We hail the great progress that has been made in strengthening democracy worldwide in the last ten years. We welcome the emergence of an increasing number of parliaments and their contribution to democracy.

We are concerned, however, that in many countries parliament, the central institution of democracy, is experiencing a crisis of legitimacy. Democracy itself is facing serious challenges, including certain effects of globalization, poverty, violations of human rights, corruption and terrorism.

We reaffirm the validity of the principles, precepts and values enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Democracy and invite the world parliamentary community to redouble its efforts to promote and defend them.

We solemnly affirm the Inter-Parliamentary Union's resolve to continue to promote democracy in its broadest sense, and in particular to pursue its efforts to help parliaments become ever more representative, transparent, accessible, accountable and effective.

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Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 117th Assembly and related meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union" in PDF format (file size approximately 480K). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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