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.
The late nineteenth century was an uncertain and turbulent period. For many world powers, war was the only way to settle any differences. But two parliamentarians – one British, one French – realized that it did not have to be this way. Visionaries at the time, William Randal Cremer and Frédéric Passy believed that a more peaceful and […]
In the lead-up to the IPU’s 135th anniversary on 30 June which is the UN-designated International Day of Parliamentarism, discover IPU President Tulia Ackson’s statement below.
From 27 – 31 May 2024, a BGIPU delegation of UK Members of Parliament visited Colombia to strengthen bilateral Parliamentary links. The delegation included Tim Loughton MP, Baroness Blower, Patrick Grady MP and Baroness Northover, and was supported by Holly Sloan from the BGIPU Secretariat. The visit started days after the General Election was called, […]
With religious tensions and interfaith violence posing significant threats to peace and security today, parliaments as state institutions and parliamentarians as representatives of their communities are beginning to engage more with religions and beliefs. With this in mind, in its 2022-2026 strategy, the IPU decided to pioneer a new approach which encourages parliaments to interact more with the ecosystems […]
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, Spain, 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. […]
The IPU facilitated a second round of high-level parliamentary talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan today, offering its good offices to the delegations. IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong welcomed the Speaker of the Azgayin Zhogov (National Assembly of Armenia), Mr. Alen Simonyan, and the Speaker of the Milli Mejlis (National Assembly of Azerbaijan), Ms. Sahiba Gafarova, […]
Earlier this year, the IPU addressed the urgent issue of international regulation for autonomous weapon systems (AWS) and artificial intelligence (AI), which could have deadly implications for political stability and human rights. Indeed, these emerging technologies have already been used on battlefields around the world including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Gaza and Ukraine. In some ways, AWS […]
As part of a wider strategic objective to connect parliaments with UN processes, the IPU invests in support for parliamentary implementation of the SDGs. Through our annual survey, we encourage parliaments to contribute to the preparation of voluntary national reviews, the UN process through which countries present their progress on the SDGs. While the IPU surveys show uneven parliamentary […]
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has released a new Issue brief, Using generative AI in parliaments, which explores the potential opportunities and risks associated with the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in parliamentary settings. GenAI is a new form of AI that can generate entirely new content, such as texts or images, based on large volumes […]
Discover how the global tech community is tracking greenhouse gas emissions with unprecedented detail and speed to tackle the climate crisis. The Climate TRACE database, mobilized by the global tech community, provides an inventory of emissions of more than 352 million assets, and its data is freely available to the public including parliamentarians. Supported by ASU […]