Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Geneva/Havana, 9 March 2001
N° 1

At the invitation of the Cuban Parliament, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will hold its 105th statutory Conference and related meetings from Sunday, 1 April to Saturday, 7 April 2001, at the Havana Convention Centre. The inaugural ceremony will take place on Sunday, 1 April at 7 p.m. in the presence of the President of the Council of States and Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, Mr Fidel Castro Ruz, the President of the IPU Council, Mrs Najma Heptualla, and the President of the National Assembly of the People's Power, Mr Ricardon Alarcon.

The representatives of IPU's 140 member Parliaments and 5 associated regional parliamentary assemblies will examine more particularly "Securing observance of the principles of international law in the interests of world peace and security" and "Education and culture as essential factors in promoting the participation of men and women in political life and as prerequisites for the development of peoples".

The Conference will also take up a supplementary item, to be chosen in Havana on Monday, 2 April. An emergency supplementary item may also be examined, as appropriate.

The statutory Meeting of Women Parliamentarians will take place on Sunday, 1 April at 9.30 a.m., with Mrs. Wilma Espin, representing the host Parliament, in the Chair.

The 105th Conference in Havana will also give the delegations in attendance an opportunity to hold bilateral meetings and examine conflicts in several parts of the world, in particular the Middle East, Cyprus and the Great Lakes area in Africa.

The IPU's Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, chaired by Chilean MP Juan Pablo Letelier, will continue to examine the many cases of violations of the human rights of MPs in 31 countries, inter alia Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Honduras.

Established in 1889 and based in Geneva, the IPU, the world organisation of parliaments, has 140 member parliaments and five associated regional parliamentary assemblies. It has a liaison office with the UN in New York.