International Day of Parliamentarism

The International Day of Parliamentarism is celebrated every year on 30 June, the date in 1889 on which the IPU was founded. The Day was established in 2018 through a United Nations General Assembly Resolution.

Instituting an international day for parliaments is particularly important at this critical time for parliamentary democracy, when people are losing trust in political institutions and democracy itself is facing challenges from populist and nationalist movements. If democracy is to thrive, then parliaments, as the cornerstone of functioning democracies, need to be strong, transparent, accountable and representative.

The International Day of Parliamentarism is a time to review the progress that parliaments have made in achieving some key goals to be more representative and move with the times, including carrying out self-assessments, working to include more women and young MPs, and adapting to new technologies.

We encourage our Members to celebrate the International Day of Parliamentarism with events and celebrations. 

If your parliament is organizing an event or marking International Day of Parliamentarism, please let us know by writing to [email protected].

List of events and celebrations (by theme)

2026: Member events (Bring Human Rights into focus)

2025: Member events (Achieving gender equality, action by action) 

2024: Members events (Parliamentary diplomacy: Building bridges for peace and understanding)

2023: Member events (Parliaments for the planet)

2022: Member events (Citizen engagement and public participation in the work of parliaments around the world) 

2021: Member events (I Say Yes to Youth in Parliament!)

2020: Member events for 2020 (Parliaments in a time of pandemic)

2019: Member events for the IPU’s 130th anniversary 

If you would like to find out more, write to [email protected]