Geneva, 15 March 2004
Press release N°184

Strengthening parliament as a guardian of human rights: the role of
parliamentary human rights bodies

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is holding the first ever
international
seminar of parliamentary human rights bodies, entitled "Strengthening
parliament as a guardian of human rights : the role of parliamentary
human
rights bodies", at the Palais Wilson in Geneva (Ground floor conference
room), from 15 to 17 March 2004. During the seminar, which will be
opened by
Mr. Bertrand Ramcharam, United Nations Acting High Commissioner for
Human
Rights, and by Mrs. Odile Sorgho-Moulinier, Director, United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), more than 150 MPs from 54 countries will
discuss how  parliamentary human rights committees can contribute to
strengthening and implementing human rights at the national level.
Various
experts will be attending.  (Journalists are invited to meet the
participants during a reception at The House of Parliaments, on Tuesday
16
March, at 7.30 p.m. Please confirm your presence).

Parliaments have an essential role to play in promoting and protecting
human
rights. The way in which human rights are integrated into daily
parliamentary work has a strong influence on the extent to which
parliaments
live up to their role as guardians of human rights. "The existence
within
parliaments of bodies with an explicit and permanent mandate to address
human rights questions is an effective means of ensuring that these
issues
permeate all parliamentary activity on a continuing basis", said the IPU
Secretary General, Anders B. Johnsson.

The Seminar is organised by the IPU and UNDP with the support of the
Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

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Geneva, 16 March 2004
Press release N°185

Inauguration of the Frédéric Passy Centre
to commemorate the First Nobel Peace Prize Laureate


On Wednesday, 17th March at 12 noon, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
will inaugurate the Frédéric Passy Archive Centre, in honour of the
French
parliamentarian and pacifist who was one of the two co-founders of the
IPU
and first Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 1901, along with the founder of
the
International Red Cross, Henry Dunant of Switzerland.  The inauguration
will
take place in the presence of the Executive President of the French IPU
Group, Senator Robert Del Picchia, and the Ambassador of France to the
international organisations in Geneva, Mr. Bernard Kessedjian.
The Frédéric Passy Archive Centre, an annex of the House of Parliaments,
was
restored with the support of the French Parliament, which donated
150,000
Euros for the renovation of the building.
In Paix1901-1925 - Conférence des Prix Nobel, Frédéric W. Haberman
recounts
that Frédéric Passy was born in Paris on 20 May 1822, where he lived
until
his death, at the age of 90, on 12 June 1912.  After training as a
lawyer,
at the age of 22 Passy became an accountant at the State Council, which
he
left after three years in order to study economics.  He became a
convinced
supporter of free trade, which - he believed -  could unite nations in
joint
endeavours, bring about disarmament and put an end to war.  In 1877 he
was
elected to the Academy of Ethics and Political Science, a branch of the
Institut de France.
In 1867, building on his campaign to prevent war between France and
Prussia
over the question of Luxembourg, he founded the "International and
Permanent
League for Peace".  When this League was swept away by the
Franco-Prussian
war (1870-71), he reorganised it under the title of "French Society of
Friends of Peace" which in turn lead to the birth in 1889 of the "French
Society for Arbitration among Nations",.
Passy was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1881, re-elected in 1885
and
defeated in 1889.  In the Chamber, he passed a number of labour laws, in
particular a law on accidents at work, opposed the government's colonial
policy, drew up a project for disarmament and tabled a motion advocating
arbitration in international conflicts.
"His parliamentary work to promote arbitration was boosted by the
success of
Randal Cremer who sponsored a motion in the British Parliament
stipulating
that England and the United States of America should resort to
arbitration
in any conflict between them that could not be settled through normal
diplomatic channels", writes Haberman.  In 1888, Cremer led a delegation
of
nine British MPs which met a delegation of 24 French MPs in Paris,
headed by
Passy, to discuss arbitration and the lay the foundations of an
organisation
devoted to promoting acceptance of the idea.  The following year, 56
French
MPs, 28 British MPs and representatives of the Parliaments of Italy,
Spain,
Denmark, Hungary, Belgium and the United States founded the
Inter-Parliamentary Union, with a three-member presidency that included
Passy.  The Union then set up a bureau to act as a centre for
intellectual
debate and promoted the formation of national parliamentary groups
seeking
to enact laws in favour of peace, particularly through arbitration.
Frédéric Passy published his book Pour la paix (1909) at the age of 87.



Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, the IPU, the
oldest
political multilateral organisation, currently has 138 affiliated
national
parliaments and five associated regional assemblies. The organisation of
the
world's parliaments also has an office as Permanent Observer with the
United
Nations in New York.

Contact for additional information or interviews:
Mrs Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer. The House of Parliaments. 5,
chemin du Pommier, P.O. Box 330, CH-1218 Le Grand-Saconnex/Geneva. Phone
(+41.22) 919.41.16/27, fax (+41.22) 919.41.60, e-mail lb@mail.ipu.org or
cbl@mail.ipu.org


VISIT THE IPU WEB SITE WWW.IPU.ORG