Is It Constitutional for an American Municipality to Join ICLEI
![handle is hein.journals/appalwj13 and id is 139 raw text is: IS IT CONSTITUTIONAL FOR AN AMERICAN
MUNICIPALITY TO JOIN ICLEI?
Elwood Earl Sanders, Jr., Esq.t
I. INTRODUCTION
Tea Party and other activists have protested throughout the nation
about what seems to be a strange cause to espouse: an obscure United
Nations (UN) document called Agenda 21.' To that end, many have
called for their communities to withdraw from an organization better
known as ICLEI, formerly the International Council for Local Environ-
mental Initiatives.2 ICLEI is an international organization of cities, towns,
and counties in eighty-six countries, including about 450 members in the
United States. It is not a UN agency, but rather an authorized Non-
Governmental Organization (NGO) that has special relations with UN
agencies and local governments.4 ICLEI also represents both its US
members and its foreign members at UN climate conferences.' Some
t J. D., 1983, University of Alabama. Appellate Procedure Consultant with Lantagne
Legal Printing; adjunct instructor at Virginia Commonwealth University and Nazarene
Bible College. None of these tides imply endorsement of Sanders' views!
1. Agenda 21 is a plan agreed to at the 1992 Rio Summit of the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) to accomplish the
environmental and sustainability goals of the nations of the world. See ICLEI, FAQ:
ICLEI, the United Nations, and Agenda 21, http://www.icleiusa.org/about-iclei/faqs/faq-
iclei-the-united-nations-and-agenda-21#what-is-agenda-21 (accessed Jan. 24, 2014)
[hereinafter FAQ]; UNEP, Agenda 21, http://www.unep.org/Documents.multilingual/
Default.asp?Documentid=52 (accessed Jan. 24, 2014).
2. See ICLEI, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, http://www.icleiusa.org/
about-iclei/how-iclei-can-help-your-local-government (accessed Jan. 28, 2014); see also
Citizen Review Online, US Cities, Counties begin to listen to citizens and withdraw from
ICLEI, http://www/citizenreviewonline.org/ICLEI.htl- (accessed Jan. 15, 2014).
3. See ICLEI, ICLEI - the global cities network, http://www.iclei.org/index.php/
id=about (accessed Jan. 15, 2014); see also ICLEI, ICLEI USA Members, http://
www.icleiusa.org/about-iclei/members (accessed Jan. 15, 2014).
4. FAQ, supra n. 1. ICLEI was founded at the UN in New York in 1990 when over
200 local governments from forty-three nations met for the World Congress of Local
Governments for a Sustainable Future. ICLEI, Our Development, http://www.iclei.org/
iclei-global/who-is-iclei.html (last updated Jan. 2014).
5. See ICLEI, Charter and By-Laws, Representation Mandate, Charter § 1.6, http://
archive.iclei.org/documents/ICLEICharter_2006.pdf (accessed Jan. 15, 2014).
The Association shall serve as an international representative for its
members and campaign participants by providing advocacy before national
and international governments, agencies and organizations and multilateral
bodies to increase their understanding and support for local sustainable
development and environmental protection activities. Through such
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Is It Constitutional for an American Municipality to Join ICLEI
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