Hanoi,  March 2015
 
Women parliamentarians from across the world are calling upon all MPs to use their individual and collective power to make gender equality a reality for all women and girls.
 
Marking the 30th anniversary of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s (IPU) Meeting of Women Parliamentarians, the women MPs are underscoring the enormous potential for change that MPs hold as legislators, representatives and overseers of government.
 

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will be carrying out human rights missions to the Maldives, Malaysia and Mongolia in the coming months in a series of decisions adopted on the closing day of its 132nd Assembly in Hanoi.  The Organization is deeply concerned by the serious and repeated death threats allegedly made against opposition MPs in the Maldives since last year, as well as the increasing political polarization and heightened tensions in the country since the arrest, trial and conviction of former President Mohamed Nasheed earlier this year.
 

The Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia, Rt. Hon, Justice Dr. Patrick Matibini, SC, MP, has officially announced that Zambia will host the 134^th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly on 18^th to 23^rd March, 2016.

He made this announcement during a press briefing at the Media Center, Parliament Building in Lusaka today.

The Speaker said the event will be an opportunity to show the world what Zambia has to offer in terms of tourism and also products manufactured in Zambia.

“There is need for close collaboration between the Office of the Speaker and the Whips of the House”, says the Speaker of the National Assembly, Rt. Hon. Justice Patrick Matibini, SC, MP.
He stated that the interface between the Office of the Speaker and the House was through the Whips, who ensure party discipline, thereby being pillars when the House is  facing challenges in  maintaining order in the House.