PLACE DU PETIT-SACONNEX
1211 GENEVA 19, SWITZERLAND
| INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION PLACE DU PETIT-SACONNEX 1211 GENEVA 19, SWITZERLAND |
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Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) are to step up their co-operation through a Memorandum of Understanding, signed today at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, and the Secretary General of the IPU, Mr Anders B. Johnsson. Co-operation between the OHCRHR and the IPU should enhance the impact of their respective activities in the field of human rights. Among such areas of co-operation are ratification of the main human rights instruments; adoption of national plans of action; establishment and strengthening of independent national institutions designed to promote and protect human rights; technical co-operation; and preparation for the World Conference on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, scheduled for the year 2001. As a first example of this co-operation, the Inter-Parliamentary Union will henceforth encourage its member parliaments to urge their respective governments to support the World Conference on Racism and above all make the necessary funding available to the OHCRHR so that this event can take place as planned. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the IPU Secretary General also expressed their intention to convene jointly a Conference of Parliamentary Human Rights Committees in early 2001 in Geneva. The OHCHR and the IPU will co-operate in encouraging wider ratification, without reservation, of the international instruments on human rights. The parties will exchange information which may be useful for the strengthening of respective procedures developed, including individual complaints procedures. The IPU will arrange for UN bodies' views and recommendations as well as work carried out by the Department of Special Procedures to be brought to the attention of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, due to hold its 86th session at IPU Headquarters in Geneva from 7 to 10 July 1999.
For any additional information or interview requests, please contact Mrs Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer in Geneva: Tel. (41 22) 919 41 16 or 919 41 27, fax (41 22) 919 41 60 or 733 31 41, e-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cd@mail.ipu.org
The IPU also has a liaison office with the UN in New York: |