Parliaments tackle poverty
Charles Darwin said it a long time ago: “If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin”. Today, there is an ever-growing gap in the rich-poor divide and while new technologies help boost economic growth and progress in some countries, the sober reality is that developing nations are still lagging far behind. No more so is this the case than in the fifty so-called least developed countries (LDCs).
These countries represent the poorest and weakest segments of society on earth. Acute poverty, weak economies and little capacity for growth hamper the efforts of these countries to improve the quality of life of their people and this is why the IPU and the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) held a meeting in Bagamoyo (United Republic of Tanzania), last December. The event considered solutions that would promote parliamentary input into the implementation of the Brussels Programme of Action (BPOA), adopted at the 3rd UN Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in 2001 and which outlines a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy tailored to the special needs of the LDCs.
Hosted by the Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania, and chaired by the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Samuel Sitta, the event brought together a group of seven out of 10 pilot parliaments identified by the IPU and the UN-OHRLLS. Participants resolved to encourage their parliaments to be more proactive in fostering implementation of the BPOA, making maximum use of existing mechanisms within their parliaments. They also highlighted, among other things, the need for parliaments to be proactive in overseeing development assistance and in so doing making sure it corresponds to the real needs of society and does not reflect solely the perceived priorities of donors.
The overarching goal of the Brussels Programme is to make substantial progress towards halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and suffering from hunger by 2015 and promote the sustainable development of the LDCs. It is designed as a framework of partnership between LDCs and their development partners based on mutual commitments. It includes 30 internationally agreed development goals encompassing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Good governance at the national and international levels is a major area of focus in the BPOA.
LDC parliaments are seen as weak "rubberstamp" institutions. All too often parliamentarians are not informed of the work done by the State bodies entrusted with the implementation of commitments such as the Brussels Programme of Action. They far too often rely on the executive for policy advice due to their own lack of capacity to gather information, research and analyse government policies. Failure to represent many segments of society, particularly vulnerable groups such as women, children and minorities, is a further weakness of LDC parliaments.
As a follow-up to the meeting the IPU and the UN-OHRLLS are implementing a project that will ultimately stimulate more active involvement of all 50 LDC parliaments in the implementation of the BPOA. Capacity building for parliaments to establish, monitor, assess, and provide followup to this instrument is a key component of that project.
IPU helps to boost parliamentary staff capacity in Cambodia
Cambodia's parliament is a fledgling institution and like any institution at this stage of development, it is facing teething problems. Chief among these is the lack of qualified manpower to deliver adequate and quality service to members. The IPU considers staff as the backbone of a parliament worthy of the name. It therefore responded swiftly to a request from the Cambodian Parliament to assist in training key staff of both Houses of Parliament.For this purpose, the IPU organized in December 2007 a three-week training programme for some 16 legislative research staff in Phnom Penh. The programme focused on developing skills in providing information, legislative services, and legal analysis of draft laws, including records of committee proceedings and amendment of legislation. The training, led by Ronda Miller and Ronnie Mees, senior staff of the New South Wales (Australia) and Belgian parliaments, also examined ways in which citizens can be involved in the law-making process.
Donors visit the House of Parliaments
A meeting with a group of donor governments interested in providing support to the IPU took place at The House of Parliaments on 13 March. Their aim was to familiarize themselves with the IPU and discuss future cooperation and support. The meeting is part of efforts geared towards mobilizing resources for securing additional voluntary funds for IPU activities.The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) already contributed CAD$ 669,999 (CHF 782,000 at the time of the pledge) in 2007 for activities to help parliaments in post-conflict countries play their role in reconciliation efforts. Negotiations with CIDA about funding for a broader range of activities are likely to come to a fruitful conclusion in the near future.
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has provided stable and predictable funds amounting to CHF 1.6 million during the 2005-2007 period and will take a decision in March 2008 about continued funding for 2008- 2010 under a similar arrangement.
Irish Aid is committed to cooperating with the IPU and negotiations during 2007 resulted in a decision in February 2008 by the Minister of State for Overseas Development to fund IPU's programme on Gender Equality in Politics with € 1.1 million (CHF 1.78 million at the time of the pledge) over three years.
IPU and UN launch World e-Parliament Report 2008
The first World e-Parliament Report 2008 was launched in February at the United Nations in New York. The publication is timely. Anders Johnsson, IPU Secretary General, reported that only ten per cent of 105 parliamentary chambers recently surveyed were making extensive use of ICT. “Much more needs to be done” he said “to boost the use of modern communication technologies in parliament”. The IPU has partnered with UNDESA in producing the report. Speaking alongside Sha Zukang, United Nations Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, and Gertrude Mongella, President of the Pan-African Parliament, Mr. Johnsson said that ICT was a key tool for making parliaments more transparent, more accessible to the public, and thus more democratic.After the launch, a high-level dialogue was held on the Right of Access to Information. Participants included Katalin Szili, Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary, Mechtilde Rothe, Vice-President of the European Parliament, and Geoff Q. Doidge, House Chairperson of the National Assembly of South Africa. The launch of the report coincided with the second high-level meeting of the Board of the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament.