1.      The following operating modalities for the Advisory Group of the IPU Committee on United Nations Affairs are submitted to the IPU Governing Bodies for their approval.

Mandate

2.      The Advisory Group will conduct investigations, including making field missions where necessary, and report thereon to the IPU Committee on United Nations Affairs.  Reports will include, but not be restricted to, the following subject areas:

• The implementation of the principles recommended by the Report on System-wide Coherence;
• Current United Nations peacebuilding operations;
• The status of the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other major internationally agreed commitments;
• The budget of the United Nations: its sources and the usage of the funds;
• Financing for development, including the status of related UN reforms;
• Human rights: the status of ratification and implementation of core human rights treaties, and the functioning of the Human Rights Council.

Membership

3.      The members of the Advisory Group will be appointed ad personam by the IPU President after consultation with the IPU membership through the channel of the geopolitical groups.  Members who are unable to attend meetings shall not appoint substitutes to serve in their place.

4.      Membership of the Group will take account of the criteria of geographical and gender representation.

5.      The list of current members of the Group is attached hereto. Their formal membership will be considered effective as of 1 April 2008.

Duration of term

6.      The duration of the term of membership will be two years. The term is renewable once.

Chairpersons

7.      The Advisory Group will elect its chairperson for a period of two years.

Meetings

8.      In principle the Advisory Group will meet twice, and undertake one field mission, in the course of one year. The Group will hold further meetings during the year if exceptional circumstances so warrant.

Field missions

9.      The purpose of the field missions will be to report on the status of United Nations operations in the selected country and, in so doing, to review the degree to which the local parliament is involved in those operations, and conducts effective parliamentary oversight of them.

10.     In the course of a field mission, the primary interlocutor of the Advisory Group will be the national parliament.  The Advisory Group will normally seek to meet with the following persons:

• The Speaker and members of the parliament, including chairs of relevant committees;
• The United Nations Resident Coordinator (RC), or whoever heads the United Nations Country Team;
• Other heads of United Nations Agencies, Funds and Programs, working under the leadership of the RC;
• Relevant government authorities;
• Other stakeholders and development partners, particularly donors and civil society representatives.

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Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 118th Assembly and related meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union" in PDF format (file size approximately 547K). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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