Op-Ed by IPU Secretary General – During the ongoing coronavirus emergency, extraordinary measures may have been necessary so that national leaders can make rapid and vital decisions that have had a restrictive effect on how we enjoy freedoms. But these measures should be short-term only. They must not become the norm. As many countries begin to […]
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Parliamentarians for the Global Goals, convened the first of a series of webinars for Parliamentarians on COVID-19 response and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the aim of connecting parliamentarians with world-leading experts to share best practice to “Build Back Better” through enabling […]
The IPU is increasingly concerned about parliamentarians in detention during the COVID-19 pandemic due to greater risks of infection in overcrowded and confined spaces. In its first virtual sitting, the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians paid particular attention to the 43 Members of Parliament (MPs) currently in detention in the world, especially […]
The Chair of the BGIPU, Harriett Baldwin MP, convened on 21 May 2020 a virtual meeting of the BGIPU Executive Committee to review operational changes made by the Secretariat in line with health and social distancing requirements, developments and deferrals to the agreed forward programme and to discuss new agreed virtual activities to be provided […]
The Speaker of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies writes the appearance of COVID-19 has marked a global watershed, not only in health and economic terms, but also for the unprecedented challenges posed to the functioning of democratic institutions. During the pandemic months, questions about how to balance the extraordinary powers that governments require to tackle […]
The IPU has found most parliaments are continuing to function despite the global coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The IPU has released a video highlighting the many diverse ways in which the world’s parliaments are responding to COVID-19, including through passing emergency legislation to protect their populations, particularly the most vulnerable in society. Many are working to […]
Some 500 parliamentarians and parliamentary staff from over 80 countries participated in the first of a series of webinars co-organized by the IPU, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) on . The webinar, Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic: Parliamentary action to reduce risks, strengthen emergency preparedness […]
On International Day of Multilateralism on 24 April, information collected by the IPU shows that parliaments all over the world are working together in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through its campaign Parliaments in a time of pandemic, the IPU is helping to facilitate inter-parliamentary coordination and solidarity by collating and sharing examples of […]
Today – on 16 April 2020 – we were supposed to meet in Geneva at the opening of the regular 142nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. As you know, the Assembly has been postponed, as have practically all major multilateral meetings planned for this time. The human race faces a new global threat, the biggest […]
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have taken sweeping steps – even declared states of emergency – to stop the spread of the virus and protect their populations. Most of these steps have important consequences for human rights. How can basic human rights standards guide country efforts to respond to the health […]
