Anda Filip: the parliamentary dimension of global governance

0:00 Music. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to The Next Page, the podcast of the Library & Archives here at Geneva, talking about all things multilateral. Today, we have a special guest, Ambassador Anda Filip, and we're going to be talking about the IPU and the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament.

0:35 Ambassador Anda Filip is Director for Member Parliaments and External Relations at the Interparliamentary Union, the IPU. Prior to this, Ambassador Filip served as a diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, including as a spokesperson of the foreign ministry, Minister Counsellor at the Embassy of Romania in Washington, D.C., and Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations Office and other international organizations based in Geneva.

1:05 So welcome, Anda Filip. It is an honor to have you with us. And you have had such a remarkable career, from your diplomatic service for Romania to your leadership now at IPU. Please would you introduce yourself a little bit more to our audience and tell us what initially drew you to international parliamentary work and how has your background as a diplomat influenced your approach at the IPU?

1:32 Thank you very much, Amy. I'm really delighted to be here today and to have this opportunity to talk about the work of the IPU and our forthcoming World Conference of Speakers of Parliament. You've already given a glowing account of my background. I am originally a philologist. I studied international relations.

1:53 I was very lucky to have been at the right place at the right time because I finished my studies right after the major changes that swept across Eastern Europe in 1989. So when I joined the Foreign Service, it was precisely to help reconnect the country to the European institutions and to the rest of the world after several decades of isolation and authoritarian regime.

2:21 And it's very interesting to note that as Romania was rejoining the community of free and democratic nations, one of the first major international events that it hosted in Bucharest was the 94th IPU General Assembly that took place in Bucharest in 1995, and which had a focus on parliamentary diplomacy.

2:47 So that was my first exposure to the IPU. And then I got to know the organization better when I came to Geneva as permanent representative. And it was a time when the IPU was looking to develop a more structured relationship with the United Nations. And it was only in 2022, after many years of having consultative status with ECOSOC, that the General Assembly granted permanent observer status to the IPU.

3:18 So I was basically the first permanent observer that went to New York in 2003 of the IPU to the United Nations. And I think my background, both as a diplomat as well as my experience with the UN was helpful at the time because it allowed me to communicate with the Permanent Representatives there, the benefits of this relationship between the UN parliaments and the IPU, on the one hand, to help bridge the implementation gap of UN agreements and other international commitments, and to make sure that the MPs were aware of all of these instruments and that they were well-placed and involved in turning these international commitments into national realities. Very interesting.

4:12 And in your view, what is the most powerful aspect of parliamentary diplomacy? There are different aspects here, and maybe if I can just backtrack and say a couple of words about the evolving nature of this relationship with the United Nations, because the IPU has been around for a long time. It was first established in 1889 by a group of parliamentarians involved in the peace movement at the end of the 19th century, and who believed in political dialogue and mediation as a way to overcome issues.

4:51 And those parliamentarians in the very early days, they actually played a critical role in laying the foundation for an international mechanism of conflict resolution. They contributed directly to the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 1899, and then later on to the establishment of the League of Nations.

5:18 And over time, the IPU, it evolved from an ad hoc group of individual MPs into an organization of national parliaments. But it was only in 1996 that it first established a cooperation agreement with the United Nations. And a major turning point, I would also say, is the year 2000, the Millennium Summit.

5:45 And here, I think we need to pay tribute to the vision and the leadership of Kofi Annan, but also of Theo-Ben Gurirab. He was then the Foreign Minister of Namibia, President of the General Assembly, organizing the Millennium Summit. He went on to become Speaker of Parliament and many years later, president of the IPU.

6:08 So that's a very nice story about a natural evolution. And it was then in 2000, in late August, on the eve of the UN Millennium Summit, that all the Speakers of Parliament from around the world convened in New York at the General Assembly Hall, and they set forth their parliamentary vision for international cooperation at the dawn of a new millennium.

6:35 They also had conversations, of course, with their ambassadors in New York, and as a result of this, for the first time, the UN Millennium Declaration, in its chapter on strengthening of the United Nations, has a reference whereby Heads of state and government acknowledge the importance of systematic engagement between the UN system and national parliaments through the IPU as their world organization.

