Parliamentarians from 120 national parliaments meeting in Manila until 8 April, in the 112^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) have decided to debate an emergency agenda item entitled Natural disasters: the role of parliaments in prevention, rehabilitation, reconstruction and the protection of vulnerable groups.

This topic was proposed for discussion by the delegations of Algeria, Chile, Hungary, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

Over the course of the week, the lawmakers’ meeting at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila (PICC) will be debating three other items:

• Mechanisms to provide for the judgement and sentencing of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and terrorism, with a view to avoiding impunity;
• Innovative international financing and trading mechanisms to address the problem of debt and achieve the Millennium Development Goals;
• Advocating and enforcing observance of human rights in the prevention, management and treatment of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 141 affiliated parliaments and seven regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations.
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Contact for additional information or interviews:

In Geneva: Mrs. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer PICC Manila Tel. +63 2 832 1386 Fax +63 2 831 4539 E-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cbl@mail.ipu.org Philippines Group: Press service of the 112th Assembly: Mr. Raymondo Corro, Public Relations and Information Bureau of the Philippines Senate Tel. +63 2 552 6723 Fax +63 2 552 6755 E-mail: raycorro@hotmail.com