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HOME PAGE -> LATEST NEWS -> NEWS ARCHIVES (MAY - JULY 2007)
News Archives
(May - July 2007)
Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs chairs the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians
16 July 2007. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, chaired by Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs, is holding its 118th session from today till 19 July 2007, at The House of Parliaments. The Committee will examine 56 cases among them 33 public cases concerning 198 legislators in: Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Eritrea, Honduras, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Zimbabwe. Senator Carstairs assumed the presidency of the Committee, in June 2007. A teacher by profession Senator Carstairs was the first woman to be appointed Deputy Leader of the Government, in the Canadian Senate in 1997. The other members participating in the session are: Mrs. Rosario Green (Senator, Mexico, and Vice-President of the Committee), Mrs. Zahia Benarous (Senator, Algeria), Mr. Aquilino Q. Pimentel (Senator, Philippines), Mr. Philippe Mahoux (Senator, Belgium) and Mrs. Alima Boumediene-Thiery (Senator, France, and Substitute Member). [ More on the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians ... ]
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IPU to set up Committee on UN Affairs
13 July 2007. One week following United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon's visit to The House of Parliaments, the first meeting of the Advisory Group on the IPU Committee on UN Affairs was held at the IPU Headquarters. "This Group will make a recommendation to the 117th Assembly of the IPU, due to meet in October in Geneva, to set up an IPU Committee on United Nations Affairs. Through this new Committee, the IPU will be able to work more closely with the United Nations and take its own work to our respective countries, as well as link up with the national parliaments and the sub-regional organizations in the areas of peacekeeping, peace building, development and - for developing countries in respect of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - democratization and climate change", said one of the two co-Chairpersons of this Advisory Group, Mr. Theo Ben Gurirab, Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia and former President of the United Nations General Assembly. The other co-Chairperson of this Group, Ms. Rosario Green, a Senator and former Foreign Affairs Minister of Mexico, added that "this new IPU Committee will build a bridge between parliaments and the United Nations. It will enable us to better understand the United Nations so we can support it and explain what it is about to the people who elected us. Indeed, citizens often moan when countries have to pay their contributions to an international or regional organization, because they do not necessarily understand the importance of these organizations and because parliamentarians are not always in a position to explain it to them, being themselves ill-informed and busy addressing more domestic concerns than international ones. The time has come for governments and the United Nations to accept the fact that parliaments do play a role in the international arena. The United Nations has been in a state of crisis for some time now and needs some new blood, new blood that parliaments can bring to it".
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Launch of a regional guide for MPs on Juvenile Justice
11 July 2007. IPU and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) launched a regional guide for South Asian parliamentarians on the protection of children in conflict with the law. This tool, designed specifically for members of parliament, focuses on the particular issues and challenges related to juvenile justice in South Asia. The regional guide is based on the results of a survey carried out by UNICEF and includes practical recommendations for parliamentary action. For the moment, the Guide is available in English only. Other language versions will follow soon. [ Download or order handbooks for parliamentarians ... ]
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Inter-Parliamentary Union launches project to support women MPs in Burundi
11 July 2007. In partnership with the two chambers of the Parliament of Burundi, the IPU launched a project to support local women parliamentarians. A seminar entitled Parliament and gender equality was held on 18 and 19 June 2007 at the Palais de Kigobé parliament building in Bujumbura. It brought together legislators from Burundi, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Spain. The MPs discussed the role and functions of parliament and exchanged their experiences and good practices in the area of parliamentary action to promote gender equality. During the seminar, a round table - the first of its kind - brought together women MPs of Burundi to discuss in camera topics such as partnership, solidarity and moving beyond party politics. Presentations made by the women's parliamentary associations of Burundi, DRC and Rwanda featured at the close of the panel discussion, which provided a forum for exchange and future action.
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IPU and UN share views on peace building activities
6 July 2007. In his discussion with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, IPU Secretary General Anders Johnsson referred to the pivotal role that parliaments played in many countries emerging from conflict where the United Nations had major peace building operations. It was important that parliaments in those countries received support from the international community so that they could effectively perform their role, which was essential to reconciliation. Mr. Johnsson referred specifically to the work done by the IPU in promoting dialogue among the political parties and factions in the Parliament in Burundi. The UN Secretary-General stated that he accorded high priority to the work of the UN Peace-building Commission in Burundi and Sierra Leone, and that the UN had allocated substantial funds for those countries.
