UN resolution on interaction between the UN, national parliaments and the IPU breaks new ground

Geneva, 27 July 2016

IPU President addresses UN General Assembly. ©UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

The United Nations General Assembly adopted on 25th July by consensus a resolution on Interaction between the United Nations, national parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.  It is the 15th resolution in a series that started in 1995.

Meeting under the chairmanship of the President of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Mogens Lykketoft of Denmark, the General Assembly examined a comprehensive Report of the UN Secretary-General which attests to the breadth and scope of cooperation between the UN, parliaments and the IPU in a wide array of areas ranging from peace and security, to democracy and human rights, to climate change and sustainable development.

Among other things, the resolution welcomes IPU’s engagement in a number of new areas, such as migration, non-proliferation and disarmament, as well as South-South cooperation. It also welcomes a regular parliamentary side event of the UN High Level Political Forum on sustainable development, which provides the main global mechanism to track the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Representatives of several UN Member States took the floor in support of the Resolution, introduced by Ambassador Masud Bin Momen of Bangladesh. In their interventions, the representatives – which included Speaker Adrien Houngbedji of Benin and Roberto Leon of Chile, President of the IPU Geopolitical Group of Latin America and the Caribbean – hailed the joint action of the UN and the IPU to advance the rule of law, democracy and development around the world.  They also underscored the critical importance of enhanced cooperation, based on new Common Principles pioneered by IPU and UNDP, in strengthening parliamentary capacities with a view to ensuring good, accountable and effective governance geared towards meeting the needs and expectations of the citizens.

In his statement before the UN General Assembly, IPU President Saber Chowdhury welcomed the adoption of such a substantive and forward-looking resolution. He noted that through this decision the UN General Assembly “recognizes the key role of parliaments and of IPU in helping build political will to tackle the world’s many challenges. I am confident that it will provide a valuable framework for taking our strategic partnership even further, for the good of our global community”.

The Resolution enjoyed overwhelming support by Member States and was adopted with close to 80 countries signing on formally as co-sponsors. Together with the recently concluded UN-IPU Cooperation Agreement and the Report of the UN Secretary- General, it constitutes a solid foundation for our joint work ahead.