IPU-UNDP Work to Strengthen Secretariat of the Palestinian Legislative Council - IPU experts have been dispatched to the West Bank town of Ramallah as part of an IPU-UNDP initiative to help the Secretariat of the Palestinian Legislative Council prepare for a future resumption of parliamentary work. The administrative detention of 23 members (nearly 20%) of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) by Israel, including the Speaker (see press release) and the division between the two main political groups, Fatah and Hamas, have paralysed the Palestinian legislative body since 2007. Although the Secretariat of the PLC has remained operational, the absence of a functioning PLC has taken its toll on its own role and capacities.

The initiative, part of a broader support programme funded by the European Union, will help the Secretariat to become a neutral and modern parliamentary administration, better able to support the PLC in carrying out its legislative and oversight functions in the future. The IPU experts will, amongst other things, review current structures and help address the issue of divergent legal frameworks in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, controlled by Fatah and Hamas respectively. Another IPU expert will arrive next week to work on developing the research and library capacity of the Secretariat so that MPs have access to better information with which to carry out their critical work. A total of 20 expert missions will be carried out to Ramallah over the next 18 months as part of the programme.