IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union [to 4 July 2015]
http://www.ipu.org/english/news.htm

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MPs identify strategies for implementing new SDGs
30 JUNE 2015
MPs from nine European and Central Asian countries gathered in the Romanian capital, Bucharest in mid-June to identify how parliaments can be most effective in implementing the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They recommended that each country should devise its own sustainable development strategy, identifying specific goals and the means of achieving them with input from relevant parties including women’s groups. MPs at the two-day regional seminar also urged parliaments to promote strong inter-parliamentary cooperation, including the development of joint projects between countries. It recommended IPU set up a global parliamentary mechanism to track and evaluate progress so that national and regional experiences can be fed back to the global level and encourage further progress. The seminar, jointly organized by IPU and Romania’s Chamber of Deputies, was attended by MPs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Serbia and Romania.

IT project aids Egyptian Parliament
30 JUNE 2015
A three-month IPU programme to train staff at the Egyptian parliament is the first stage in efforts to establish a modern parliamentary library with full internet access and capable of meeting the needs of future MPs. The newly-launched programme, supported by the Japanese foundation Worldwide Support for Development (WSD), includes training 210 staff in information technology management relating to the provision of library, information and research services (LRIS) – one of the priorities identified during a needs-assessment mission to Egypt in late 2014. The training, together with a recently installed faster computer system, will enable staff to use IT and the internet more effectively.

Supporting new Tunisian MPs
30 JUNE 2015
IPU and partner organizations have joined forces to provide a series of orientation workshops for Tunisian MPs elected late last year to the country’s first parliament since the Arab Spring. In a first session organized by IPU and the UN’s Development Programme (UNDP), the MPs focused on standards for democratic parliaments based on IPU’s Parliament and democracy in the 21st century and measures to put in place a gender equal parliament using the Organization’s Plan of Action for Gender-sensitive Parliaments. The MPS are due to explore the essential functions of parliaments – law-making, oversight and representation at another session in September. Meanwhile, at an event organized by IPU and International IDEA and supported by the UAE’s Federal National Council, the MPs focused on increasing cross-party cooperation between female MPs through both formal and informal means. Tunisia is one of only two Arab countries where more than 30 per cent of the MPs are women through the use of electoral quotas. Algeria became the first Arab country to achieve this.

New move to strengthen women’s rights in Mali
30 JUNE 2015
IPU and the National Assembly of Mali have launched a two-year initiative to improve the status of women and strengthen their rights. The project aims to support parliamentary bodies responsible for gender issues, and back parliamentary efforts to develop the legislative and political framework needed to improve women’s status. Training for MPs in late June will focus on developing the capacity and leadership skills of female MPs and on strengthening male and female MPs skills in advocating gender equality and fighting violence against women and girls. Priorities for parliamentary action include national reconciliation, gender equality, improvements in healthcare for women and children, better education for girls, combating violence, and women’s participation in decision-making. Women hold only 13 of the 147 seats in parliament – fewer than 9 per cent – although this represents a substantial improvement on previous figures.

Strengthening parliamentary action on maternal and child health in Bangladesh
30 JUNE 2015
The Bangladesh Parliament and IPU have signed an agreement setting in motion a partnership aimed at developing the capacity of the country’s MPs to promote maternal and child health (MNCH), including efforts to end child marriage. The agreement, signed in Dhaka during an official visit to the country by IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong and Senior Secretary of the Parliament Ashraful Moqbul, will focus on how parliament can improve its oversight and representation responsibilities on MNCH, develop strategies on strengthening parliament’s influence on the issue including community outreach and advocacy, and the importance of data collection on birth and marriage registrations, A range of activities supported by IPU will begin soon. Although Bangladesh is one of a few developing countries that have achieved the Millennium Development Goal on reducing child mortality, and made progress on maternal mortality, there is still work to be done to reduce maternal mortality to 140 per 100,000 live births. The persistence of harmful practices against women and girls, including child marriage and the lack of universal access to health are key challenges…