Cape Town – The 118th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, which opens next month, will see national Parliaments from around the world gather in Cape Town to address issues of global concern such as poverty.

Between 13 and 18 April, 140 national parliaments worldwide with a minimum of 10 delegations per country will meet under the theme “Pushing back the frontiers of poverty”.

The IPU theme is further enhanced by Parliament’s 2008 theme of “Empowering communities for poverty eradication”.

Both themes are in line with the advancement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), specifically the goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by the year 2015.

Other topics to be discussed in the assembly touch on the political, economic and social challenges that blight global communities worldwide, the plight of migrant workers, human trafficking, xenophobia and human rights.

The IPU is a world organisation of Parliaments that work for peace and cooperation with focus on worldwide dialogue.

It supports the efforts of the United Nations whose objectives it shares and works in close cooperation with it.

It also cooperates with regional inter-parliamentary organisations as well as with international intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations which are motivated by the same ideals.

The IPU seeks to strengthen parliaments as crucial pillars of democracy, focusing on future co-operation on a number of key areas including national budget processes, action by parliaments in advancing the MDGs and in the implementation of among others, poverty eradication strategies.

The union fosters contacts, co-ordination, and the exchange of experience among parliaments and parliamentarians of all countries.

It also considers questions of international interest and concern and expresses its views on such issues in order to bring about action by parliaments and parliamentarians.

The IPU contributes to the defence and promotion of human rights, an essential factor of parliamentary democracy and development and contributes to better knowledge of the working of representative institutions and to the strengthening and development of their action. – BuaNews