UNGA Resolution on Interaction between the UN, national parliaments and the IPU

Office of the
Secretary General
General Assembly resolution on Interaction between the United Nations,
National Parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Geneva, 26 April 2022
Dear Madam President,
Dear Mr, President,
The General Assembly of the United Nations is preparing to adopt a new resolution on
interaction between the United Nations, national parliaments and the
Inter-Parliamentary Union in the first part of June (date to be announced in the coming
weeks).
While not legally binding, this resolution provides strong political recognition of the
vision that sees a clear role for parliaments and the IPU in the multilateral system that
is governed by the United Nations.
As per past practice, a draft of the resolution will be introduced for negotiation by the
Permanent Mission of the country holding the IPU presidency (Portugal). A first round
of informal consultations with member States is scheduled to take place on Thursday,
28 April.
As shown in the enclosed document, the draft resolution builds on the agreed
language of Res. 74/304 of September 2020. Some language is streamlined and
simplified to avoid repetition and better highlight key issues or processes. At the same
time, new language is introduced to further ingrain the IPU and parliaments in key UN
processes and to expand the range of issues in which the IPU and parliaments will be
encouraged to engage with.
This year’s interaction resolution comes in the context of the follow up to the UN
Secretary-General’s report on Our Common Agenda, i.e., the 12-point plan of action
that governments agreed to at the UN75 Summit in September 2020. The UN
Secretary-General’s report called, inter alia, for more input from parliaments with
regard to UN processes.
I would like to encourage your parliament to review this text closely and to share any
feedback you may have with your country’s Permanent Mission to the UN in
New York. It would also be most useful if you could ask your Foreign Ministry and
Permanent Mission in New York to join the list of sponsors of the resolution so that
once again we can count on a strong show of support for the IPU and parliaments
from the UN General Assembly.
I thank you for your kind consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Chungong
Secretary General
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United Nations A/RES/76/xxx 74/304
General Assembly Distr.: General
9 September 2020
20-11627 (E) 110920
*2011627*
Seventy-sixth fourth session
Agenda item 1285
Interaction between the United Nations, national
parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
on 4 September 2020
[without reference to a Main Committee (A/74/L.85 and A/74/L.85/Add.1)]
74/304. Interaction between the United Nations, national parliaments and
the Inter-Parliamentary Union
The General Assembly,
Recalling the 2005 World Summit Outcome, 1
in which Heads of State and
Government resolved to strengthen further cooperation between the United Nations
and national parliaments through their world organization, the Inter-Parliamentary
Union, in all fields of the work of the United Nations,
Recalling also its resolution 57/32 of 19 November 2002, in which the
Inter-Parliamentary Union was invited to participate in the work of the General
Assembly in the capacity of observer, and recalling further its resolution 72/278 of
22 May 2018, in which the Assembly, inter alia, decided to strengthen the modalities
of the cooperation between United Nations entities and the global parliamentary
community,
Taking into consideration the Cooperation Agreement between the United
Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union of 1996,2
which laid the foundation for
cooperation between the two organizations, and taking note of the revised
Cooperation Agreement of 2016,
Taking note of the resolutions adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, as well
as the many activities undertaken by that organization in support of the United
Nations,
Noting the outcomes of the World Conferences of Speakers of Parliament held
in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, and 2021 (preceded by a virtual segment in 2020)
which affirm the commitment of national parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary
__________________
1
Resolution 60/1.
2
A/51/402, annex.
