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HOME PAGE -> LATEST NEWS -> NEWS ARCHIVES (AUGUST - OCTOBER 2009)
News Archives
(August - October 2009)
Women MPs in Jordan consolidate their partnerships
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29 October 2009. A working lunch with the four women government ministers and a capacity-building session on communications were organized by the Jordanian House of Representatives, the IPU and UNDP. Both events provided a forum for discussion and an opportunity to develop common projects for women parliamentarians in Jordan. During the working lunch held on 26 October, the women MPs and ministers examined mechanisms to strengthen concerted action and cooperation among themselves with a view to better providing support to women, particularly in rural areas. Their discussions centred on the establishment of a gender observatory, exchange of information and identification of common priorities. On 29 October, the women MPs met with communications and media relations experts. They identified the difficulty of public speaking and of writing and delivering powerful speeches with a useful message. The women MPs also considered ways and means of enhancing their relations with the media and making more visible their role and accomplishments, for which partnership among women is a prerequisite. |
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Efforts continue to remove discriminatory provisions from Jordan's laws
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28 October 2009. The working group tasked with following up the removal of discriminatory provisions from the country’s laws met for the third time at the Jordanian House of Representatives. The group, composed of men and women parliamentarians and representatives of the National Centre for Human Rights and the National Commission for Women, took stock of the legislative review process undertaken over the past months. The members lauded their contribution to the recent review of the Criminal Procedure Code with a view to making it more gender-sensitive and agreed to continue working towards the identification and removal of discriminatory provisions from the Social Security Act, the Criminal Code and the Personal Status Act. The group decided that it would organize the presentation of Jordan’s preliminary country report on implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to parliament for debate in December 2009 before it is submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The group’s meeting was part of a series of activities conducted by the Jordanian House of Representatives, the IPU and UNDP aimed at strengthening parliamentary action to secure implementation of CEDAW. |
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MPs commemorate 30th anniversary of CEDAW
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22 October 2009. Members of parliament from 39 countries gathered for the seventh edition of the annual parliamentary seminar on women’s rights, which this year focused on Celebrating CEDAW and its Optional Protocol: 30 years improving women’s rights. The seminar, organized by the IPU and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, served to take stock of achievements and progress in the field of women’s rights 30 years after the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted and identify remaining challenges. Special attention was paid to the Optional Protocol to the Convention and in particular to what it has achieved for women since it was adopted over ten years ago. [ More on the seminar ... ] |
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Conference of Speakers to be held in 2010
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22 October 2009. Next year, Geneva will host the 3rd World Conference of Speakers of Parliament. The Speakers' deliberations will turn around the broad theme of Parliaments in a world of crisis: securing global democratic accountability for the common good. The Conference will be held at the Palais des Nations from 19 to 21 July 2010. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend this parliamentary summit which will be chaired by IPU President Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab. |
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IPU Assembly concluded in Geneva
21 October 2009. The 121st IPU Assembly concluded its work. The need to ensure global food security was at the forefront of the debates. Mr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), addressed parliamentarians on the issue. The delegates were also briefed on preparations for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, set to take place in Copenhagen in December and for which the IPU is mobilizing parliamentary support. The Assembly saw the adoption of the programme and budget for next year and reviewed a host of activities to promote democracy, peace and security, human rights and gender equality. The IPU re-elected Mr. Anders B. Johnsson as Secretary General. It also elected five new members to the Executive Committee from Armenia, Cambodia, Sweden, Switzerland and Viet Nam. The full record of Assembly decisions will be posted on the IPU website in the coming days. |
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Launch of the Missing Persons Handbook for parliamentarians
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19 October 2009. The IPU and the ICRC launched the most recent fruit of their collaboration: a handbook for parliamentarians on missing persons. The Handbook was presented to members of parliament by the Vice-President of the ICRC, Ms. C. Beerli, and the IPU President, Dr. T B. Gurirab. The Handbook is the culmination of a four-year process initiated by the IPU and the ICRC in 2005, which had led to the adoption in 2006, by the 115th IPU Assembly, of a resolution on missing persons. The Handbook aims to support members of parliament in taking the necessary steps to prevent disappearances, elucidate cases of missing persons and provide assistance to the families of missing persons. Delegates were invited to make use of this practical tool, translate it into their national languages, disseminate it and transform its recommendations into concrete initiatives that would make a difference to missing persons and their families. [ Order or download the new publication ... ] |
