Objective 4

At the 140th IPU Assembly in Doha, IPU Member Parliaments adopted a resolution on the recruitment, financing and use of mercenaries and foreign fighters. The resolution draws a parallel between both types of individuals and calls for a legal definition of foreign fighters. It also condemns any form of impunity granted to both mercenaries and foreign fighters, and urges parliaments to take legislative measures to prevent their nationals carrying out such activities and to support the victims of resulting violations.

Parliamentarians also addressed the issue of money laundering by sharing their experiences and presenting national legislative frameworks put in place to combat this scourge. At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, IPU Members reflected on the link between climate change and security – highlighting the impact of climate on human security and its destabilizing effects, and putting forward solutions to be included in a 2020 resolution on the topic.

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, the IPU facilitated discussions on the impact of armed conflict on women and their contribution to conflict resolution at the parliamentary meeting on the occasion of the UN Commission on the Status of Women and meetings of the IPU Forum of Women Parliamentarians.

Against a backdrop of increased tensions in the Middle East, the IPU Committee on Middle East Questions, which addresses conflict-related issues in the region, including through dialogue with parliamentarians from the region, heard directly from delegations from Libya and Yemen to try and find parliamentary solutions in these conflict zones.

For several years, the Committee on Middle East Questions has been working on developing initiatives that use science as a vehicle for conflict resolution and peace. In 2019, at the 141st Assembly, the governing bodies gave the green light for a Working Group on Science and Technology with a mandate to forge closer ties between the parliamentary and scientific communities.

The IPU Group of Facilitators for Cyprus met during the 141st Assembly with members of the House of Representatives of Cyprus and representatives of the Turkish-Cypriot political parties. The parties expressed their determination to resume negotiations to reach a solution based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, and in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and the values of the European Union.

In 2019 we set out to strengthen commitments made in the 2014 IPU resolution Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: The role of parliaments by exploring parliamentary strategies for comprehensive disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation. We campaigned extensively to encourage parliaments to get their countries to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty so that it can finally be enforced. We also promoted ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as a clear step towards implementing the 2014 IPU resolution.

“Combating the threat of terrorism requires a holistic strategy, not only confined to security and military aspects but also refuting the underlying intellectual foundations on which terrorism is based, promoting the values of democracy, and correcting the religious discourse.”

Dr. Ali Abdel Aal Speaker of the House of Representatives of Egypt

Champions of both treaties were given a platform when parliamentarians reviewed the implementation of the 2014 IPU resolution during the 141st Assembly. The review allowed IPU Members to share how they had followed up on the resolution and to take stock of significant progress.

The IPU also organized two side events on advancing national implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention during the 2019 Assemblies.

The IPU-UN Joint Programme on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism stepped up a gear in 2019, with the signing of a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding between the IPU, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

We organized three regional conferences on countering terrorism: in Luxor, Egypt, in February; in Niamey, Niger, in June; and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in October.

Following the conference in Luxor, the Egyptian Parliament moved to establish a parliamentary committee on combating hate speech and extremism. The committee will be the focal point for all activities related to these issues, as well as interacting with other parliamentary committees dealing with associated areas of work, such as education, security and defence, and social coherence. At the regional conference for the Sahel in Niamey, MPs argued for national activities to counter the rising levels of terrorism in the region. And following on from the conference in Kuala Lumpur, a national capacity-building event is on the cards for Afghanistan.