The IPU is the international organization of Parliaments of sovereign States. Created in 1889 on the initiative of two parliamentarians and men of peace, William Randal Cremer (United Kingdom) and Frédéric Passy (France), the Inter-Parliamentary Union was the first permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations. The Union is the focal point for world-wide parliamentary dialogue and works for peace and co-operation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy.
IPU fosters contacts, co-ordination, and the exchange of experience among parliaments and parliamentarians of all countries. The organization considers questions of international interest and concern and expresses its views on such issues in order to bring about action by parliaments and parliamentarians. IPU contributes to the defence and promotion of human rights - an essential factor of parliamentary democracy and development and it contributes to better knowledge of the working of representative institutions and to the strengthening and development of their means of action. The IPU supports the efforts of the United Nations, whose objectives it shares, and works in close cooperation with it. The Union also co-operates with regional inter-parliamentary organizations, as well as with international intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations which are motivated by the same ideals. The IPU is financed primarily by its members out of public funds.
The 120th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and its related meetings will be held at the Conference Centre of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from Sunday, 5 to Friday, 10 April 2009. The Inaugural Ceremony will take place at 7.30 p.m. on Sunday, 5 April 2009, in the Millennium Hall situated near Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa in the presence of the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, His Excellency Girma Woldeghiorgis. On the assembly agenda is the election of the President and Vice-Presidents of the 120th Assembly, general debate on the political, economic and social situation in the world with the overall theme of parliaments: Building Peace, Democracy and Development in times of crisis, debate on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, climate change and freedom of expression among other things. You can read more about IPU and the 120th Assembly in Addis Ababa by following the links to the right.