The Annual Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations, convened jointly by the IPU and the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly, was held on 20 and 21 November, bringing together some two hundred legislators from over sixty countries for an interactive discussion with UN officials, government representatives and experts drawn from think tanks and civil society organizations. The Hearing focused on the theme Towards Effective Peacekeeping and the Prevention of Conflict: Delivering on our Commitments. Four topics were chosen for discussion under that rubric: the responsibility to protect, sexual violence against women and children in conflict, the human security approach in UN operations, and major challenges facing UN peacekeeping operations today.
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As President of the General Assembly, Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann stated in his opening remarks to the parliamentarians, “The central role that you as parliamentarians play in ensuring that international policies in the areas of peacekeeping, human rights, development and the environment are reflected in your national debate is of enormous support to us at the United Nations.” He noted that the main goal of UN-IPU collaboration is to find ways to bring the UN agenda closer to the work of national parliaments, inspire a more robust contribution by parliamentarians to the work of the UN and hence help democratize the Organization.
Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, President of the IPU, recalled the very recent adoption by the General Assembly of a bold and forward-looking Resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the IPU. This text set clear and ambitious targets for the next two years, including working more closely with the UN Peacebuilding Commission, the Human Rights Council and the Development Cooperation Forum. It also provided for a specific agenda item of the General Assembly to be henceforth dedicated to cooperation between the United Nations, national parliaments and the IPU.
The first session of the hearing discussed the concept of the Responsibility to Protect as provided for in the 2005 UN Summit Outcome Document. It drew some recommendations for future action, such as the organization of hearings and debates in parliament around the key provisions and implications of the responsibility to protect, ensuring that national penal codes criminalize the four categories of abuse (genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity), and finding ways to better enpower the UN with the necessary means and resources to exercise its mandate and protect civilians in situations of conflict.
Mr. Stephen Lewis, a former member of parliament and UN Special Adviser on Africa, currently Co-Director of AIDS-Free World, moderated the second session and made an impassioned plea for parliamentarians to join forces to end sexual violence in conflict and push for governments to enforce Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820. Parliaments could also ensure that military and police contingents were trained to prevent sexual violence. To that end, these forces could include more women in their peacekeeping operations.
Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute, moderated the third session on the human security approach to the work of the United Nations. In the lively discussion that ensued, which brought forth a variety of perspectives, parliaments were encouraged inter alia to look closely at the objectives expounded at major multilateral meetings in the wake of the economic crisis, take steps to ensure that the curricula of secondary schools include courses on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, encourage governments to convene a UN General Assembly summit on weapons of mass destruction, and act in the interest of the citizens they represent.
In the final session, dedicated to Major Challenges facing UN Peacekeeping today, parliamentarians called on the UN to further consolidate its capacities in prevention and early warning and to enforce a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual violence and exploitation among troops. They also pledged their support for ensuring the required contribution in troops and qualified support staff that would allow UN peacekeeping operations to effectively exercise the mandates with which they have been entrusted.
Indeed, in his opening remarks at the Hearing, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that maintaining peace and preventing conflicts was the primary mission assigned to the United Nations by its founders some 63 years earlier. He underscored the responsibility of Member States to act, adding that “without political settlements, without lasting political solutions, the world will continue to be left with humanitarian emergencies and peacekeeping without end.”
The summary of the discussion will be posted on the IPU website and circulated as an official document of both the IPU and the UN General Assembly. Further information about the Hearing, including background notes, statements and webcast, is available on the IPU website.
