Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Geneva and New York, 7 June 2000
N° 97

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will hold, at 9.30 a.m. this Wednesday, 7 June at United Nations Headquarters in New York, a tripartite consultation which will bring together representatives of governments, parliaments and the UN system on the theme of "Democracy through partnership between men and women".

Organised in cooperation with the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, this consultation is taking place in conjunction with the "Beijing+5" special session of the UN General Assembly.

Through this meeting, the IPU seeks to give a parliamentary dimension to the UN's activity and promote dialogue between three major institutional actors. "Parliaments have a key role to play in the follow-up to Beijing, as they are called to adopt draft legislation and the related government programmes and vote the corresponding budgets", recalled IPU Secretary General Anders B. Johnsson.

The tripartite consultation is designed to promote national follow-up of the decisions which will be taken by the UN General Assembly at the close of its "Beijing+5" special session, on 9 June. It will also provide an opportunity to take stock of the current distribution of political responsibilities between men and women in the various countries of the world: according to the assessment of action taken by parliaments to follow up the Beijing Conference which was prepared by the IPU in 1999, it was primarily in countries where women represent a major political force, particularly through their numbers in Parliament, that the greatest efforts were made to follow up the "Beijing Platform for Action".

The main findings of this survey revealed that Beijing's most significant impact has been in terms of awareness-building: a new state of mind is beginning to emerge, in political and parliamentary circles, with regard to both women and men, hence society in general. The areas in which the greatest progress has been made in relation to national legislation are: equality in professional life, health, maternity benefits, family rights and parental rights, women's affairs and environmental protection.

Participants in the tripartite consultation will receive a file prepared by the IPU on changes in women's participation in political life over the past five years.

Established in 1889, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which is based in Geneva, has 138 affiliated national parliaments and 5 associated regional parliamentary assemblies. It also has a Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York.