Areas at The House of Parliaments named after
the two Nobel laureates who jointly founded the IPU

The French pacifist MP Frédéric Passy, one of the two co-founders of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, who was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, along with the founder of the International Red Cross, Henry Dunant of Switzerland, now has a building in Geneva named in his honour. On 17th March, the IPU inaugurated the Frédéric Passy Archive Centre, in the presence of the Executive President of the French IPU Group, Senator Robert Del Picchia, and the Ambassador of France to the international organisations in Geneva, Mr. Bernard Kessedjian. The Frédéric Passy Archive Centre, an annex of the House of Parliaments, was restored with the support of the French Parliament.

The second founding father of the IPU, British MP Randal Cremer, has a hall named after him in the IPU’s new Headquarters. The Randal Cremer Hall was formally inaugurated in the presence of Mr. John Austin, M.P., Chairman of the British IPU Group, the IPU Secretary General, representatives of the diplomatic corps in Geneva, and the Members of Parliament present at the inauguration of The House of Parliaments on 3rd October 2003. Randal Cremer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1903. The British IPU Group provided financial support to the renovation of The House of Parliaments.

IPU Secretary General in the Middle East

The IPU Secretary General, Anders B. Johnsson, paid official visits in the Middle East from 1 to 5 March. In Damascus, he attended the 11th Conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, which brought together many Speakers of parliaments from the Arab world, including Mr. Nabih Berry, Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon, who was elected President of the AIPU for the next two years. Mr. Johnsson travelled then to Amman where he continued discussions with the Speaker of the National Assembly of Jordan, Mr. Abdul Hadi Al-Majali, about a proposed meeting of Speakers of parliaments of the countries neighbouring Iraq to discuss a possible role for the IPU in support of the constitutional process in the country.

The IPU Secretary General also went to Jerusalem, where he was formally welcomed by Speaker Reuven Rivlin during a plenary of the Knesset. He also met with the persons who had attended last July’s meeting between members of the Knesset and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, in Geneva. All agreed on the need to pursue the dialogue between the two parties.

Mr. Johnsson visited the Palestinian Territories, where he met with Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei "Abu Ala", the former Speaker of the PLC, and with the current Speaker, Mr. Rafiq Al-Natscheh. The IPU Secretary General briefed them on the dialogue between PLC and Knesset members, supported by the IPU. He also had discussions with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Minister for Negotiations, Mr. Saeb Erekat, and other senior officials. The Palestinian representatives expressed their interest in technical cooperation projects and in possible IPU support for the PLC.