7:06 And we always say the parliaments are not there or the parliamentarians are not there to play the role of negotiators. There is a very clear distribution of roles, but it is important for them to be aware and involved and part of the conversation. And very often, we do see how they can bring some added value, because the MPs, they are not bound by formal mandates or instructions from the capital, and they have a bit more flexibility to engage with MPs from other countries, to think out of the box, to have initiatives, and to try to find new solutions.

7:52 We know from history that very often it takes just one person to bring about a world of difference. And I have one story that's important to the IPU, an expression of parliamentary diplomacy in action. And that's the case of a Belgian senator. His name is Philippe Mahoux, by training a medical doctor who traveled to Africa and he saw firsthand the devastation brought about by cluster munitions.

8:26 On children and local communities. He went back to Belgium, he was a senator, and he put in place legislation to ban the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions by Belgium. This was 2006. Belgium was the first country in the world to pass such national legislation. And this gave impetus to the international movement and the UN process that led to the signing of the UN Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008 that later entered into force in 2010.

9:07 And maybe as another expression of parliamentary diplomacy, to this day, the IPU is one of the very few platforms in the world where we have MPs from Israel and Palestine sitting together every six months. These are tough conversations. They try to find some common ground. They talk about science and technology, development, water management, gender equality.

9:37 But it does create an ongoing platform for dialogue and at the right time, hopefully, good solutions. We have a task force on Ukraine, which engages with the parliamentary leadership from both Russia and Ukraine on nuclear security, on the situation of displaced Ukrainian children. The two delegations are not ready yet to sit down directly together, but the task force does facilitate this indirect exchange of messages and communication.

10:12 And maybe one last example, a very recent one that I can give you, from a few months ago, where at the invitation of the IPU, at our headquarters here in Geneva, in Grand Sacconex, the IPU Secretary General welcomed the speakers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. It was their first face-to-face meeting. After the Secretary General introduced them and set the stage, He left the room and the two speakers had a one-on-one exchange that went on for over an hour.

10:47 The two flags were flying side by side in front of IPU headquarters, and they issued for the first time a joint declaration. So that's a little bit the type of parliamentary diplomacy that can add value to the traditional diplomacy intergovernmental that we see at the UN. Certainly, you've illustrated that so well.

11:10 And you've really brought out also the long history of IPU and the importance of the work and also the synergies with the UN in both ways. Really wonderful. This year, in June, we're going to be marking the International Day of Women in Diplomacy. So we're also keen to hear about women in national parliaments.

11:36 And the IPU has a long history of collecting data and championing women's participation. But despite a lot of progress, women still only make up about 27% of parliamentarians globally, and only a handful of countries have achieved gender parity. So, in your opinion, what are you seeing as the main barriers to women's full participation in parliamentary processes?

12:03 That's right. This year, we are also marking the 30th anniversary. Of the Beijing Platform for Action, and it's a very important milestone. We have to acknowledge that there has been some progress. Back in 1995, there were only 11.3% women in parliaments. Today, we're at 27.2%. That is some progress, but this has been way too slow.

12:31 And very worryingly in recent years we have seen a stagnation in progress when it comes to women's political participation. And we believe that there are several barriers in the way of political empowerment of women. One are the social and cultural norms that continue to define leadership in masculine terms, and it's very difficult to change mindsets and social and cultural norms. We are trying.

13:03 We have various partners. We work with UN women. With United Cities and local governments, International Idea, the European Commission, to try to identify these barriers and to see what is the best way to address and to overcome them. Another big problem is violence against women in politics, which is extremely widespread and entrenched in the political process.

13:32 In recent years, we have conducted surveys and we've put together some reports on violence against women in parliaments in different regions. A first report on violence against women in parliaments in Europe 2018, in Africa 2021, and just a few months ago we issued the third report on violence against women in the Asia-Pacific region.

14:00 And the findings and the figures are staggering. Out of the women that were surveyed, the women parliamentarians and parliamentary staff, 80% of them said that they had experienced some form of violence at least once in their career. 80%. And of course, this violence takes on different forms. And with the advent of social media, of course, online bullying and harassment can be devastating for entire families.