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Union to support the work of the United Nations, strengthen multilateralism and
continue efforts to bridge the democracy gap in international relations,
Recognizing that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic continues to
requires a global response based on unity, solidarity and renewed multilateral
cooperation that is people-centred, and acknowledging the important role of the
United Nations system and the key leadership role of the World Health Organization
in this regard, as well as the role of and that national parliaments and the Inter-
Parliamentary Union play an important role in the response and recovery efforts,
Welcoming the annual parliamentary hearings at the United Nations, as well as
other specialized parliamentary meetings organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union
in cooperation with the United Nations to correspond to major United Nations
conferences and events,
Recognizing the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in mobilizing
parliamentary action towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development,3
the Addis Ababa Action Agenda,4
the Sendai Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction 2015–2030,5
the Paris Agreement adopted under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change6
and the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action,7
Recognizing also the work growing role of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Standing Committee on United Nations Affairs in providing to provide a platform for
regular interaction between parliamentarians and United Nations officials, including on
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, review reviewing implementation of
international commitments, and facilitate facilitating closer ties between the United
Nations country teams and national parliaments and helping to shape parliamentary
input to major United Nations processes,
Recognizing further the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in the areas of
democracy and the rule of law, human rights, gender equality, the empowerment of
all women and girls and eliminating violence against women and girls, youth
empowerment, peace and security, disarmament, non-proliferation, humanitarian
assistance, sustainable development, poverty eradication, food security and nutrition,
climate change, health and interfaith and inter-ethnic dialogue, as well as countering
and preventing terrorism and violent extremism as and when conducive to terrorism,
Deeply concerned about all acts of sexual and gender-based violence, including
sexual harassment, in political and in public life, as well as in parliaments and in
leadership positions, and recognizing the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in
combating such violence,
Highlighting the importance of women’s full, equal and meaningful participation
in parliaments, including in leadership positions, and the importance for parliaments
to mainstream a gender perspective in their work,
Recognizing and affirming that the global fight against racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and all their abhorrent and
contemporary forms and manifestations is a matter of priority for the international
community, as well as noting the launch of the United Nations Strategy and Plan of
Action on Hate Speech in June 2019,
__________________
3
Resolution 70/1.
4
Resolution 69/313, annex.
5
Resolution 69/283, annex II.
6
See FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, decision 1/CP.21, annex.
7
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United
Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II.
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Bearing in mind the outcome of that the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United
Nations is an opportunity to (Our Common Agenda), which reaffirms its our
collective commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United
Nations and calls for a reinvigorated multilateralism, and recognizing the outcome
of the 5th
World Conference of Speakers of Parliament and the contributions of
national parliaments, those of regional organizations and of the Inter-Parliamentary
Union, which expresses support for a reinvigorated UN system and for effective
multilateral solutions to current global challenges to promote and strengthen
multilateralism,
Recalling that in 2020 the international community commemorates the
seventy-fifth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and emphasizing in
this regard the role of parliaments in supporting efforts to mitigate and resolve
conflicts,
Mindful that technological change includes new and powerful tools that can help
to realize the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and that the
spread of information and communications technologies and global interconnectedness
has great potential to accelerate human development and bridge the digital divide,
and recognizing that national parliaments, among others, play an important role in
addressing the impact, opportunities and challenges of rapid technological change,
Noting the work carried out upon the request of Member States by agencies and
programmes of the United Nations system, including the United Nations Sustainable
Development Group, in support of national parliaments around the world,
Acknowledging the role and responsibility of national parliaments in regard to
national plans and strategies, as well as in ensuring greater transparency and
accountability at both the national and the global levels,
1. Welcomes the actions taken by the Inter-Parliamentary Union to pursue a
more systematic engagement with the United Nations, and encourages both
organizations to enhance their cooperation in meeting their common objectives;
2. Encourages the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union to
continue to work closely in various fields, including the three dimensions of
sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental, peacebuilding and
sustaining peace, countering and preventing terrorism and violent extremism as and
