperson of the NCOP or an instruction by House resolution to specific committees to consider issues, conduct public hearings and report to the Houses.

• Develop proposals on ways of strengthening the monitoring function, ie to determine whether decisions are being implemented or not. (Discuss in relation to the oversight function of the Portfolio Committee and Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and other affected committees, for example the joint monitoring committees)

• Develop guidelines for establishment of friendship groups.