The 111th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Gravely concerned by the deteriorating situation in Iraq, and expressing profound sorrow for all the victims, in particular among the civilian population,

Reaffirming the right of the Iraqi people to determine their own political future and control their own natural resources,

Affirming its adherence to the principles of maintaining the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of Iraq,

Recalling the relevant resolutions of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), in particular the resolution adopted at the 108th Inter-Parliamentary Conference (Santiago de Chile, 2003), and the Statement issued by the Meeting of Speakers of Parliaments of the Countries Neighbouring Iraq (Amman, 2004),

Recalling the relevant United Nations resolutions, in particular United Nations Security Council resolutions 1546 (2004) and 1557 (2004),

Conscious of the role that the IPU must play in Iraq in promoting peace, democracy and cooperation by fostering dialogue and consolidating representative institutions,

Noting that there is now a consensus to hold an international conference to enable the Iraqi people to engage in a process of normalisation and democratisation and to facilitate the holding of free elections,

1. Reaffirms the fundamental importance of multilateralism and international cooperation in resolving conflicts between States, and of the United Nations as the only organisation authorised under its Charter to use force;

2. Condemns the killing of innocent Iraqis and other nationals, and the continued hostage-taking, including of humanitarian aid workers;

3. Expresses its deep concern about the damage inflicted on the country's cultural and religious sites;

4. Reaffirms that the United Nations must assume a leading role in the political process in Iraq, including the reconstruction process, and stresses that Iraq’s wealth should not be used, nor its natural resources depleted, to implement the reconstruction process;

5. Calls for the holding of free and fair elections for the restoration of democracy and the rule of law and the establishment of a new and legitimate parliament in Iraq;

6. Reaffirms that the people of Iraq must retain sole ownership of all their natural and cultural resources, and calls upon the United Nations, its specialised agencies and the international community at large, to work closely with the Iraqi Interim Government to ensure that the stolen cultural heritage of Iraq is returned to that country;

7. Strongly urges all parties to ensure full respect for human rights, including religious, ethnic and cultural rights, and also calls for the full and equal participation of all Iraqis in the rebuilding of Iraq, with particular emphasis on the full participation of women in all phases of reconstruction and in the establishment of new political institutions for the country;

8. Calls for greater participation by all States in current efforts to assist the people of Iraq in the reconstruction and development of the Iraqi economy, including by the provision of international experts and necessary resources, through a coordinated programme of donor assistance;

9. Calls on all parties to ensure that women are fully integrated at all levels in the negotiation of peace agreements, and that the resulting reconstruction programmes include a gender perspective reflecting the special needs and inputs of women;

10. Underscores the fundamental role that neighbouring countries must play to bring a positive change to the current situation in Iraq by strengthening regional security, notably by easing tensions and providing humanitarian assistance and reconstruction aid so as to alleviate and bring an end to the suffering of the Iraqi people, all of which is directly linked to the security of the region;

11. Calls for the implementation of the recommendations contained in the Statement issued by the Meeting of Speakers of Parliaments of the Countries Neighbouring Iraq, held by the IPU in Amman on 12 and 13 May 2004;

12. Encourages the United Nations to avail itself of the expertise of the IPU when holding the international conference to contribute to the establishment of a democratic Iraq;

13. Proposes to the United Nations and the Iraqi institutions that they establish a partnership with the IPU in order to permit it to:

    (i) Assist in the establishment and consolidation of the parliamentary institution;

    (ii) Support the new Iraqi parliament during the discussion of the draft constitution;

    (iii) Harness parliamentary diplomacy for the benefit of democratisation and regional stability;

14. Decides to follow developments closely in order to secure implementation of the foregoing recommendations without delay, and invites the President and the Secretary General to submit a report thereon to its 112th Session.

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Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 111th Assembly and related meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union" in PDF format (file size approximately 520K). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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