More than 600 parliamentarians from 116 countries attending the 112th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) have adopted four resolutions by consensus.
They strongly condemned "all acts and practices of war crimes, crimes against humanity genocide and terrorism". They also advised all IPU Member Parliaments to assume "the responsibility for implementing and enforcing, through the enactment of national laws, the international agreements that have been concluded to punish and prevent war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and terrorism".
The members of parliaments present in Manila recommended that, through the activity of IPU Members, efforts be combined in order to develop mechanisms to pursue these objectives, and to avoid impunity for those individuals, organisations and States that commit such crimes.
They also urged Member Parliaments to codify these crimes in domestic criminal law in accordance with international law and to establish the corresponding penalties and mechanisms to avoid impunity. They invited those States which had not yet done so to ratify or accede to the Rome Statute and to ratify the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court. Moreover, they encouraged all Member Parliaments whose States are parties to the Rome Statute to pass domestic legislation in order to allow them to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to reject bilateral agreements that would provide for immunity from investigation and prosecution by the ICC or otherwise for the nationals of any State.
The legislators invite parliaments to implement all mechanisms which may contribute to the prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and terrorism, including the strengthening of rule of law mechanisms to avoid impunity and to ensure the rights of victims to just reparation.
On the question of terrorism, the legislators recommended that all parliaments urge their respective governments to intensify efforts to come to a global agreement on terrorism, expressing the common awareness of States of the threat of international terrorism and providing a precise definition of the nature and actual features of this phenomenon, so as to combat it more effectively.
FINANCING AND TRADE
On the issue of the role of parliaments in establishing innovative international financing and trading mechanisms to address the problems of debt and achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the 112th IPU Assembly encouraged "the parliaments of developed countries to demand that their governments fulfil their commitments to allocate 0.7 per cent of their GDPs for Official Development Aid", as set out in the Millennium Declaration and the Monterrey Consensus.
It also urged "the parliaments of the developing countries to make sure that their governments mobilise the resources required for development, combat corruption, continue institutional reform, adopt the economic and social policies appropriate to stimulate growth, establish national strategies which place the MDGs at the centre of their policies, and promote democracy and human rights, paying special attention to the implementation of the new World Programme for Human Rights Education, and follow the principles of good governance".
The Assembly underscores "the unbearable nature of the debt for a large number of developing countries and call urgently for effective debt cancellation and viable rescheduling procedures to be speeded up".
The Assembly also encouraged the parliaments of the developing countries "to defend the interests of their people in WTO negotiations and to strengthen cooperation between them".
HUMAN RIGHTS AND HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC
The Assembly adopted a resolution on the role of parliaments in advocating and enforcing observance of human rights in the strategies for the prevention, management and treatment of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which calls upon parliaments and governments to ensure that their laws, policies and practices respect human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS, in particular the rights to education, work, privacy, protection and access to care, treatment and social services.
It called upon them to protect people living with HIV/AIDS from all forms of discrimination in both the public and the private sectors, promote gender equality, ensure privacy and confidentiality in research involving human subjects, and provide for speedy and effective judicial, administrative and civil remedies in the event that the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS are violated.
It urged governments to allocate sufficient resources to their health systems, including resources for prevention and care and to adopt and finance, taking into account the WTO TRIPS Agreement, the measures necessary to ensure to all affected persons (irrespective of social status, legal situation, gender, age or sexual orientation), the availability and accessibility of good quality services and information for HIV/AIDS prevention, management, treatment, care and support, including the provision of HIV/AIDS prevention supplies. Measures should be taken to increase the ability of women and adolescent girls to protect themselves from the risk of HIV infection, principally through the provision of health care and health services, including those related to sexual and reproductive health.
NATURAL DISASTERS
The Assembly adopted a resolution on an emergency item related to all natural disasters and the role of parliaments in prevention, rehabilitation, reconstruction and the protection of vulnerable groups, taking note that over 270'000 citizens of countries around the Indian Ocean were killed on 26 December 2004 as a result of the major earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and the resulting tsunami.
It called upon those countries that have been affected by disasters to be responsible, accountable and transparent.
Moreover, the Assembly called on the parliaments of the affected countries and their neighbours to protect from human trafficking, infectious diseases and other secondary damage, children who have been orphaned or who remain unidentified after the disaster, by disseminating information, including by drawing society’s attention to this matter and educating the government and police, and by appealing to their national governments to take institutional preventive measures, including the proper and prompt fortification of the legal system, for example through the temporary suspension of adoption procedures.
The Assembly emphasised that the parties concerned should "be particularly attentive to the importance of local ownership of the reconstruction process and promote the participation of vulnerable populations in planning, decision-making and operational activities, thereby making reconstruction more effective and strengthening local democracy".
Lastly, it strongly urged all parties engaged in the process to be rigorous in the fight against every form of corruption, including profiteering, when all programmes are being drawn up and managed. Countries should be prepared to face such natural disasters in the future, and help developing countries to acquire natural disaster warning systems and natural disaster preparation plans. Developed countries should share information on such disasters with the rest of the world, the United Nations and the appropriate international institutions.
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