14:34 And that's why we've also seen some prominent women choosing to withdraw from public life because of this. And then a third barrier comes at the institutional level, whether it's political parties and even parliaments and governments. And that is why at the IPU for over 10 years now, we have really been working to implement gender-sensitive institutions, working with our parliaments, developing self-assessment toolkits, accompanying processes, and trying also to lead by example.

15:13 Because I need to say, at the IPU, we have a very strong women's movement, the Forum of Women's Parliamentarians. They have really been influencing the agenda, setting the agenda, bringing amendments to the IPU statutes and rules. So to an extent to which today, whether it concerns the composition of delegations, whether it concerns speaking rights or voting rights, those delegations that do not meet these requirements of gender equality, they suffer sanctions.

15:50 And if you look at an average IPU assembly that we organize in the course of the year, 37%, of the participants, of the participating MPs, are women. So this is something that we'd like to see a lot more of at the level of all the national parliaments across the world. Interesting. Yes. Could you perhaps highlight an initiative or a success story that you find very inspiring?

16:20 Yes, of course. More recently, maybe I would refer as a success story to the situation of Mexico. Last year, Mexico elected for the first time ever a woman president, but it was also for the first time in its history that it reached gender parity 50-50 in both houses of the Mexican parliament. And of course, this did not happen overnight.

16:48 It took many years to bring about a change of approach, a change in mentality, a change in legislation. New electoral rules that needed to govern the functioning of the political parties, and yes, measures of affirmative action, including quotas, to allow this greater participation by women, but also other under- represented groups such as persons with disability.

17:21 Indigenous persons, and LGBT people as well. So we think Mexico today is one of the leading examples when it comes to the political empowerment of women in the world. And maybe another example from a very different part of the world, I would refer to the Gulf states. And it was the United Arab Emirates in 2019 that was the first country in the entire Arab world to elect a woman Speaker of Parliament.

17:54 And then a few years later, they instituted gender parity in the composition of their parliament, which holds true until today. And it has been a transformative measure, not just for the country, the UAE, but also for the region, because I think it has inspired similar action in other countries. And in the years that followed, we've seen Oman, Bahrain electing women speakers of parliament, and also countries like Saudi Arabia, that a few years ago maybe women did not have the right to vote or to run for office.

18:35 Now 20% of the Shura Council of Saudi Arabia is represented by women. These are wonderful examples and very, very inspiring indeed. How do you find that women parliamentarians support each other, you know, also across political divides and especially in very challenging environments? I think this solidarity is indeed very, very important, and we see it every day at the IPU.

19:04 I mentioned earlier the Forum of Women Parliamentarians that was established 40 years ago, and which has really helped to transform the organization into a gender-sensitive institution. And we see that when they come together, they are a force to be reckoned with. And it's not just about women talking among themselves.

19:28 It's also important to engage the men in this conversation. So we also have a gender partnership group, whereby we are thrilled to see male champions for gender equality in parliaments. And that is really very, very important. At the national level as well, we are seeing how women's parliamentary caucuses can help bring women together across party lines, can give them a shared sense of purpose and direction.

20:03 And in many parliaments, they have been able to initiate legislation and to bring about change, for example, to combat violence against women, but also in other related areas. So this is work that we are trying to support as best we can. That's wonderful work. So Ambassador Filip, is there anything more you'd like to add to this conversation about the work of the IPU or your ideas about how the work can go forward?

20:33 I believe what we are really trying to do is to better connect decision-making at the global level with the specialized work done by parliaments in their specialized committees. To give you one example, we are here in Geneva. We have the Human Rights Council with its Universal Periodic Review, whereby all the Member States need to report on how they have been delivering on their human rights commitments.

21:04 What we do every year is we alert those parliaments of the countries under review. We explain the UN process to them. We encourage them to reach out to their foreign ministry to request a copy of the national report, which in some cases is not automatically transmitted to the parliament. The parliaments have a.

21:32 A lot of the recommendations from the UN, in one way or another, have a legislative component. We are seeing more and more MPs that are included on the national delegations coming to Geneva for their national review. In a couple of cases, we've had the chair of the Human Rights Committee in Parliament leading a national delegation composed of representatives from all the specialized governmental agencies, Ministry of the Interior, Justice, Gender Equality, Child Rights, Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice.

