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 […]
Helen Clark, PMNCH Board Chair; Joy Phumaphi and Githinji Gitahi, Co-Chairs, PMNCH Advocacy and Partner Engagement Committee; Flavia Bustreo, Chair, PMNCH Governance and Ethics Committee; Martin Chungong, Secretary General, Inter-Parliamentary Union. As the world’s leading alliance committed to the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents, including the most vulnerable, the Partnership for Maternal, […]
Hundreds of parliamentarians from over 140 countries, gathered at the 148th IPU Assembly from 23-27 March 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland, have reconfirmed their commitment to parliamentary diplomacy to support peace efforts, and to reinvigorate multilateralism through parliamentary action. In their final declaration, Parliamentary diplomacy: Building bridges for peace and understanding, the lawmakers recognize the importance of “inter‑parliamentary dialogue and cooperation, and the […]
IPU Leadership Statement at the 148th IPU Assembly. In view of the worsening situation in Gaza, we call for urgent action to alleviate the suffering of the people in the region, including women, children and the elderly, who have been caught up in the fighting. On behalf of the global parliamentary community, we call for […]
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) today signed a new memorandum of understanding, reaffirming the critical role that parliamentarians play in enabling good health to foster stable and equitable societies. The new five-year memorandum was signed by Mr. Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General, and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, at the […]
