Context

Recently, Indian Delegation Attacks Pakistan for Raising Kashmir Issue at Inter-Parliamentary Union

About

• IPU had its 141 Assembly in October 2019 in Serbia.
• IPU is global inter-parliamentary institution.
• It was established in 1889and was the first permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations.
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Its initial objective was arbitration of conflicts.
• It played important role in setting up Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
• Over time, its mission has evolved towards promotion of democracy and inter-parliamentary dialogue.
• It has worked for establishment of institutions at inter-governmental level, including UN.
• Initially, IPU was for individual parliamentarians, but has since transformed into international organization of parliaments of sovereign states.
• The national parliaments of 178 countries are its members and 12 regional parliamentary assemblies are its associate members.
• The IPU has permanent observer status at UNGA.
• Slogan of IPU is “For democracy. For everyone.”

Structure of IPU

IPU has a four-fold structure:

• Assembly (political organ),
• the Governing Council (governing organ),
• the Executive Committee
• the Secretariat (separated tasks, management organ and executive organ),
• The IPU President (political head of the organization and ex officio President of the Governing Council).

Significance

• The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the world organization of Parliaments. It is the "focal point for worldwide parliamentary dialogue" and works "for peace and co-operation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative institutions".
• Between the two World Wars, the IPU intensified its work in the field of peaceful settlement of international disputes, the reduction of armaments and international security, and the development of the rules of warfare, but also dealt with support for the League of Nations, the further codification and development of international law, the promotion and improvement of the representative system, the protection of national minorities, colonial problems, economic questions, social and humanitarian policy, and intellectual relations.