Initiative on Strengthening the Role of Parliaments
in Crisis Prevention and Recovery

Brussels Donors Conference (19-21 April 2006)

On 19-21 April, UNDP and the Government and Chamber of Representatives of Belgium, in association with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, convened the International Conference on Parliaments, Crisis Prevention and Recovery.

The conference’s core objectives were to: (i) share experiences on parliaments’ roles in conflict and post-conflict situations, including conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding; (ii) challenge participants to rethink traditional conflict prevention and peacebuilding strategies with a view to augmenting the international community’s direct support for parliaments and parliamentary work during and after conflict/crisis; and (iii) secure support for a set of Guidelines for supporting parliaments’ roles in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding. 

Over 100 representatives of donor agencies engaged in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, democratic governance practitioners, and parliamentarians attended the conference.  Participants were highly receptive of the call for increased support to parliaments in post-conflict situations, and lauded the UNDP Guidelines. 

UNDP Associate Administrator Ad Melkert addressed the conference on 21 April, declaring, “We need to realign our peacebuilding strategies to ensure that democratically elected, representative bodies have a meaningful say in their nations’ recovery, reconstruction and socio-economic development… This means bolstering our collective legislative development programmes and ensuring adequate consultation with parliaments in our overall post-conflict programming.”

Presentations and Speeches

Opening Session

• Opening Speech of H.E. Armand De Decker (Minister for Development Cooperation, Government of Belgium)
• Opening Speech of Shoji Nishimoto (United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director, Bureau for Development Policy, United Nations Development Programme)

Introduction

• Introduction to the Conference: Magdy Martinez-Soliman (Executive Head, a.i., United Nations Democracy Fund)
• Keynote Presentation: Andrew Ellis (Head of Programme, Election Processes, International IDEA)

Parliaments, Transitional Justice and Human Rights

• Parliaments’ Roles in Transitional Justice and Reconciliation: Mark Freeman (Senior Programme Officer, International Center for Transition Justice)
• Protecting Human Rights: the Work and Workings of Parliament: Hon. Sabine de Bethune (Senator, Senate of Belgium)
• Parliamentary Responsibility to Address Gender Equality in Peacebuilding: Ilja Luciak (Chair, Dept. of Political Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) | Research Paper

Parliamentary Forums’ Expanding Role in Crisis Prevention and Recovery

• AMANI Great Lakes Parliamentary Forum on Peace: Hon. Juliana Kantengwa (Member of Parliament, Rwanda; Regional Secretary-General, AMANI Great Lakes Parliamentary Forum on Peace; Member, Pan African Parliament).
• Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons: Hon. Daisy Tourné (Member of Parliament, Uruguay; Board Member, Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons)

Reclaiming the Mandate: Post-conflict Parliamentary Development

• Oversight of the Security Sector: Philipp Fluri (Deputy Director, Geneva Center for Democratic Control of Armed Forces)
• Political Party Development: Shari Bryan (Regional Director, Southern and East Africa, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs)

Post-conflict Parliamentary Development – Case Studies

GROUP 1

• Post-Conflict Institutional Support – the Case of Afghanistan: Thusitha Pilapitiya (Project Manager, UNDP Afghanistan)

GROUP 2

• El-Salvador – Post-conflict Parliamentary Development: Hon. Héctor Silva (Member of Parliament, El Salvador)

• Timor-Leste: Post-conflict Oversight of Reconstruction: Marcia Monge (Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP Timor-Leste)

The Way Forward – the Role of the International Community

• Presentation of the UNDP Guidelines: Peter Batchelor (Team Leader, Small Arms & Demobilization Unit, Bureau for Crisis Prevention & Recovery, UNDP)

Reactions and Statements of Commitment to the Guidelines

• Martine Van Dooren (Director-General, Development Cooperation, Government of Belgium)
• Dominique Dellicour (Head, Governance, Human Rights, Democracy and Gender Unit, Europaid, European Commission)

Closing Statements

• Closing Statement by Ad Melkert (UN Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator, UNDP) 

For further information, please contact gpps@undp.org.