Through its programme of activities, the BGIPU seeks to engage Parliamentarians in key global issues and works to expand awareness and understanding of foreign relations and the contribution to be made by the UK Parliament to consolidate parliamentary democracy worldwide.
Here you can read the reports of our activities, including our Outward Delegations, IPU conferences and events and inward visits to Westminster.
You can search for specific reports by using keywords, themes, categories or date using the fields on the right.
BGIPU hosted a delegation from Belgium on 4 and 5 July. The delegation included Stephanie D’Hose, President of the Belgian Senate, Andries Gryffroy, President of the 12+ Group in the IPU and Vice-President of the Belgian Senate and Michel De Maegd, Member of the Belgian IPU Group and they were accompanied by Peter Vercammen, Official of the […]
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has prompted many experts to warn about its impacts on democracy. To explore this issue further, the IPU is preparing a series of five articles on the topic. In this first piece, IPU Secretary General, Martin Chungong, discusses the risks and opportunities for democracy and argues that we […]
On the eve of its 134-year anniversary and the International Day of Parliamentarism, the IPU and Uruguay have signed an agreement with the objective of opening a regional IPU office in Montevideo. The future office will be a pilot project designed to deepen the IPU’s engagement with parliaments in the Latin American and Caribbean region by encouraging […]
On 30 June 1889, visionary parliamentarians Frédéric Passy of France and William Randall Cremer of the United Kingdom brought together MPs from Belgium, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Liberia, the United Kingdom and the USA in the first inter-parliamentary meeting in Paris, France. The Inter-Parliamentary Conference, later to become the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was born. What […]
Twenty years after the first edition, the IPU and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have published a new version of a handbook for parliamentarians on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol. What is the CEDAW Convention? More than four […]
From 20-22 June, BGIPU had the honour to host a bilateral delegation of parliamentarians and officials from Ukraine led by Oleksandr Kornienko, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in association with the Ukraine Recovery Conference. In addition to a busy programme of calls on UK parliamentary counterparts, including the Speakers of both […]
BGIPU was delighted to host a reciprocal visit from Members of the Republic of Korea’s National Assembly on Wednesday 14 June, following a successful visit to Seoul last year. The visit was led by former Minister for the Environment, Hon. Jeoungae Han, who played a key role in hosting the BGIPU delegation in Seoul in […]
The first global Parliamentary Conference on Interfaith Dialogue: Working together for our common future is expected to conclude with a declaration that encourages interfaith dialogue and calls for all religions and beliefs to be treated equally. The Marrakesh Communiqué calls on parliamentarians to ensure that “all religions, beliefs and faith-based organizations are treated equally and without discrimination under the […]
To mark the two-year anniversary of the I Say Yes to Youth in Parliament! campaign, the IPU organized an online event called Shout Out to Youth Changemakers on 24 May 2023. The gathering served as a platform for taking stock of progress in implementing transformative actions, sharing success stories, and galvanizing further action to rejuvenate parliaments. The event brought […]
For the first time, the IPU has published a report which examines how parliaments around the world engage with issues of religion and belief. The IPU Parliamentary report on religion and belief explores how religion and belief are institutionalized in parliaments; for example, through legislation, representation, parliamentary committees and mechanisms for consultation with faith-based organizations or the […]