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Parliamentarians to attend the Seventh WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva
1 October 2009. Parliamentarians who specialize in questions of international trade and follow the work of the World Trade Organization (WTO) may soon have to travel to Geneva again. Almost four years after the WTO Ministerial Conference that took place in Hong Kong, the Organization is convening its seventh top-level Conference from 30 November to 2 December 2009, in Geneva. In the words of the Chairman of the WTO General Council, Ambassador Mario Matus of Chile, "the road will not be an easy one and at times will most certainly be bumpy". Talking to the members of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, who held a meeting at the IPU Headquarters on 1 October, the Ambassador sounded confident nonetheless that it should be possible to conclude the Doha Round in 2010. Members of parliament attending the Seventh WTO Ministerial Conference are invited to take part in an enlarged session of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, to be held at the IPU Headquarters on 1 December. |
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Can protectionism protect trade? The legislator's perspective
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30 September 2009. What room for manoeuvre is there for legislators to support national producers without awakening the demons of all-out protectionism? What is the role of the World Trade Organization in monitoring trade-restricting measures taken in the context of the economic crisis? These and similar questions were at the core of an animated debate that took place at the WTO Headquarters in Geneva today during a parliamentary panel organized by the IPU and the European Parliament. The panel was part of the programme of the WTO Public Forum - an annual public event where participants from government, parliament, civil society, the business sector, academia and the media jointly reflected upon the functioning of the multilateral trading system. The parliamentary panel was attended by close to a hundred legislators and many other participants from all over the world. Their active participation in the debate, conducted in a truly interactive manner, made it an interesting and memorable event. [ More on the parliamentary panel at the WTO ... ] |
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Is parliament open to women? MPs respond
29 September 2009. Meeting in Geneva for their fourth annual conference, some 80 members of parliamentary committees dealing with gender issues and women’s rights from 35 countries discussed women’s political participation 15 years after the Beijing Platform for Action. The objective of the meeting was to answer an apparently simple question: is parliament open to women? Debates focused on three approaches: assessing progress and identifying challenges (1) in terms of numbers and access to Parliament; (2) in terms of women’s qualitative participation in Parliament and (3) in terms of Parliament’s level of gender-sensitivity. Participants discussed strategies and mechanisms to politically empower women. Results of the meeting will feed into preparations for the Beijing + 15 review which will be held in March 2010. [ More on the Conference ... ] |
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Briefing for parliamentarians attending the opening of the UN General Assembly
24 September 2009. IPU Secretary-General Anders Johnsson travelled to New York this week for meetings and consultations with UN officials and high-level delegations during the opening of the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly. In the context of the growing practice of parliamentarians to join national delegations to major UN meetings, IPU convened a briefing session for the participating legislators, with a view to presenting and discussing the main policy guidelines and priorities set out by the new President of the General Assembly for the upcoming session. The briefing also allowed for a fresh and interactive exchange of ideas on developments in the relations between the United Nations, national parliaments and the IPU, as well as on recommendations for future action. |
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Global poll: Widespread perception of serious lack of political tolerance
15 September 2009. A poll of 24 nations has found a widespread perception of a serious lack of political tolerance. Large majorities perceive that people in their country are not completely free to express unpopular views, that opposition parties do not get a fair chance to influence government policies and that legislators have limited freedom to express views that differ from their political party. The poll also finds overwhelming support throughout the world for the principle that diversity of political expression should be encouraged, and for democracy more broadly. The poll was conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org on behalf of the IPU on the occasion of the second International Day of Democracy. [ Conclusions of the opinion poll ... ] |
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IPU President: "The world’s citizens want more political tolerance"
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15 September 2009. In a statement issued on the second International Day of Democracy, IPU President Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab urges all parliaments and their Speakers to "act decisively to enhance political tolerance". Drawing on the findings of a survey of world public opinion on political tolerance, President Gurirab notes that there is "huge popular aspiration across the world for more democracy" yet "many people are not convinced by the way democracy is working in practice". President Gurirab delivered the statement at the parliamentary conference on democracy in Africa, organized by the IPU and the Parliament of Botswana, which has brought together delegates from more than 25 African parliaments to seek ways to strengthen parliament and democracy on the continent. [ Full text of the statement ... ] |
