Over 100 members of parliament from 47 countries, meeting on 11 September 2003 in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) during the Fifth International Conference of New or Restored Democracies, reaffirmed their commitment to democracy and undertook to take firm measures intended to promote democracy as enshrined in the IPU Universal Declaration on Democracy. The MPs were meeting at the invitation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Parliament of Mongolia in a Parliamentarians' Forum, the first of its kind to be held as part of the International Conference of New or Restored Democracies. This series of conferences was instituted at the initiative of developing countries in order to share experience on democratisation and identify means by which to promote good governance.

At the end of the Parliamentarians' Forum which was also attended by the President and Prime Minister of Mongolia, the participants unanimously adopted a Declaration in which they reaffirm commitment to the core principles of democracy, namely participation and accountability, and call for concrete measures to implement them. These include effective electoral processes allowing for free participation of all and the election of representative institutions, promoting and defending human rights, strengthening gender partnership, empowering the opposition and forging stronger partnerships with civil society.

In recognition of their role as intermediaries between civil society and government, the MPs resolved to engage civil society organisations constructively with a view to articulating the diverse interests they represent into relevant policies that address the concerns of the people.

The MPs also reiterated the pivotal role of parliaments in ensuring more democratic systems of governance at the international level. In this context, they stressed the need for parliaments to continue to monitor and oversee international agreements negotiated by governments, especially in the context of globalisation, in order to ensure that these instruments are legitimate, are consonant with the interests of the people and thus contribute to the improvement of their well being.

The Declaration further calls for parliamentary involvement in follow-up action to the International Conference of New or Restored Democracies, in particular by contributing to the identification and formulation of democracy indicators. The MPs, recognising the legitimacy of democratic processes, proposed the institution of mechanisms that allow for peer review as a means of fostering democracy.

According to the Declaration, the Parliamentarians' Forum should be a permanent feature of the International Conference of New or Restored Democracies.

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, the IPU, the oldest multilateral organisation, currently has 145 affiliated national parliaments and five regional assemblies as associate members. The organisation of the world's parliaments also has an office as Permanent Observer with the United Nations in New York.
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