On 24 June, BGIPU hosted the second of its regional COP26 meetings, this one focusing on the Asia-Pacific. Parliamentarians from across the region were presented with an excellent opportunity to discuss their legislative, scrutiny, budgetary and oversight roles to advance climate ambition. Former Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Barry Gardiner MP, […]
Statement Chair of the 12 Plus Geopolitical Group, Arda Gerkens, at the 142nd IPU Assembly – Governing Council of 24 May 2021 On behalf of the 12 Plus Geopolitical Group I would like to raise our concerns regarding the recent imposition of sanctions on parliamentarians in a number of 12 Plus member group countries by […]
On 24 May 2021, Arda Gerkens, President of the 12 Plus Group made a statement during the IPU Governing Council on the situation in Myanmar on behalf of the 12 Plus Group: “We stand with the United Nations Security Council and call for the immediate release of all detainees and an end to all repressive […]
Press Release by the IPU on 30 March 2021 The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians is monitoring a record 601 cases of alleged violations against parliamentarians around the world. This represents a significant uptick compared to 552 cases in December 2020. The caseload includes many new claims, particularly from Myanmar and Turkey. The […]
On 24 March, BGIPU and the BBC World Service co-hosted a webinar on media freedom issues in China and Hong Kong. The meeting was attended by UK Members of Parliament, representatives from civil society organisations and journalists. Alex Sobel MP, BGIPU Treasurer and Opposition DCMS Minister chaired the meeting. He was joined by acting Director […]
IPU President, Mr. Duarte Pacheco and IPU Secretary General, Mr. Martin Chungong met today a group of Myanmar parliamentarians elected in the general election of November 2020 but prevented from taking their seats in the new parliament following the military coup on 1 February 2021. The parliamentarians are part of the newly formed 17-member Committee […]
In one of his first trips abroad as IPU President, Duarte Pacheco visited India in the week of 15 March 2021. During the visit, he met with the leaders of both houses of Parliament, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (the Council of States), Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha […]
The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians has renewed its calls to national authorities to bring to account those involved in the past abuse of members of parliament, including murder. Although some of the cases are more than 10 years old, the Committee has not set them aside until investigations have established the […]
Chaired by the BGIPU Treasurer Alex Sobel MP, UK parliamentarians participated in an informative virtual roundtable briefing with the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the UK, HE Mr Erlan Idrissov, the Ambassador of the Krygyz Republic to the UK, HE Mr Edil Baisalov, the Ambassador of Mongolia to the UK, HE Mr Tulga Narkhuu and a […]
The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CHRP) is very concerned about the situation of several Members of the Myanmar Parliament who are under house arrest or whose movements are being severely curtailed. The IPU strongly condemned the coup in a statement issued last week. The CHRP calls for the immediate release of the […]