when conducive to terrorism, international law, human rights and fundamental
freedoms, combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance, promoting gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls,
youth empowerment, democracy and good governance, poverty eradication,
information and communications technologies, health, international migration,
climate change, biodiversity, disaster risk reduction, capacity-building and financing
for development;
3. Also encourages the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union to
strengthen cooperation by engaging parliamentarians in efforts to maintain support
for the implementation of relevant United Nations agreements and resolutions;
4. Encourages the continued active involvement of the Inter-Parliamentary
Union in promoting the enhanced contribution of parliaments at the national, regional
and global levels, including through multi-stakeholder partnerships, in support of the
accelerated implementation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
by 2030;
5. Calls upon Member States and, including their national parliaments,
supported upon their request by the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary
Union, and other relevant stakeholders to further enhance coordination coordinate,
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as appropriate, so that their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are people-centred
and provide access, without discrimination of any kind, to safe, effective, affordable
and quality essential medicines, vaccines, testing and diagnostics, personal protective
equipment and medical equipment as may be required to effectively address COVID-
19;
5bis. Welcomes the efforts of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to work with
national parliaments in addressing the climate emergency, as noted most recently
in the 2022 Nusa Dua Declaration on Getting to Zero: Mobilizing parliaments to
act on climate change, and invites the Secretariat of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to engage closely with
the Inter-Parliamentary Union in this area;
6. Further welcomes the efforts of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to promote
universal health coverage and to address public health emergencies, such as the
COVID-19 pandemic, and invites the World Health Organization, as the United
Nations specialized agency for health, and other relevant agencies, funds and
programmes of the United Nations system to enhance cooperation with the
Inter-Parliamentary Union in this regard;
7. Notes the contribution of preparations currently under way for the fifth
World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, to be organized by the Inter-
Parliamentary Union in close cooperation with the United Nations, entitled
“Parliamentary leadership for more effective multilateralism that delivers peace and
sustainable development for the people and planet”, which will provide contributions
to the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the occasion of the seventy-
fifth anniversary of the United Nations in September 2020;
8. Welcomes the practice of including parliamentarians as members of
national delegations to major United Nations meetings and events, as appropriate, and
invites Member States to continue this practice in a more regular and systematic
manner, and with due consideration given to achieving gender balance within
such delegations;
9. Invites Member States to further consider ways to work regularly with the
Inter-Parliamentary Union in facilitating a parliamentary component to major United
Nations conferences so as to help to inform such deliberations from a parliamentary
perspective;
10. Encourages Member States to further extend consider applying the
practice of the joint United Nations-Inter-Parliamentary Union parliamentary hearing
to other of holding parliamentary meetings convened in conjunction with major
United Nations conferences and processes, such as the parliamentary meeting
organized on the occasion of the annual session of the Commission on the Status of
Women, with a view to including the outcome of these parliamentary meetings as a
formal contribution to the respective United Nations processes;
11. Welcomes the enhanced contribution of parliaments and the
Inter-Parliamentary Union to the work of the Human Rights Council and the human
rights treaty bodies, and encourages acknowledges the crucial role that parliaments
to strengthen their human rights committees with a view to play in translating
international commitments into national policies and laws;
12. Encourages the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and other relevant bodies of the United
Nations system to work closely with national parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary
Union in accordance with their respective mandates and, upon request, in such areas
as gender equality and the empowerment of women, including in conflict prevention
and peace processes, institutional gender mainstreaming, support to parliaments in
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promoting gender-sensitive legislation, increasing the representation of women in
parliaments, combating violence against women, including women in politics, and
implementing relevant United Nations resolutions;
13. Welcomes the contributions of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to the work
of the high-level political forum on sustainable development, including through the
participation of parliamentarians in the main proceedings and the organization of
a special Parliamentary Forum, in convening a parliamentary event on the work of
parliaments to institutionalize the Sustainable Development Goals, and further
encourages parliamentary engagement as well as through its efforts to encourage
parliaments to engage in the voluntary national reviews of participating countries as
a way of strengthening the implementation of the Sustainable Development
Goals;
14. Invites the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the relevant bodies of the United
