UN forges closer ties with parliamentarians

NEW YORK, July 29, 2016 - A new United Nations General Assembly resolution recognizes the important role of parliamentarians and good governance in achieving the overall 2030 Development Agenda and in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The resolution on Interaction between the United Nations, national parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) adopted this week by almost 80 countries in New York includes explicit references to the role of parliamentarians in combating climate change impacts, reducing disaster risk and building sustainable development.

It recognizes in particular the work of the IPU in mobilizing parliamentary action towards the implementation of the 2030 Development Agenda and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction adopted in March 2015 as a global plan to reduce disaster risk and disaster losses.

Welcoming the resolution, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Robert Glasser, said today: “The IPU is a valued partner of UNISDR and parliamentarians have a crucial role to play in improving disaster risk governance by ensuring that the priorities for action in the Sendai Framework are enacted in appropriate legal frameworks for disaster risk management.

“Parliamentarians are on the front line of disaster events in their constituencies and see for themselves the tragic outcomes that ensue when there are shortcomings in land use and urban planning, building codes, environmental protection and health and safety standards. Their support is essential to achieving the 2030 Development Agenda and the implementation of key agreements such as the Sendai Framework and the Paris Agreement on climate.”

Meeting under the chairmanship of the President of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Mogens Lykketoft of Denmark, the General Assembly examined a comprehensive Report of the UN Secretary-General which attests to the breadth and scope of cooperation between the UN, parliaments and the IPU in a wide array of areas ranging from peace and security, to democracy and human rights, to climate change and sustainable development.

In his statement before the UN General Assembly, IPU President Mr. Saber Chowdhury who is also a UNISDR Champion, said that through this resolution the UN General Assembly “recognizes the key role of parliaments and of IPU in helping build political will to tackle the world’s many challenges. I am confident that it will provide a valuable framework for taking our strategic partnership even further, for the good of our global community”.

Mr. Chowdhury noted: “2015 brought major international agreements in a number of key areas, including on the new Sustainable Development Goals, disaster risk reduction and climate change. The IPU has been working to engage the global parliamentary community, helping to mobilize parliamentary action in shaping and following up on these major international commitments.”

He added: “This year we have been encouraging parliaments to examine and adopt their own resolutions on the SDGs, and I am confident that the resolution will provide a valuable framework for taking our strategic partnership even further, for the good of our global community.”

The Sendai Framework adopted in March, 2015, in Sendai, Japan, at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction recognizes the necessity of continuing support and advocacy for disaster risk reduction from the IPU and parliamentarians.