Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Beijing, 16 September 1996
N° 4

TIAN JIYUN ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF BEIJING IPU CONFERENCE

The Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Mr Tian Jiyun, was elected by acclamation Chairman of the 96th Inter-Parliamentary Conference as it opened its work in the Beijing International Conference Centre (BICC) on 16 September 1996.

The Conference is the largest gathering of MPs worldwide and on its opening day 633 MPs representing the parliaments of 120 countries had registered as participants.

The Conference is being held at the invitation of the National People's Congress of China and is organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Geneva-based world organization of parliaments.

CONFERENCE DECIDES TO DEBATE ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES

During its first session of work on 16 September, the Conference voted to debate the following supplementary item during its week-long meeting in Beijing:

World-wide ban on anti-personnel mines and the need for mine clearance for humanitarian purposes

This topic will be added to the two items already decided for debate at the Conference, “Promoting greater respect and protection of human rights in general and in particular for women and children”, and “Policies and strategies to ensure the right to food in this time of globalization of the economy and trade liberalization”.

The debate on anti-personnel mines will take place on Wednesday 18 September starting at 9:30 a.m., and a resolution on this topic will go before the Conference's final plenary sitting on Friday afternoon, 20 September. The item on anti-personnel mines was proposed jointly by the delegations of Canada and Germany, receiving 979 votes in favour, 45 against and 471 abstentions.

It beat a proposal by Cuba concerning the Rejection by parliaments of the US Helms-Burton Law, which received 752 votes in favour, 199 against and 558 abstentions. It also beat a proposal by Morocco on behalf of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Groups on inter-parliamentary co-operation to reaffirm the international legality of the Holy City of Jerusalem, which received 503 votes in favour, 255 against and 751 abstentions.

Proposals for supplementary items on parliaments and public relations (Russian Federation), on action to combat child labour (Norway), on economic sanctions (Iraq) and on the US D'Amato-Kennedy Law (Iran) were withdrawn by their sponsors.

CONFERENCE VOTES NOT TO DEBATE US MISSILE ATTACK AGAINST IRAQ

Following a request by Iraq a few days before the Conference started, for MPs meeting in Beijing to discuss as an emergency supplementary item, “The United States missile attack on 3 and 4 September 1996 against Iraq and the suspension of the memorandum of understanding between Iraq and the United Nations”, the Conference voted by 309 in favour, 558 against and 542 abstentions not to debate this issue.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact:
IPU Press Officer: Robin Newmann, tel.: 6494.1900; fax 6494.3300
Chinese Press Attaché: Gong Jianzhong, tel. 6494.3400