More than 1000 delegates from over 130 national parliaments will convene from 8 to 10 October 2007 at the 117th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which will be held at the Centre international de Conférences de Genève (CICG).
During three days of intensive political discussions, the participants will debate major issues on the international agenda, with a special focus on the United Nations. The Assembly will open on the morning of 8 October with the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Mr. Pier Ferdinando Casini, in the chair and in the presence of senior political leaders including some 40 Speakers of parliaments.
During the Assembly, the newly established IPU Committee on United Nations Affairs will meet for the first time. The question of the democracy deficit in international relations figures high on its agenda and the parliamentarians will debate how best to provide parliamentary input to and oversight of the United Nations system. The discussions will be launched by a panel that includes senior members of parliament and the Director-General of the ILO, Mr. Juan Somavia, speaking on behalf of the United Nations system.
In the afternoon of 8 October, the delegates will hold a parliamentary hearing with the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Mr. Achim Steiner, who will brief them on the latest UN initiatives to respond to increasing threats to the environment. They will also consider progress in the parliamentary campaign on climate change launched earlier this year during a visit to IPU Headquarters by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
In the afternoon of the same day, legislators may debate an emergency item concerning a major event of international concern. So far, two proposals have been received. The first one entitled Disaster risk reduction and parliamentary support to build action and resilience against climate risk, has been presented by the United Kingdom delegation and the second one, entitled Supporting Iraq's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, has been submitted by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Assembly will feature three panel discussions on national and human security, ODA, and migrant workers, trafficking and human rights. There will be a special event to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the IPU Universal Declaration on Democracy, with keynote speeches delivered by Ms. Baleka Mbete, Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa, and Ms. Nino Burdjanadze, Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia.
The Assembly will also consider the new United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during the launch of a parliamentary handbook on the subject, in the presence of Ms. Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians will report on its work which includes seeking the liberation of 13 parliamentarians from Myanmar who are still in prison seventeen years after democratic parliamentary elections took place in that country.
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