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IPU and UN discuss closer cooperation
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6 July 2007. The IPU Secretary General and the UN Secretary-General discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between the two organizations. Mr. Ban alluded to the areas of crime prevention, terrorism, drug trafficking and trafficking in human beings, all of them areas in which parliaments should take the lead in assisting international efforts. He said he would also like parliaments to keep a watchful eye on his plans for system-wide coherence in the United Nations, an area that needed critical impact from MPs. Another area where parliamentary support would be welcome was terrorism. Without the political will to drive the process forward, it would be hard to reach agreement on a convention on terrorism.
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visits The House of Parliaments
6 July 2007. The United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, paid a visit to the Headquarters of the IPU today. Discussions with the IPU Secretary General, Anders B. Johnsson, focused on the question of climate change. Mr. Johnsson informed Mr. Ban that global warming was the principal theme debated at the 116th IPU Assembly in Indonesia. The IPU had adopted a political declaration on climate change, calling on parliaments to do all they could to reinforce climate change policy and legislation with a view to achieving the ultimate objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Mr. Ban replied that it was critically important to secure the support of parliaments in mitigating climate change, not only to legislate and ratify, but also to exert the necessary political influence to make things happen. He added that modalities should be sought to involve the IPU in the high-level meeting on climate change scheduled to take place in September at UN Headquarters in New York. The IPU, said Mr. Johnsson, was also taking the lead by mapping its own carbon footprint and would be encouraging other parliaments to do the same.
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IPU attends launch of UN Development Cooperation Forum
6 July 2007. An IPU delegation composed of four members of parliament attended the launch event of the United Nations Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) - a new body under the Economic and Social Council designed to refashion the way development aid is administered. The goal of the DCF is ultimately to ensure better results for the billions of dollars that are spent every year to fight poverty and other plights around the world. The MPs in attendance were Ms. Rebecca Kadaga, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, Mr. Ephiphane Quenum (Benin), Mr. François De Donnea (Belgium) and Ms. Doris Stump (Switzerland). Following talks with United Nations representatives, the IPU will soon explore concrete ways to work with the DCF in the coming years.
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Islamabad - South Asian MPs visit drop-in centres for rag-picking children
6 July 2007. On the occasion of the regional seminar on child protection and juvenile justice organized by the Senate of Pakistan, the IPU and UNICEF, MPs from South Asia visited a drop-in centre for rag-picking child labourers in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The visit was organized by the ILO-IPEC Time-Bound Programme. The ILO team briefed parliamentarians on the concept of drop-in centres. To date, of the 1,330 children who have been enrolled in the centres, 159 have been mainstreamed into government schools. Drop-in centres register scavengers/ rag pickers who literally "drop in" during the morning and afternoon. They are placed in close proximity to the depots near the working sites of children involved in rag picking in the Rawalpindi district. The main features of the drop-in centres are non-formal education, art and craft classes, literacy, a vocational programme in life skills training, child sexual abuse, health and hygiene education and services, and child communities.
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South Asian parliamentarians meet to protect the rights of children in conflict with the law
6 July 2007. Members of parliament from seven South Asian countries attended a regional parliamentary seminar from 27 to 29 June 2007 on child protection and juvenile justice. The three-day event was hosted by the Senate of Pakistan and organized in collaboration with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the UNICEF. Some 60 delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka took part in lively exchanges on the role of parliament in securing respect for the rights of children who are in conflict with the law. Debates focused on juvenile justice systems built on a rights-based approach that promotes diversion and rehabilitation of child offenders. Participants adopted a series of recommendations and commitments. A regional handbook for parliamentarians on juvenile justices was launched on that occasion to assist MPs in their work. A follow-up seminar will be organized in a year's time to assess progress made. [ More information on the seminar ... ]
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Nepal: support for parliamentary action on refugees
3 July 2007. The Nepali translations of two IPU-UNHCR handbooks will help parliamentarians to learn about the international conventions, covenants and laws related to refugees, said the Speaker of the interim Parliament of Nepal, Mr. Subash Nembang, at a launch event organised in the Parliament. The handbooks encourage parliaments to design and adopt national legislation that conforms to international law and standards, and which would foster respect and tolerance for refugees and asylum seekers. They also contain examples of ways to address the problem of statelessness, which affects people in every region of the world. [ Download or order handbooks for parliamentarians ... ]
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Launch of new IPU-UNICEF handbook for parliamentarians in Republic of Korea
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22 June 2007. The Korean version of the new IPU-UNICEF handbook on Eliminating violence against children has been launched by the Korean Parliamentarian Friends of UNICEF, with the support of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. The handbook, the thirteenth in the series, recommends key actions that parliamentarians can take to protect children and provides numerous examples of good practice. [ Order the handbook for parliamentarians on Eliminating violence against
children ... ]
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IPU human rights delegation raised the case of the 57 dismissed Ecuadorian parliamentarians
22 June 2007. A delegation comprised of Senator Rosario Green (Mexico), titular member of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, and Senator Alberto Breccia (Uruguay) carried out an IPU-mandated mission to Ecuador from 18 to 20 June. The delegation held high-level meetings with the authorities of all three branches of State and met with the dismissed parliamentarians so as to gather as much information as possible about the political and legal context in which their dismissal took place. The delegation conveyed to the authorities IPU’s concern about full respect for parliamentarians’ right to freedom of speech, considering that without it the exercise of the mandate entrusted to them by the people would be greatly hampered. The mission’s preliminary conclusions will be discussed by the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, which will meet next in Geneva from 16 to 19 July. [ More on the IPU work to promote and defend human rights ... ]
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WTO Director-General: an interim agreement is within reach
15 June 2007. Questioned by members of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, the Director-General of the WTO, Mr. Pascal Lamy, said that that an interim agreement paving the way for an eventual conclusion of the Doha Development Round was within reach. Three elements are crucial for the achievement of the interim agreement: the amount of the reductions in trade-distorting agricultural subsidies, in agricultural tariffs and in industrial tariffs. The Steering Committee is a body ensuring the smooth functioning of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, which is a de facto parliamentary dimension of this intergovernmental organization. At the end of a two-day session at IPU Headquarters in Geneva, the Steering Committee urged all WTO members - and in particular the United States, the European Union and the G20 developing countries - to take the necessary steps to identify the proportions of possible concessions during the coming weeks. [ Full text of the Statement (PDF, 9Kb)... ]
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Washington panel on HIV/AIDS highlights the role of parliament in fighting the pandemic
13 June 2007. Members of the IPU Advisory Group on HIV/AIDS were on a panel at the US House of Representative to share their national experiences on mobilizing a more robust parliamentary response to the disease. The MPs, Henrietta Bogopane-Zulu (South Africa), Elioda Tumwesigye (Uganda) and Jesudas Seelam (India), had just returned from a trip to Brazil to study that country’s best practices in the fight against HIV/AIDS. They were joined at the podium by Representatives Donald Payne, Chair of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, and Betty McCollum, Co-Chair of the Congressional Global Health Caucus, together with a representative of UNAIDS, Dr. Pauline Muchina. Among other things, the panel underscored the need to: provide direct assistance to parliaments to help members better understand the disease and the strategies to fight it, empower parliaments to demand greater accountability of government actions, and forge inter-parliamentary exchanges to identify and support the most effective prevention and treatment methods.
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IPU President meets with Congressional leaders in Washington DC
12 June 2007. IPU President Pier Ferdinando Casini was in Washington DC on June 12th to meet with leaders on Capitol Hill and discuss the growing cooperation between IPU and the United States Congress. In this context, the IPU President and Secretary General met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Tom Lantos – Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressmen Gregory Meeks and Wayne Gilchrest – co-Chairs of the Congressional Dialogue Caucus, as well as with other members of Congress attending the panel discussion on "International Parliamentary Response to HIV/AIDS", organized jointly by IPU, UNAIDS and two Congressional Caucuses. President Casini also held talks with Senator Thomas Daschle and with Kenneth Wollack, President of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), with which IPU has been working closely over the past years. Underlining their commitment to multilateral parliamentary cooperation, the Congressional leadership proposed a series of concrete measures of a nature to pave the way towards renewed membership of the US Congress in the IPU.
