News in brief

A group of women 12 MPs from the Réseau des femmes parlementaires mauritaniennes (Network of Mauritanian Women Parliamentarians/REFPAM) organized a “caravan”, or outreach visits, to provinces in the country to engage local and religious leaders, and the general public on women’s rights and ending violence against women and girls.

Good governance and democratic institutions are fundamental to sustainable development. This was one of the conclusions of a regional seminar for parliaments of sub-Saharan Africa on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Members of 18 African parliaments attended the seminar, organized by the IPU and the Parliament of Uganda in Kampala on 1-3 March. They discussed SDG 16 (Peace, justice and effective institutions), and governance, health, climate change and resources for implementing the SDGs.

MPs in Rwanda visited youth-friendly health centres and universities to educate people, especially adolescents, on sexual and reproductive health. The visits were part of the collaboration between IPU and the Parliament of Rwanda on maternal, newborn and child health, as well as sexual and reproductive health.

Parliaments of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia met to discuss the next steps in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The seminar, which took place in Budapest on 23­-24 February and was co-organized by IPU and the Hungarian National Assembly, was a follow-up to previous meetings that had called for concrete parliamentary action in key areas, such as environmental risk and climate change.

Speakers of Parliaments from South Asia met to discuss the implementation of the SDGs in the region and further defined the opportunities and challenges facing South Asian parliaments in working to implement the SDGs.

The world’s MPs have called for decisive actions to stem the serious decline in the health of the oceans. The theme of this year’s Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations in New York, which took place from 13-14 February, was A world of blue: Preserving the oceans, safeguarding the planet, ensuring human well-being in the context of the 2030 Agenda.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted in September 2015. But sustainable development cannot be achieved while half the population—women and girls—are legally discriminated against. Women worldwide face sex discrimination in law in political and public life, marriage and

Terrorism is one of the biggest challenges of our time. Even though the United Nations and IPU have passed several resolutions, all of which set out a clear role for parliaments, there have been gaps in implementation. To address these

At a seminar co-organized by IPU and the Parliament of Tanzania, parliamentarians learned how they could help national efforts to improve women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health. They were briefed on the core parliamentary prerogatives they could use to spearhead action on health; Tanzania's key commitments on health in the context of the SDGs; how to address the root causes of maternal, neonatal and child mortality, especially among the most vulnerable and marginalized populations; and budget advocacy, allocation and oversight.

The contribution of young people and their participation in decision-making is necessary if we are to eradicate poverty. That was one of the key points made by members of the IPU Forum of Young Parliamentarians at the United Nations ECOSOC Global Youth Forum, held this year on The role of youth in poverty eradication and promoting prosperity in a changing world.

The Global Appeal 2017 to End Stigma and Discrimination against People Affected by Leprosy was launched on 30 January in New Delhi by the Nippon Foundation with IPU’s support. The Appeal, endorsed by the IPU Executive Committee, emphasizes that solutions to the challenges faced by people with leprosy must be "firmly embedded in human rights" and urges all parliaments to "promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies".

IPU delegation, comprising parliamentarians from France and Burkina Faso, conducted a needs assessment mission to the Parliament of Djibouti to examine the functioning of the parliament and identify strategic areas of cooperation to strengthen the institution. The visit also included a day-long workshop with the administration of the parliament aimed at exploring the challenges and making recommendations for enhanced efficiency in parliamentary work.

H.E. Mr. Naci Koru, incoming Permanent Representative of Turkey to Geneva, paid a courtesy call on IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong on 25 January. Mr. Koru and Mr. Chungong discussed the strong cooperation between the Turkish Parliament and IPU, and expressed the hope of furthering such cooperation.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is pleased the crisis in The Gambia was peacefully resolved following the departure of former President Yahya Jammeh. Mr. Jammeh left the country over the weekend after 22 years in power and went into exile in Equatorial Guinea.

The 2017 Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations will focus on SDG 14 of the new Sustainable Development Goals: the conservation and sustainable use of oceans. A World of Blue: Preserving the oceans, safeguarding the planet, ensuring human well-being in the context of the 2030 Agenda will bring together parliamentarians, experts and UN officials and will make recommendations to restore the oceans to health.

In the course of their duties, MPs sometimes face human rights violations, and the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians is the only international mechanism with the remit to protect them. The Committee is meeting in Geneva from

IPU Secretary General, Martin Chungong, and IPU President, Saber Chowdhury look back at 2016 and at the challenges ahead in 2017. Last year saw parliaments positioning themselves to advance an ambitious new development agenda. The crises that took place in 2016 will mean that this year will be a busy one for parliaments on development, and peace and security.

The Kenyan Parliament was the first to use IPU’s new toolkit on evaluating the gender sensitivity of parliaments. The toolkit is an outcome of the Plan of Action for Gender-Sensitive Parliaments adopted in 2012 by the 127th IPU Assembly. It is designed to help parliaments assess themselves on criteria such as women’s representation, the parliamentary culture and the ability to deliver on gender equality. It also assists them in determining how parliaments can be transformed into gender-sensitive institutions.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) and other national and international commitments should be submitted to parliaments for review. This was one of the actions called for by parliamentarians attending the Parliamentary Forum at the Second High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC).

The Parliamentary Meeting at COP 22 held in Marrakech showed that parliamentarians everywhere are aware of the need to take concrete action on climate change, in particular as it concerns legislating for the nationally determined contributions (NDCs), transition to renewable energy and transfer of technologies.