Rejecting FGM not an affront to tradition
West African religious and traditional leaders meeting with political officials this week affirmed their commitment to eradicating female genital mutilation, saying that to abandon the practice is not to reject traditional or religious values. "We are in no way abandoning African culture when we abandon female genital mutilation," Mélégué Traoré, a traditional chief and former President of Burkina Faso's National Assembly, told reporters on Sunday, the opening day of a conference gathering politicians, health and human rights NGOs, religious experts and traditional leaders in the Senegalese capital. The World Health Organization says that 3 million girls per year undergo some form of genital cutting, mainly in 28 countries of Africa and the Middle East. "The most prevalent justification for the practice is that tradition requires it, but it is not required by tradition," Traore said.

The conference was organized by the Senegalese National Assembly and the African Parliamentary Union in cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Parliamentarians from across Africa discussed ways to help end FGM, which is widely practised across Africa, despite national and international laws deeming it a violation of human rights and a threat to women's health.
IRIN and Reuters - 7 December 2005

WTO: Lamy to Casini, thank you for reminding parliamentarians
"I would like to thank Mr. Casini for his call for the parliamentary session to remind negotiators of the imperative of reaching a successful outcome in this Conference". In his opening remarks at the parliamentary session which took place in parallel with the beginning of the WTO gathering, the WTO Director-General, Pascal Lamy, thanked IPU President Pier Ferdinando Casini, who presided over the parliamentary session. "I am touched by the continuous interest of the parliamentarians in the WTO's work. Your presence here ensures that the WTO as institution is working as democratically and transparently as possible".
ASCA and Yahoo Italia - 12 December 2005

	Speaker of Swiss parliament visits exhibit on the IPU On 19 October 2005, the Speaker of the Swiss National Council, Mrs. Thérèse Meyer, visited the exhibit on the IPU organized by La Mémoire du Grand- Saconnex, the local historical society in the town where the IPU Headquarters is located. The exhibit at the Ferme Sarasin in Grand-Saconnex (Geneva), which depicted the history and work of the oldest international political organization and presented its new Headquarters, the House of Parliaments, was also seen by the members of the IPU Executive Committee, as well as by some of the elected representatives of the 143 IPU Member Parliaments attending the 113th IPU Assembly in Geneva, and was subsequently open to the general public.