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IPU-UN Partnerships

Through its offices in Geneva, New York and Vienna, the IPU partners with most of the UN bodies and specialized agencies in implementing common policy objectives.

The partnerships focus on a wide range of areas, especially climate action, human rights, gender equality, youth participation, peace and security and sustainable development for all. 

Below a list of some of the UN agencies with whom the IPU works:

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

  • Strengthen parliamentary institutions in a number of countries, and particularly those in post-conflict situations.
  • Work together to develop standards and guidelines for democratic governance.
  • Produce joint publications, such as the Global Parliamentary Report and the self-assessment toolkit on the implementation of SDGs.
  • Cooperate in the implementation of UN treaties and other commitments.

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)

  • Co-lead national projects aimed at strengthening the work of parliaments in advancing gender equality and at promoting women’s contribution in parliament.
  • Develop awareness-raising tools, for example, producing the Women in Politics maps.
  • Co-organize parliamentary meetings at the Commission on the Status of Women.

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)

  • Mobilize parliaments to take the necessary legislative action to implement both preventive and treatment measures for HIV/AIDS.
  • Produce a number of tools and publications that encourage the exchange of good legislative practices and provide hands-on advice about how to take action on HIV/AIDS.
  • UNAIDS is also a technical partner of the IPU Advisory Group on HIV/AIDS-MNCH and participates in all its meetings and activities.

World Health Organization (WHO)

  • Hold regular parliamentary meetings at the World Health Assembly and IPU Assemblies;
  • WHO participates in the Advisory Group on HIV/AIDS and Maternal, Newborn and Child Health as a technical partner;
  • Produce joint publications, including a review of the legislation on child marriage in 37 Asia-Pacific countries.
  • Promote parliamentary contribution to implementation of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.

Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Maternal Health (PMNCH)

  • Participate in the Advisory Group on HIV/AIDS and Maternal, Newborn and Child Health as a technical partner.
  • Mobilize parliaments to ensure accountability and implementation of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.
  • Organize side events at IPU Assemblies to raise awareness on women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

  • Raise awareness among parliamentarians through the production of joint publications and seminars, of international human rights norms that should guide legislation at the national level.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

  • Help to establish a culture of child protection by implementing the Convention of the rights of the child (CRC) through legislation, budgetary allocations and sensitization.
  • Jointly carry out wide range of activities—through information and sensitization seminars, specialized panels and field visits during IPU Assemblies–related to the rights to the child, including birth registration, violence against children, the right of children with disabilities, nutrition, child trafficking and labour.
  • Produce handbooks on child protection, combating child trafficking, eliminating violence against children, improving the protection of children in conflict with the law in South Asia, and on child participation in parliament.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

  • Produce handbooks on refugee protection, internal displacement and statelessness.
  • Co-organize meetings and debates for MPs on refugee protection challenges.
  • Co-organize conferences on refugee protection and statelessness.

International Office for Migration (IOM)

  • Follow up on IPU commitments to help rebuild and implement protective legal frameworks and ensure fairness, non-discrimination and respect for the human rights of migrants.
  • Work for social cohesion, and peaceful and inclusive societies.

International Labour Organization (ILO)

  • Work together in support of international labour standards, in particular in the context of migration.
  • Coordinate efforts to combat child trafficking and labour through joint sensitization and information seminars and field visits in West Africa.
  • Produce tools for parliamentarians, including a handbook on eliminating the worst forms of child labour.
UN

IPU works with the United Nations and other specialized agencies in implementing common policy objectives. Photo: © UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe