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 United Nations General Assembly has adopted its latest resolution on the interaction between the United Nations, parliaments and the IPU. The resolution, co-sponsored by over 90 UN Member States, reaffirms the commitment of all parties to continue efforts to bridge the democracy gap between the international agenda and its implementation at the national level. The resolution recognizes particularly the work of the IPU in mobilizing parliamentary action to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Chair of the APPG on the UN Global Goals, Lord McConnell attended the Development Cooperation Forum at the UN HQ in New York 21-22 May 2018 with BGIPU support. Having also attended previous meetings, he found that there continues to be a wide acceptance of the Global Goals and a willingness to talk about building national strategies and domestic capacity to deliver them. But he sees insufficient progress on data collection, measuring results, and targeting resources requiring further attention and prioritisation.
From 14-18 May a cross-party parliamentary delegation from Lithuania led by former Prime Minister Mr Andrius Kubilius MP from the opposition Homeland Union and five colleagues visited UK Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. The delegation visited at a pivotal time in parliamentary consideration of the EU Withdrawal Bill and was able to gain significant insights into not only the process but many of the motivations behind Brexit. They also shared common perceptions with UK counterparts on the hybrid and multi-dimensional threat posed by Russia.
In a delegation visit to Nepal 6-12 May 2018 led by BGIPU Nigel Evans MP, UK MPs and Peers were impressed by the detemination of the people of Nepal after such hardship and misfortune to take positive and outward looking steps for its future. With its new political system in place and earthquake reconstruction efforts advancing, the delegation was given every expectation Nepal would be able to continue on a path to improving economic development and greater prosperity for all its people.
From 7-11 May 2018, a parliamentary delegation from Liberia visited the UK for a five-day visit. This visit was key in re-establishing ties between the Liberian Parliament and the UK Parliament, especially given that Liberia – although not currently a Member of the IPU – was one of the original founding member parliaments of the organisation in 1889. This visit was a notable success with the delegation expressing a keen desire to rejoin the IPU.
The 12th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament, organized jointly by the IPU and the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia, will bring together the most senior women parliamentary leaders to address gender issues in parliaments, and explore avenues for more inclusive political institutions where every voice counts. The Summit will be held on 25-26 April in Cochabamba, Bolivia, one of the few countries to have achieved gender parity in Parliament and enacted specific legislation to combat violence against women in politics.
Female parliamentarians worldwide call for immediate reforms to stop sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliaments. This includes urging all parliaments to set concrete targets and deadlines to achieve equal representation of women and men. Taking part in the 12th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament on 25-26 April, women MPs urged the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to lead global reform actions to end all forms of harassment in parliament.
Parliamentarians from over 137 countries will seek to identify and agree upon parliamentary inputs to the UN-led reforms on the rights and protection of migrants and refugees. Meeting at the 138th IPU Assembly in Geneva more than 740 MPs, including 65 Speakers of Parliament and 216 women parliamentarians, will look in detail at their contribution to ensuring domestic enforcement of the two related Global Compacts expected to be adopted by the UN community later this year.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) expressed serious concerns about the scale and type of alleged human rights violations of parliamentarians in Cambodia, the Maldives, Turkey and Venezuela with the effect of jeopardizing parliamentary democracy in these countries. Meeting at the IPU 138th Assembly, the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians took positions on cases of violations against 237 MPs in 8 countries.
Nearly 750 MPs worldwide condemned the discrimination and abuse of refugees and migrants at the conclusion of the 138th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Geneva. The Assembly Declaration emphasized the critical role of parliaments in transforming the aspirations of the two Global Compacts – one on migrants and the other on refugees – into national laws.
