PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS CONVENE IN GENEVA TO ADDRESS ORGANIZED CRIME, SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION AND YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN DEMOCRACY

Some 1,000 delegates, including Speakers of national parliaments from 23 countries ¹, will gather at the 121st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), from 19 to 21 October 2009, at the Centre international de Conférences de Genève (CICG).

During three days of discussions, the participants will debate major issues on the international agenda, such as cooperation and shared responsibility in the global fight against organized crime, the role of parliaments in developing South-South and Triangular Cooperation with a view to accelerating achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and youth participation in the democratic process.

The Assembly will open on Monday 19 October with the IPU President, Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, in the chair. Legislators may debate an emergency item concerning a major event of international concern. As at today, the following requests have been received: parliamentary cooperation with the United Nations to promote investment in research to boost agricultural productivity and combat natural disasters (proposed by Uganda, on behalf of the African Group), parliamentary action to ensure global food security (Australia); rejecting the violation of democratic processes through coups d’état and other acts of force: Honduras (Cuba), and two proposals on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and particularly in Gaza (Oman, on behalf of the Arab Group and Islamic Republic of Iran).

On Monday afternoon, the IPU and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will launch a new guide for parliamentarians on Missing Persons. A press briefing is scheduled at 2 p.m. at the CICG (Room XV).

On the morning of Wednesday 21 October, the IPU and ICRC will hold a panel discussion on the role of parliament in preventing violations of international humanitarian law (IHL).

On Tuesday afternoon, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Mr. Jacques Diouf, will address the IPU Committee on United Nations Affairs.

On the morning of Wednesday 21 October, the IPU Governing Council will debate the policy and programme of the world organization of parliaments. On the same morning, the President of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians will present the Committee’s report to the Governing Council (open to the press).

The IPU Committees on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians and Middle East Questions are scheduled to meet during the Assembly.

¹ Algeria, Andorra, Benin, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Congo, Germany, Ghana, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Ireland, Lesotho, Maldives, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Senegal, Sudan, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Republic of Tanzania.