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Parliaments celebrate the second International Day of Democracy
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15 September 2009. Parliaments around the world are using the International Day of Democracy, 15 September, to engage citizens and particularly young people in dialogue on the achievements and challenges to democracy in their country. Events in 2009 range from a debate contest on the promotion of democracy at public universities in the Philippines to a parliamentary resolution in Palau that encourages schools to engage in public debate on the meaning and future of democracy in Palau. In 2008, around 50 parliaments organized some form of event to mark the Day. [ More on the International Day of Democracy ... ] |
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Parliamentarians from Latin America adopt strategies to eliminate violence against children
29 August 2009. At a seminar hosted by the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica and organized by the IPU and UNICEF, parliamentarians from 14 Latin American countries came together to discuss strategies to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against children. At the end of two and a half days of lively debate and exchanges of views and of national experiences, participants adopted a list of recommendations for concrete parliamentary action on specific aspects of violence prevention and elimination. These recommendations deal with issues such as preventive and criminalizing legislation, budget allocations; monitoring and reporting mechanisms, media interaction, direct interaction with children, implementation of international conventions and recommendations, and partnerships with civil society, international organizations and private-sector stakeholders. [ More on the seminar ... ] |
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IPU mission to Colombia discussed physical and legal protection of members of Congress
28 August 2009. Several members of Congress have been assassinated in Colombia. Other members continue to receive threats. A number of parliamentarians are subjected to penal proceedings in which the same Court investigates and tries them in single instance. The Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, at its session in July, considered that the seriousness and complexity of this situation warranted an on site mission to Colombia. Its Vicechair, Senator Rosario Green of Mexico and IPU Secretary General, Anders B. Johnsson, travelled to Bogota, where they met, from 22 to 24 August, with the President of the Republic and Ministers of his Cabinet, the Presidents of the Colombian Senate and House of Representatives, the President of the Supreme Court, and the Prosecutor General and Attorney General of Colombia. They also met with current and former members of congress who are under threat and with family members of those who were assassinated. The discussions centered on encouraging progress in the investigations into these murders, strengthening protection for those at risk and ensuring full respect for the right to fair trial for members of congress. The delegation will present its findings and recommendations to the Committee at its next session in October. [ About IPU Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians ... ] |
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New sub-section of the IPU website on taking action on violence against women
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17 August 2009. The IPU launched a new sub-section of its website dedicated to its campaign and programme of work to support parliaments in their efforts to end violence against women. Providing an overall picture of the strategy and the activities of the campaign, the sub-section also offer useful information and campaign material for men and women parliamentarians engaged in fighting one of the most widespread human rights violation and severe discrimination against women. Moreover, parliaments are invited to use this space to present the initiatives they are taking to address this scourge and in particular the activities they are planning to hold to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November. [ More on violence against women ... ] |
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IPU President calls for release of Aung San Suu Kyi
12 August 2009. IPU President, Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, expressed his dismay at the verdict announced today whereby Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is sentenced to a further eighteen months house arrest. Dr. Gurirab recalled numerous past statements by the global parliamentary community to the effect that the long-awaited transition to democracy in Myanmar will require an inclusive, free and transparent process. It can only be achieved if all political parties and ethnic groups can participate in the process, political prisoners are released unconditionally, and restrictions on human rights and political activity are lifted. The IPU President therefore invites the authorities of Myanmar to reconsider their decision so that Aung San Suu Kyi can participate freely in the necessary dialogue. [ About IPU Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians ... ] |
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Thai Parliament set to host the 122nd IPU Assembly
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4 August 2009. The President of the National Assembly of Thailand, Mr. Chai Chidchob, and IPU Secretary General Anders B. Johnsson today signed the agreement whereby the Thai National Assembly will host the 122nd IPU Assembly in Bangkok, from 27 March to 1 April 2010. The Assembly is expected to be the largest global parliamentary meeting ever organized. The signing ceremony took place in Pattaya City, Thailand, in the margins of the 30th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA). Earlier in the afternoon, the IPU Secretary General addressed the AIPA meeting in which he welcomed the progress made by ASEA and AIPA in fostering greater cooperation in the region, including on issues relating to human rights.” [ Statement by the IPU Secretary General ... ] |
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