The 121st IPU Assembly was held in Geneva from 19 to 21 October 2009. Reports were presented and panel discussions were held on the main issues, which will be open to formal debate and negotiation at the next Assembly, scheduled to take place in April 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. These include: cooperation and shared responsibility in the global fight against organized crime (in particular drug trafficking, illegal arms sales, human trafficking and cross-border terrorism), the role of parliaments in developing South-South and Triangular Cooperation with a view to accelerating achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, and youth participation in the democratic process.
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Member Parliaments debated and adopted an emergency item resolution on "Parliamentary action to ensure global food security", which recommends a series of practical measures and policy decisions that parliaments can and should be considering in order to redress the current situation and start lifting millions of people around the world out of poverty and hunger. It also sends a strong political message from the parliamentary community to the world leaders as they prepare for the World Summit on Food Security, to be held in Rome in mid-November. It was very fitting, therefore, for the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Mr. Jacques Diouf, to address and engage with the parliamentarians during their Geneva Assembly.
The IPU Committee on United Nations Affairs also met in plenary for two days and examined ways in which parliaments organize their work vis-à-vis the United Nations, cooperation among parliamentary organizations at the national, regional and global levels, progress and setbacks in UN reform at the national level, in particular from the perspective of a more coherent approach to aid delivery, and the role of parliaments in ensuring greater budget transparency and accountability. The Committee also heard a briefing from the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat on the status of negotiations on climate change, which - despite difficulties encountered thus far - should lead to a strong international commitment at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen in December 2009. The overall message was that "failure is not an option", and legislators expressed their commitment to help overcome outstanding issues.
Other pressing issues were raised, which led to IPU Presidential statements on the H1N1 influenza virus and on the situation in Honduras. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians also met and examined 56 cases of alleged human rights abuses in 29 countries concerning 250 parliamentarians. The resolutions on these cases and the results of the full proceedings of the 121st Assembly of the IPU are available on the IPU website.
The Assembly saw the adoption of the programme and budget for 2010 and reviewed a host of activities to promote democracy, peace and security, human rights and gender equality. The IPU re-elected Mr. Anders B. Johnsson as Secretary General. It also elected five new members to the Executive Committee from Armenia, Cambodia, Sweden, Switzerland and Viet Nam.
