International Day of Parliamentarism - 30 June is being marked today, which aims to highlight the role of parliaments in the world, as a necessary cornerstone of democracy.
This date was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly in a resolution adopted on 22 May as it coincides with the day in 1889 when the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was founded.
The IPU was founded 131 years ago as the first political multilateral organization in the world, encouraging cooperation and dialogue between all nations. The IPU is the global organization of national parliaments 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. To this end, this international organisation encourages contacts, coordination and exchange of experiences among parliaments and parliamentarians from all countries, examines issues of international importance and expresses its views on these issues so that parliaments and parliamentarians can exercise their role, contributes to the defence and promotion of human rights - as an essential factor of parliamentary democracy and development, contributes to a better knowledge of the work of representative institutions, as well as to the strengthening and development of their means of action. The Parliament of Montenegro became a full member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 2006.
On 30 June 2020, the IPU and the parliamentary community will celebrate the third edition of International Day of Parliamentarism and the anniversary of the foundation of the IPU.
Under the umbrella slogan of "130 years of empowering parliamentarians", the IPU and its Members have celebrated the milestone throughout the past year in a number of different ways around the world.
Also, the date of 30 June 2020 will mark the official end of the IPU's 130th anniversary. The day will be an opportunity for the IPU and its Member Parliaments to reinforce the message that the world needs its parliaments more than ever before - to put in the place the legislation and the budgets to respond to the health and economic crisis, to protect vulnerable people, to scrutinize government action and to help build back better after the COVID-19 pandemic.
