TABLE OF CONTENTS Page MEETINGS 118th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union 1. Inaugural ceremony ...................................................................................................... 5 2. Election of President and keynote addresses ..................................................................... 5 3. Participation ................................................................................................................ 6 4. Choice of an emergency item ........................................................................................ 7 5. Debates and decisions of the Assembly and its Standing Committees .................................. 8 182nd Session of the Governing Council 1. Membership of the IPU ................................................................................................ 10 2. Financial results for 2007 ............................................................................................... 11 3. Financial situation ......................................................................................................... 11 4. Cooperation with the United Nations system ................................................................... 11 5. International Day of Democracy....................................................................................... 12 6. Policies to reduce maternal, newborn and child deaths in developing countries ..................... 12 7. Amendments to the Statutes and Rules ........................................................................... 12 8. Recent specialized conferences and meetings .................................................................. 13 9. Reports of plenary bodies and specialized committees ....................................................... 13 10. Future inter-parliamentary meetings ................................................................................ 13 250th Session of the Executive Committee ............................................................................... 14 Meeting and Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians ......................................... 14 Subsidiary bodies and Committees of the Governing Council 1. Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians ........................................................ 16 2. Committee on Middle East Questions ............................................................................. 16 3. Committee to Promote Respect for International Humanitarian Law .................................... 16 4. Group of Facilitators for Cyprus ...................................................................................... 17 5. Gender Partnership Group ............................................................................................. 18 Inter-Parliamentary Union - 118th Assembly Other events 1. Panel discussion on Peace-building towards reconciliation .................................................... 19 2. Panel discussion on maternal, newborn and child health ..................................................... 19 3. Discussion on The global economic meltdown and its impact on the building of a better world for all ...................................................................................................... 20 Other activities 1. Media coverage ............................................................................................................ 20 2. IPU exhibition on Women in politics ................................................................................ 20 3. IPU/Countdown to 2015 joint special session ................................................................... 20 4. UNICEF-IPU field trip .................................................................................................... 21 ELECTIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND MEMBERSHIP OF THE IPU Elections and appointments 1. Office of President of the 118th IPU Assembly .................................................................. 22 2. Executive Committee .................................................................................................... 22 3. Bureaux of the Standing Committees ............................................................................... 22 4. Rapporteurs of the Standing Committees to the 120th Assembly .......................................... 23 5. Committee on Middle East Questions .............................................................................. 23 6. Committee to Promote Respect for International Humanitarian Law .................................... 23 7. Coordinating Committee of the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians ................................... 23 8. Gender Partnership Group ………………………………………………………………………….... 25 9. Advisory Group of the Committee on United Nations Affairs ............................................... 25 10. Management Board of the IPU Staff Pension Fund and IPU United Nations Joint Staff Pension Committee ...................................................................................................... 25 Membership of the Inter-Parliamentary Union ........................................................................ 26 AGENDA, RESOLUTIONS AND VOTE OF THE 118th ASSEMBLY Agenda ................................................................................................................................ 27 Overall theme Pushing back the frontiers of poverty Subject items · Resolution: The role of parliaments in striking a balance between national security, human security and individual freedoms, and in averting the threat to democracy ............. 28 · Resolution: Parliamentary oversight of State policies on foreign aid ................................ 31 · Resolution: Migrant workers, people trafficking, xenophobia and human rights ................ 37 Emergency item · Results of the roll-call vote on requests for the inclusion of an emergency item in the Assembly agenda ………………………………………………………………………..43 · Resolution: The role of parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union in ensuring an immediate halt to the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in conflict areas and its environmental dimension, in facilitating the Palestinians’ right to self-determination – particularly by ending the blockade in Gaza – and in accelerating the creation of a Palestinian State through viable peace processes .......................................................... 44 2 Inter-Parliamentary Union - 118th Assembly AMENDMENTS TO THE STATUTES AND RULES OF THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION · Amendments to the Financial Regulations ................................................................. 46 · Amendments to the Rules of the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians and of its Coordinating Committee ................................................................................ 47 REPORTS, DECISIONS, RESOLUTIONS AND OTHER TEXTS Reports, decisions and recommendations · Declaration of the President of the Assembly on the situation in Zimbabwe .................. 48 · Cooperation with the United Nations system: List of activities from 8 October 2007 to 13 April 2008 .................................................................................................... 48 · Modalities for the functioning of the Advisory Group of the IPU Committee on United Nations Affairs ............................................................................................ 52 · Memorandum of Understanding IPU-UNDP ............................................................. 53 · Proposals for the IPU and parliaments to celebrate the International Day of Democracy, 15 September ....................................................................................................... 57 · Rules and practices of the Advisory Group on HIV/AIDS and concept note on field visits by the Advisory Group ............................................................................. 59 · Parliamentary message to UNCTAD XII .................................................................... 60 Future meetings · Future meetings and other activities ......................................................................... 62 · Agenda of the 119th Assembly ................................................................................. 64 · Subject items for the 120th Assembly ........................................................................ 65 · List of international organizations and other bodies invited to follow the work of the 119th Assembly as observers .............................................................................. 66 Resolutions concerning the human rights of parliamentarians · Ms. Malalai Joya, of Afghanistan .............................................................................. 68 · Mr. Shah Ams Kibria, of Bangladesh ......................................................................... 69 · Sheikh Hasina, of Bangladesh .................................................................................. 71 · Mr. Victor Gonchar, of Belarus ................................................................................ 73 · Mr. S. Mfayokurera, Mr. I. Ndikumana, Mr. G. Gahungu, Ms. L. Ntamutumba, Mr. P. Sirahenda and Mr. G. Gisabwamana, of Burundi ............................................... 74 · Mr. Norbert Ndihokubwayo, of Burundi ................................................................... 75 · Mr. Pedro Nel Jiménez Obando, Mr. Leonardo Posada Pedraza, Mr. Octavio Vargas Cuéllar, Mr. Pedro Luis Valencia Giraldo, Mr. Bernardo