The delegates of the 117 parliaments meeting in Santiago until 12 April at the Diego Portales Convention Centre adopted today, by consensus, three resolutions.
In the resolution on the "Importance of the non-pproliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction and of missiles, including the prevention of their use by terrorists, the parliamentarians reaffirmed the importance of achieving universal accession to the NPT, called on all States not parties to the NPT to accede to it promptly and unconditionally as non-nuclear-weapon States, and stressed the importance for all States parties to the NPT to fulfil the obligations under the treaty.
They also reaffirmed the importance of achieving the universal prohibition of chemical and biological weapons, and called on States not parties to the relevant international treaties to accede to them promptly and unconditionally. The 108th IPU Conference also urged "all States to take effective action to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons". Furthermore, it called on the international community to facilitate the creation of zones free from weapons of mass destruction.
In the resolution on "Parliaments' role in strengthening democratic institutions and human development in a fragmented world", the delegates recommended that parliaments "acknowledge their collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level". They also called on all the parliaments of the world to work for democracy based on the freely expressed will of the people through free and fair elections to choose their own political, economic, social and cultural systems and to participate fully in every sphere of their lives and, in this context, to affirm the universal need to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels.
It also called on governments to promote the participation of all sections of society, in particular women, the disadvantaged and minorities, in the decision-making process, and urged governments and parliaments to foster participation in their citizens in political decision-making, shielded from undue interference from institutionalised pressure groups.
The resolution also stressed the need to reinforce cooperation between the Untied Nations and its organs and agencies and national parliaments, with a view to furthering peace, security and development "abiding strictly by the principles of human dignity and equity", and requested all countries to "make a firm pledge to human development and take all appropriate measures to increase current social expenditure appropriated in their budgets for human development". It further emphasised the central role of the Inter-Parliamentary Union as the world organisation of parliaments in relations with international institutions, making a key contribution to strengthening democracy and keeping world peace.
A second resolution on "International cooperation for the prevention and management of transborder natural disasters and their impact on the regions concerned" called on governments to build capacity in disaster preparedness, mitigation and management by increasing financial and technological assistance to developing countries.
It further called on parliaments to strengthen and improve national legislation on the prevention of natural disasters and the mitigation of their impact, "by adopting a multidisciplinary, gender-equal approach and by attaching special importance to the key role of local communities and partnership between all stakeholders".
The same resolution called on governments to recognise the critical role of voluntary community-based and non-governmental organisations in disaster preparedness and response and urged the international community to improve donor response coordination and harmonisation when providing aid to mitigate the adverse effects of transborder natural disasters.
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