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Latin America: despite progress, parliaments need to do more to respond to the people's expectations in the fields of justice and equality
11 June 2007. Some 150 participants, including parliamentarians from nine Latin American countries, gathered on 8 and 9 June in La Paz, Bolivia, to discuss successes and failures in pursuing national reconciliation. On this occasion, they exchanged views on whether democracies have brought solace to former victims and to those who have been excluded from society as a result of poverty or discrimination. The meeting, which was jointly organized by the IPU and the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia, identified ways to enhance the role and positive perception of the parliamentary institution so as to better meet this challenge.
[ More on the seminar ... ]
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A call for enhanced coordination between actors working to strengthen parliaments
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25 May 2007. Participants at the first meeting of the WSIS Sub-group on ICT and Parliaments underlined the need for significantly enhanced coordination between the international actors that are working with parliaments to build capacity to use ICT, in order to avoid duplication and maximise effectiveness. They also welcomed the opportunity to exchange information on innovative projects, such as the use of XML mark-up language in parliamentary documents. This was the first meeting of the Sub-group, co-organized by IPU and UNDESA, which will channel parliamentary input to the follow-up mechanism to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Alongside the meeting, discussions took place on the first Global Report on ICT in Parliament, to be published in early 2008. [ More on the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament ... ]
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Meeting of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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22 May 2007. As part of its programme to defend and promote human rights, IPU provides assistance to Sri Lanka. Back in November 2006, the country's President, Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, established a Commission of Inquiry to investigate 15 incidents of grave human rights abuses, including the killings of members of the parliament Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham and Nadarajah Raviraj. To ensure that the proceedings of the Commission were in conformity with international standards, President Rajapakse set up an International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) under the chairmanship of Justice Bhagwhati, former Chief Justice of India. At the suggestion of the IPU, Mr. Marzuki Darusman, former Attorney General of Indonesia and a prominent member of the Indonesian Parliament, was included in IIGEP. The Group met in Colombo from 11 to 14 May 2007 to discuss the contents of a report and recommendations, to be submitted to President Rajapakse in June 2007. IIGEP members exchanged views with the Commission of Inquiry on the establishment of the Commission's Investigations and Witness and Victims Assistance and Protection Units, and the role of the Attorney General's office, which currently acts as the Commission's legal counsel. The meeting was an opportunity for IIGEP to observe the Commission's investigation into the killing of 17 workers of a non-governmental organization "Action contre la Faim" in August 2006 in Muttur. Following the inaugural session on 14 May, the Commission started with questioning - through Deputy Solicitor General Kodagoda - of one of the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department who had dealt with this case in the past. In addition to holding hearings in Colombo, the Commission intends to carry out visits to the crimes scenes and gather testimonies of witnesses. In his inaugural speech, the Commission's Chairman, Justice Nissanka Udalagama, said that it was the Commission's "unwavering ambition to ensure that we ascertain the whole truth in respect of all incidents which the Commission is required to investigate [...]. We will go to whatever extent as is required, to ascertain the truth". [ More on the IPU work to promote and defend human rights ... ]
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Participation, transparency and accountability must underpin the development of the information society, IPU tells UN Commission
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21 May 2007. As stakeholders follow-up on the commitments made at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), they should pay close attention to the basic democratic principles of participation, transparency and accountability. Major technological decisions should not be left to technicians alone, but should be the subject of public debate and political guidelines. Parliaments have a central role to play as guarantor of this process, in order to ensure that policies are genuinely people-centred and development-oriented. IPU Secretary General Anders B. Johnsson made these comments at the opening session of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development, at the start of a week of activities aimed at measuring progress in the implementation of WSIS commitments. [ Full text of the speech (PDF, 33 Kb) ... ]
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Dismissed then reinstated members of Ecuadorian Congress visit IPU Headquarters
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15 May 2007. Ms. Gloria Gallardo, Mr. Alfredo Serrano and Mr. Fernando Aguirre of Ecuador met with the Secretary General at IPU Headquarters. The three are part of a group of 57 Ecuadorian Congress members whose mandate was revoked on 7 March last by that country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal, after they had expressed disagreement over the procedure followed in calling for a referendum on the creation of a Constituent Assembly. Despite a subsequent ruling by the Constitutional Court that the revocation of their parliamentary mandate was illegal, the Congress members have been prevented from re-taking their seats and have in the meantime been replaced by their substitute members. [ Full text of the news ... ]
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