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ISSUE N°26
JULY 2007

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The World of Parliaments
Editorial

HOLLYWOOD CAN HELP STOP THE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE

IPU and UNICEF launched a Handbook for legislators on violence against children in Indonesia. From left to right: Senator Juan Pablo Letelier, actress Sarah Jones, Ms. Cindy Kiro and Ms. Katharine Bostick. The 116th Assembly of the IPU held in Nusa Dua, (Bali, Indonesia), addressed important challenges such as violence against children, climate change and control of small arms. "Children's rights and climate change are strongly linked", said Ms. Cindy Kiro, New Zealand’s Children's Commissioner, at a press conference, where the IPU and UNICEF jointly launched a Handbook for legislators on violence against children.

If adults want to save the planet and give future generations a chance to survive in a world where the rule of law and not the law of the jungle prevails, they have to set an example, by respecting, and not destroying, the environment for profit, protecting the rights of all children and controlling efficiently the use of small arms. According to Ms. Katharine Bostick, Director of Microsoft Asia Pacific, we have to combat violence against children in school, but also to take a serious look at what children can find on the Internet in terms of violent images and movies. "At Microsoft our responsibility is to ensure that the Internet is safe, and we need to be part of the community which will work to make it safe".

On presenting the IPU-UNICEF Handbook on how to combat violence against children, Chilean Senator Juan Pablo Letelier stated that violence is a human rights problem, "perhaps one of the major human rights problems today. There is a high chance that a child suffering abuses will become a violent adult. We need to break this chain of practice. Boys and girls have the right to live in dignity, with respect and be treated according to decent standards". But if adults are to set standards, they have to take serious steps to stop violence at all levels of society. Actress Sarah Jones, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, noted that television and the Internet could raise awareness, and that Hollywood, which dictates the images that adults and children are seeing, has an important role to play in stopping a culture of violence. "Electronic games, which award points depending on how many people you kill, constitute cultural violence. Nobody is taught at five years that it is good to kill. We need to change the meaning of some entertainment, to understand how movies can be made, and how messages can be sent. And beyond a doubt, the first step should be to create instances of self-regulation", she underlined.

The IPU has also published a Handbook for parliamentarians in conjunction with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD Centre) on controlling small arms and light weapons (see page 2). An interesting point raised therein is the strong link between masculinity and firearms, which should be taken into account. Here again, Hollywood and television film directors can make the difference together with legislators. "Changing that image will be done gradually, as it was done with smoking. We see fewer and fewer films where the hero constantly has a cigarette in his mouth because smoking has been stigmatized and efforts to make people aware of the dangers of smoking have been made. The same thing has to be done with arms, which constitute a public health hazard", said Ms. Mireille Widmer, of the HD Centre.

L.B.

IPU Secretary General on official visit to Thailand

Immediately following the conclusion of the 116th Assembly of the IPU, the IPU Secretary General, Anders B. Johnsson, paid an official visit to Thailand for talks with the authorities of the Kingdom of Thailand regarding the democratization process under way in the country.

He was received by the Vice-President and several members of the National Legislative Assembly, as well as the President of the Constitutional Assembly and members of its Constitutional Drafting Committee. Mr. Johnsson also met with leaders of the main political parties, the Secretary General and senior staff of the Election Commission, the Deputy Secretary of the Parliament and the Deputy Secretary General of the King Prajadhipok Institute, an independent research and training institute attached to the Thai Parliament.

During their talks, the Secretary General conveyed the message of the IPU Executive Committee, namely that it looks forward to a new constitution being adopted and elections taking place before the end of the year so that the elected parliament can resume the very active role it has traditionally played in the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The Secretary General was also briefed on the oversight role currently being played by the National Legislative Assembly. The talks focused on the first draft of the constitution, which had been made public the previous week. A number of independent institutions, including the National Legislative Assembly, were in the process of formulating their comments on the draft. The Secretary General offered input from the IPU based on its normative work in relation to democratic parliaments and free and fair elections.

The Secretary General also discussed a possible role for the IPU in assisting the parliament and the constitution-making process in Thailand. The Thai authorities requested the IPU to consider providing assistance to strengthen the parliament's oversight function through the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee. They also expressed an interest in having the IPU provide support to the Thai authorities in developing organic laws to implement the constitution that should be adopted through a referendum later this year, specifically in relation to regulating political parties and the election process.

 

IPU President meets with Congressional leaders in Washington

IPU President Pier Ferdinando Casini and Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Ms. Nancy Pelosi. IPU President, Pier Ferdinando Casini, was in Washington, D.C. on 12 June to meet with leaders on Capitol Hill. They discussed the growing cooperation between the IPU and the United States Congress. In this context, the IPU President and the IPU Secretary General, Mr. Anders B. Johnsson, met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Congressman Tom Lantos – Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; and Congressmen Gregory Meeks and Wayne Gilchrest – co- Chairs of the Congressional Dialogue Caucus. They also met the members of Congress attending the panel discussion on the International Parliamentary Response to HIV/AIDS, organized jointly by the IPU, UNAIDS and two Congressional Caucuses. President Casini held talks with Senator Thomas Daschle and with Kenneth Wollack, President of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), with which the IPU has been working closely over the past years. Underlining their commitment to multilateral parliamentary cooperation, the Congressional leadership proposed a series of concrete measures intended to pave the way for the reaffiliation of the US Congress to the IPU.

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