Nations system to continue and enhance their cooperation in supporting Governments
in facilitating the orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of
people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed
migration policies, and recalls the contribution of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in
the preparatory process for in keeping with the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly
and Regular Migration;8
14bis. Welcomes the joint activities carried out by the Inter-Parliamentary
Union, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United Nations
Office of Counter-Terrorism aimed at mobilizing parliamentary action to
combat terrorism and violent extremism, developing relevant counter-terrorism
legislation and strategies, and supporting the victims of terrorism;
15. Encourages the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union to
develop closer cooperation with parliaments at the national and regional levels,
including in terms of strengthening parliamentary capacities, inter alia, in regard to
the allocation of budgetary resources for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development,3
as appropriate, in reinforcing the rule of law and helping
to align national legislation with international commitments, and to facilitate, within
existing resources, greater South-South and triangular cooperation between
parliaments and parliamentarians;
15bis. Further encourages the United Nations to work with Member States
to strengthen the institutional capacity of national parliaments through technical
support, legal analysis, specific advice, training, monitoring and evaluation in all
relevant areas, including governance, sustainable development, health, security,
and justice;
16. Recognizes that the contributions of young people are important for the
full and successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,
and urges Member States and United Nations entities, in consultation with youth and
youth-led and youth-focused organizations, to explore and promote concrete new
avenues for the full, effective, structured and sustainable participation of young
people and youth-led organizations in relevant decision-making processes and
monitoring, in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life, including in
designing and implementing policies, programmes and initiatives, in particular when
implementing the 2030 Agenda;
17. Takes note of the Common Principles for Support to Parliaments pioneered
by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations Development Programme
and endorsed by 136 141 national parliaments, and 8 parliamentary assemblies and
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8
Resolution 73/195, annex.
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19 partner organizations with a view to further strengthening the capacity of
parliaments to perform their functions;
18. Calls upon United Nations country teams to develop, within their
mandates and at the request of national authorities, a more structured and integrated
manner of working with national parliaments, through appropriate mechanisms, inter
alia, by involving parliaments in consultations on national development strategies and
on development aid effectiveness, where applicable; and calls on the UN
Development Coordination Office to report annually on the extent of UNCT-
parliaments interaction;
19. Calls upon United Nations entities to avail themselves more systematically
of the unique expertise of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and its member parliaments
in strengthening parliamentary institutions, particularly in countries emerging from
conflict and/or in transition to democracy;
19bis. Encourages the Secretary-General to include members of parliament
in multi-stakeholder High Level Advisory Groups as well as in mediation teams
and other such exercises where a multiplicity of perspectives can help ensure fair
and lasting solutions to specific development, security and governance questions.
20. Calls for regular annual exchanges and meetings at both the political and
the operational levels between senior officials of the United Nations and of the
Inter-Parliamentary Union, with a view to building greater coherence in the work of
the two organizations and helping to forge a more robust strategic partnership
between them;
21. Encourages the United Nations system to reflect more systematically the
role and contribution of parliaments in its reports and draft strategic plans;
22. Welcomes the decision to observe 30 June of each year as the International
Day of Parliamentarism, and invites all Member States, national parliaments,
organizations of the United Nations system and other relevant international
organizations, civil society, including non-governmental organizations, and all other
relevant stakeholders to observe the Day and to promote awareness of it, while
stressing that the cost of all activities that may arise from the observance of the Day
by the United Nations should be met from voluntary contributions;
23. Acknowledges the preparations under way by the Inter-Parliamentary
Union, in cooperation with the United Nations, to organize, in May 2022 in the
Russian Federation, the world conference on interfaith and inter-ethnic dialogue with
the participation of Heads of State, parliaments and representatives of world religions;
24. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General,9
and requests that he
submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-ninth sixth session a report under the
item entitled “Interaction between the United Nations, national parliaments and the
Inter-Parliamentary Union” with a special focus on the implementation of the shared
global objectives of United Nations entities and the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
including best practices and contributions of Member States, national parliaments,
the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union to increase the representation
of women in parliaments.
63rd plenary meeting
4 September 2020
__________________
9
A/74/759.