ISLAMABAD - Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani yesterday chaired the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) General Assembly session in Geneva, Switzerland on an emergency debate item, the Senate Secretariat said.
A statement issued by the Senate Secretariat stated that the debate item was "The role of IPU Parliaments, Parliamentarians and international and regional organisations in providing protection and urgent support to those who have become refugees through war, internal conflict and socio-economic situations, according to the principles of international humanitarian law and international conventions". "Mian Raza Rabbani was selected as the President of the Assembly for the session in recognition and acknowledgment of his effective role and contribution, as member IPU Executive Committee for over two years, in the overall scope of the IPU," the statement said.
It is the first time that a Presiding Officer from Pakistan Parliament has been given the opportunity to be the President of the assembly at the largest Parliamentary forum in the world.
The IPU, having 166 member Parliaments, is convening its 133rd General Assembly session in Geneva. The theme of the Assembly this year is "The moral and economic impetrative for fairer, smarter and more humane migration".
The IPU Assembly, in Geneva, is being represented by 135 Parliaments with 41 Speakers, 35 Deputy Speakers and over 800 Parliamentarians attending the event besides observers from regional and international organisations.
A 14-member delegation, including seven MNAs, four Senators and Secretaries of the Senate and National Assembly are representing Pakistan at the IPU Assembly.