As of 1 January 2026, women hold 27.5% of national parliamentary seats worldwide, up modestly from 27.2% in 2025, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) report Women in parliament 2025. This 0.3 percentage point increase matches 2024’s rate, marking the slowest growth since 2017 for the second consecutive year. The report is based on IPU data […]
Opinion piece by Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General The India AI Impact Summit, held this week in New Delhi, is the first global summit on artificial intelligence (AI) of this scale hosted in the Global South. This signals that the debate about AI – how it is developed, who benefits from it and who governs it – […]
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) released today a new global report which reveals that members of parliament (MPs) are facing a worrying rise in intimidation and harassment from the public. When the public turns hostile: Political violence against parliamentarians draws on a broad survey of 519 MPs globally and case studies focused on five countries: Argentina, Benin, […]
From 26 to 28 January 2026 BGIPU welcomed to Westminster a delegation from Poland for a bilateral visit to the British Parliament. The delegation was led by Senator Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka, Vice-President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and included Senator Stanisław Gawłowski and Senator Wiktor Durlak. As well as members of the Sejm of the Republic […]
In the lead-up to Human Rights Day, the IPU has published its latest data on human rights violations against parliamentarians. The data is compiled by the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, a unique international complaints mechanism with the specific mandate to defend the human rights of MPs. In 2025, the Committee reviewed a record 1,027 individual […]
MPs from around the world have expressed deep concern about the unchecked evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and the absence of adequate safeguards to prevent irresponsible and potentially dangerous use of the rapidly evolving technology. Some 200 MPs, parliamentary staff and experts convened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 28 to 30 November 2025 for the […]
From Monday 17 to Friday 21 November, I led a cross-party group of parliamentarians on a visit to Bogotá, Colombia. The delegation included Baroness Alexander, Baroness Prashar, Leigh Ingham MP, Caroline Dinenage MP and Stephen Gethins MP. They were accompanied by Dominique Rees and Henry Collison from the BGIPU. The visit offered a concentrated and […]
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has concluded its 151st IPU Assembly, with nearly 1,150 delegates, including over 600 members of parliament, from 132 countries in attendance. Notably, women MPs comprised nearly 37% of the parliamentarians at the Assembly. Meeting under the theme of parliamentary support for humanitarian action, the five-day Assembly took place in Geneva, the birthplace of […]
Against the backdrop of the climate crisis, unsustainable debt burdens and growing inequality, parliamentary leaders from the world’s largest economies agreed today on bold actions to accelerate climate resilience, ensure fairer energy transitions and unlock sustainable development. Meeting in Cape Town under the leadership of the Parliament of South Africa and with the support of […]
On behalf of the global parliamentary community, we reiterate our grave concern over the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. We are profoundly horrified by the immense suffering being inflicted upon the civilian population of Gaza, including famine, caused by the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and severe restrictions on humanitarian and other vital aid entering […]
