In preparation for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in November 2021 in Glasgow, the IPU hosted a virtual inter-parliamentary meeting on COP26 on 24 June, in collaboration with the British Group of the IPU and the Italian Chamber of Deputies. COP26 will bring together parties from around the world to advance action on climate change to meet the goals and objectives of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

What would a truly equal generation look like? Convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of France and Mexico, this is the question panellists debated at last week’s Generation Equality Forum in Paris.

The IPU will receive an additional two million Canadian dollars in funding to support its gender equality work in parliament. The three-year project, Gender Equality in Politics, is designed to support the IPU’s work in increasing women’s political empowerment. The funding will also help strengthen the capacity of parliaments to support gender equality at a national level.

The IPU and the Shura Council of Qatar reinforced their cooperation this week with the signature of a new Memorandum of Understanding between Mr. Ahmed Bin Abdulla Bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, Speaker of the Shura Council, and Mr. Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General.

The Inter-Parliamentary Conference for International Arbitration – later called the Inter‑Parliamentary Union – was officially born on 30 June 1889. Its foundation was driven by two remarkable parliamentarians – William Randal Cremer, a British MP and Frédéric Passy, a French MP – who were driven by a passion for international mediation as a means to resolve conflict. It was against a background of challenging international conflicts that demanded a platform for dialogue that the British and French founders created the organization to provide a place for countries to negotiate and arbitrate, instead of clash and conflict.

To celebrate the International Day of Parliamentarism on 30 June, we asked three young MPs three questions about parliamentary work. The three respondents have recently been elected to the Board of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians, a group within the IPU dedicated to boosting the participation of young people in parliaments and helping to ensure young MPs play a full part in the work of parliament.