The President of Panama, Mr. Ricardo Martinelli, welcomed the 1300 delegates from 120 countries at the opening of the 124th IPU Assembly at the Atlapa Convention Centre in Panama City. The theme of the event is Parliamentary accountability: Living up to people's expectations. The President of Panama, Mr. Ricardo Martinelli, welcomed the 1300 delegates from 120 countries at the opening of the 124th IPU Assembly at the Atlapa Convention Centre in Panama City. The theme of the event is Parliamentary accountability: Living up to people's expectations.
The inaugural ceremony was addressed by the Speaker of the National Assembly of Panama, Mr. José Muñoz Molina, the President of the IPU, Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, and the President of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Joseph Deiss.
The Speaker of the Host Parliament stated that "citizens throughout the world want not only to vote regularly and elect those who pass laws that have to be complied with. They also want to know who their representatives are, what is being debated and passed by parliament and that their voice is being heard during the law-making process". He concluded by saying that democratic States are the best guarantors of peace and the best defenders of human rights, with parliament as their central institution.
The President of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Joseph Deiss, said "As elected representatives, with political responsibilities at the national level, you, parliamentarians, are in a unique position to respect the aspirations of your peoples, be accountable to them, and convey these aspirations to your governments and to the United Nations. You can press your governments to act and to hold them accountable for the decisions taken".
Mr. Deiss added that it was crucial to ensure that parliamentarians are fully informed of UN activities in order to respond in a timely fashion. "You also have a key role in raising public awareness about issues discussed at the United Nations; this can be done by scheduling debates on these topics in national parliaments".
The IPU President, Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, said that democracy was a stubborn and unpredictable animal; one that needs a lot of nurturing and monitoring. "There is nothing very exciting about respect for institutions, but - mark my words - it is unstinting respect for the institutions of democracy that will save the world from the daunting problems facing it. The path of institution-building is one we must all take. There are no short-cuts. We must all participate in the endeavour, examining our institutions in all honesty, accepting that however long they may have stood the test of time, all our parliaments, from time to time, let the people down. All parliaments oversee the executive to a lesser degree than we would ideally want".
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