Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Cairo, 15 September 1997
N° 5

The 98th Inter-Parliamentary Conference completed its five days of work in Cairo on 15 September 1997, with the adoption of resolutions on democracy, employment and the exploitation of children.

The resolutions were all passed without a vote, by 679 legislators (including 121 women) representing the parliaments of 127 countries. They were meeting in Cairo at the invitation of the Egyptian People's Assembly, at the Conference organised by the 137-member Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the world organisation of parliaments. The Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament, Dr Ahmed Fathy Sorour, presided over the Conference.

The first resolution was entitled: Ensuring lasting democracy by forging close links between parliament and the people. It said that democracy through freely elected parliaments offered the best path to development, human rights and prosperity for people around the world.

The resolution called on all States to "safeguard free and fair elections without any discrimination", in conformity with the IPU's 1994 Declaration on Criteria for Free and Fair Elections, and to "condemn all acts of violence" against MPs and candidates.

It also called on countries to "safeguard the role of parliaments and political institutions" so that parliamentarians can "play their role properly".

It said States had to "recognise and accommodate diversity" as a guarantee of democracy; ensure that citizens are "aware of their democratic rights and responsibilities" regarding their participation in the democratic process, notably through drafting legislation in "clear and simple language"; and "foster direct contacts between parliamentarians and citizens" through meetings and discussions.

It called on parliamentarians to make sure they had an "open information policy" to promote comprehensive reporting of parliamentary work in the media, and emphasised the need for "unrestricted, objective and unbiased" reporting by the media on the work of parliament.

In the resolution, the parliamentarians said they were "convinced" that a freely elected parliament is the "best guarantee of human dignity and the prosperity of citizens", and that democracy "offers the best framework for citizens to develop their creativity and potential and contribute to the establishment, development and preservation of their society".

The second resolution was entitled: Employment in a globalising world. It called for measures to be taken by States to improve employment prospects world-wide, protect the rights of migrant workers, and ban abusive child labour practices.

In the area of employment, which is characterised by rising employment in industrialised countries, "massive" unemployment in the former planned economies, and deteriorating worker conditions in developing countries, the resolution called on States to "undertake active measures" such as job assistance and other employment incentive schemes. It also urged parliaments and governments to "eliminate any form of discrimination in employment including on grounds of sex, age, family responsibilities, civil status, social and ethnic origin, and religion".

On the situation of migrant workers, whose numbers now constitute an all-time record of 42 million, according to the resolution, the Conference called on States to "affirm" that such workers are entitled to the protection of their human rights regardless of their legal status, and to "eliminate maltreatment" of migrant workers. It also called on the UN General Assembly to "reopen negotiations to clarify the protection of all migrant workers" in the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families.

On child labour, which has become a priority issue for many countries because of the high number of children working in exploitative situations, the resolution called on States to protect children from "any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with [their] education". It said that protection measures should include "legislation banning any form of child abduction or exploitation and the use of child labour in hazardous work, and in particular protecting children against forced labour, bonded labour and other forms of slavery". Such legislation should be adopted "as rapidly as possible and effectively applied by at least the countries represented in the Inter-Parliamentary Union", the resolution said.

The resolution stressed that globalisation will bring benefits to people world-wide through the promotion of production and employment, but "only if it arises from collective thought and joint action" which reflects "the whole spectrum of the interests and levels of socio-economic development of all peoples".

The third resolution was entitled: The need to eliminate all commercial and other forms of sexual exploitation of children and for the establishment of uniform laws to prohibit this indefensible violation of the human rights of children. It called on countries and parliaments to take measures to counter the increasing commercial exploitation of children.

The resolution said that parliamentarians were "deeply concerned" that children throughout the world continue to suffer from exploitative child labour, child trafficking, sexual exploitation and poverty.

It called in particular for "strengthened legislation to protect children and to prohibit the commercial sexual exploitation of children, which targets in particular the service providers, customers or intermediaries in child prostitution, child trafficking and child pornography, as well as the distribution of child pornography via electronic means such as the Internet".

The resolution "strongly recommends that all countries establish or strengthen networks for co-operation between national and international law enforcement authorities, in order to counter the increasingly transnational nature of the commercial sexual exploitation of children".

The parliamentarians welcomed the work under way within the United Nations to draft an optional protocol to the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to strengthen mechanisms to help combat child prostitution, child pornography and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children. They said this was a "matter of urgency" and urged UN members to "expedite" this work.

They also urged those countries that haven't yet done so to ratify the Convention, and those that have to implement it "fully". And regarding the 1996 Stockholm Declaration and Agenda for Action against the commercial sexual exploitation of children, the resolution called on countries to develop national plans and other means to ensure their full implementation.