The IPU Assembly and related meetings, due to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 16-20 April has been cancelled. This decision has been taken in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and follows a careful risk assessment based on information provided by the World Health Organization and the Swiss authorities. This exceptional measure aims to contribute […]
The IPU has just published Putting parliamentary self-development into practice: Guide to the Common Principles for Support to Parliaments. As the global organization of national parliaments, one of the IPU’s core functions is to strengthen parliaments. The Common Principles set out a basis for support to parliaments by providing a development framework for the work […]
Release from the IPU Secretariat On 17 and 18 February, the IPU and the United Nations, represented by the President of the General Assembly, convened some 200 parliamentarians from over 60 countries, as well as diplomats, representatives from civil society, and experts for the IPU Annual Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations in New York. […]
The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians has released new evidence of human rights violations against 509 parliamentarians from 39 countries, a significant increase compared with the 468 cases that were recorded in October 2019. Most of the cases involve governments putting pressure on MPs from opposition parties. In its latest decisions, the […]
In a recent survey of IPU Member Parliaments by the IPU Secretariat, 31 per cent of respondents confirmed that new legislation had been put in place as a direct result of IPU assemblies, programmes, initiatives and resolutions. Of the sample, 75 per cent also said that they had taken concrete actions following IPU meetings. All […]
An Opinion piece published on the Devex.com Parliaments make a concrete difference in people’s everyday lives. That includes everything from establishing the conditions to create jobs to safeguarding freedom of speech to increasing budget allocations for health workers in rural areas. They are at the heart of inclusive decision-making — without their effective involvement policies […]
In the last few days, the IPU has reported it has received an alarmingly high number of new complaints of alleged human rights violations against Venezuelan parliamentarians. The IPU Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians will examine these complaints, as well as other cases of reported abuse against MPs, in its next session in Geneva starting […]
An end-of-year message from IPU leadership.We should never take democracy for granted. Many of our parents and grandparents fought for it in the Second World War and in battles for independence from colonial rule. In the 1990s we celebrated the collapse of authoritarian rule and the birth of new parliaments in various parts of the […]
News in Brief from IPU Secretariat, Geneva Parliamentarians from around the world were in Geneva this week for the first edition of the Global Refugee Forum organized by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The parliamentarians brought the parliamentary voice to this global gathering to take stock of the Global Compact on Refugees, the new framework […]
Press Release from the IPU in margins of COP25 in Madrid Experts and parliamentarians meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) underscored the urgency of parliamentary action to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency. Over 100 MPs from more than 30 countries attended the IPU’s annual parliamentary meeting during […]
