On April 6, 2019, the Inter-Parliamentary Union launched the activities of its annual General Assembly conference, which is hosted by the Qatari capital, Doha, and whose activities continue until the 10th of the same month, under the slogan “Education for Peace and Combating Terrorism.” Over the course of five days, Doha witnessed about two hundred bilateral parliamentary meetings to encourage greater regional and international cooperation and understanding, and to discuss ways that parliaments can provide to enhance gender equality and investment in the field of renewable energy, innovation and trade. The conference was opened by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in the presence of delegations from more than 160 countries, led by eighty Speakers of Parliament, forty Vice-Presidents, and more than eight hundred parliamentarians, including 30% of women and 19% of young members of Parliament under the age of 45 years. The 140th session witnesses the accession of the State of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the Union, which is making great strides in achieving global membership, reaching 179 countries affiliated with the Union. The meetings will also be attended by a number of small developing countries that have not yet become members of the Union. The issue of human rights emerged strongly during the meetings, as the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Union on Democracy and Human Rights considered the main role played by parliaments in allocating resources and legislation to ensure comprehensive health coverage by 2030, in addition to the role of parliaments in securing the right to health and following up on previous Union decisions in this regard. The Human Rights Committee also discussed following up on the implementation of previous General Assembly resolutions on “democracy in the era of electronic digitization, the use of media to engage citizens and freedom of expression,” and examined the cases of 183 persecuted representatives in dozens of countries. During a panel discussion in the General Assembly, parliamentarians evaluated policies to reduce poverty by mobilizing more investments in renewable energies in order to eliminate the need for more than a billion people who still live without electricity, in addition to the use of nearly three billion people for primitive means in the field of fuel, which leads to devastating environmental effects. It is noteworthy that the Inter-Parliamentary Union was established in 1889 by Frederic Bass (France) and William Randall Cramer (Britain), and is the international organization of parliaments of sovereign states and national parliaments in 178 countries.
180 international delegations at the 140th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Qatar