22:14 And they are part of this discussion at the United Nations about their country's implementation of their human rights committees. And when they go back home, they are much better informed and empowered to follow up on the recommendations that come to the UN. And in our annual Impact Report, we have documented some of the positive change that parliaments have contributed to as a result of this engagement.

22:47 Of course, today we're really focusing on the Sixth World Conference of Speakers, but just prior to this, you will be holding the 15th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament. Would you like to tell us more about the aims of that event? Yes, indeed. The 15th Summit of Women Speakers this July, next month, comes at a pivotal moment, I would say, to reassert women's leadership as a pillar for effective and inclusive governance.

23:20 It's not just about making sure that women are represented, but they are actually front and center in shaping global responses. And as we have seen with the previous summits, it's a very important opportunity for women to come together. This is a very select group. There are only 61 women speakers in the world out of a total of over, you know, 260 speakers because several parliaments have two houses of parliament.

23:55 The summit, I should say, is hosted by Speaker Maja Riniker of Switzerland. She's the president of the National Council in Bern, and she is a young, dynamic, very talented. Leader in her own right. So for these women leaders, it's an important space for them to exchange, to build a community, to talk about their successes, and to strategize about what they need to be doing going forward.

24:27 And the Summit of Women Speakers will look into the way that parliaments can deliver on gender equality. This includes looking at progress made in areas such as women in peace and security. But also a strong focus will be on building resilience, inclusive leadership, as I said, innovation in how parliaments operate from digital transformation to citizen engagement, again, with gender equality leading the way.

25:01 Importantly, the Women's Summit will inform the World Conference of Speakers, because it will be very important that the final outcome of the conference encapsulates the recommendations and the findings from the Women's Summit. And I would also say that at this particular point in time, when we are witnessing worldwide a worrying pushback on women's rights, the Summit provides a chance to set a clear tone of resistance to this trend and renewal following the conference of women parliamentarians that we held in Mexico just a few months ago in March.

25:46 And we very much believe that gender equality must be seen as a precondition for democratic resilience, for sustainable development, and it's not an optional goal. Absolutely. Resistance and renewal. Strong words. Yes. So finally, the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament. What are the main themes and objectives of this conference?

26:16 And why is it such a significant event for the global parliamentary community? The Six World Conference of Speakers of Parliament will take place in late July here at the newly renovated Palais des Nations. It has as its overarching theme that of a world in turmoil, parliamentary cooperation, and multilateralism for peace, justice, and prosperity.

26:44 The preparatory committee has identified several areas of focus. This includes women's and youth participation in parliaments in a time of polarization and adversity. It includes the theme of innovating for a peaceful future, crafting new solutions for a turbulent world. And this topic actually builds on IPU's recent landmark resolution on new approaches to peacebuilding, with a greater focus on human security and common security.

27:23 Another theme for the speakers' conference will be, of course, achieving the SDGs by the target date of 2030. 30? What do we need to do to get there? And how do we mobilize the political will and the resources to make this happen? A fourth theme, what role for parliaments in shaping our digital future?

27:47 And here we believe it's very important that parliaments be proactive and not just respond to developments that we see taking place all around us. We're encouraged by some of the early work done by our Center for Innovation in Parliament, and we are identifying some very good situations and practices in different parliaments around the world of how science technology is being an innovation and artificial intelligence are being harnessed for the greater good.

28:25 And then the final theme, which is very close to the core mission of the IPU, is that of promoting and protecting the rights of persons in vulnerable situations. And, more specifically, how we develop comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. So these will be the main themes that their findings will find their way into the outcome document.

28:52 For the first time in this series of world conferences that we do every five years, in cooperation with the United Nations, we will be having an interactive debate with major stakeholders, taking our cue from the United Nations, because we will be talking about a more networked global governance for more effective multilateralism.

29:17 So why this conference is important, we believe it's a rare opportunity to bring the speakers of parliament to the United Nations. Of course, the speakers, they're not just political leaders. They play a key role in legislation. They represent their peoples. They allocate the budgets. And they exercise oversight of governmental action, both at national and international levels.

29:47 And at this time, in light of the severe crisis of multilateralism, and I dare say at the United Nations as well, it's an opportunity to galvanize political support for the rules-based international system with the UN at its core. It's an opportunity to build political will so as to bring about change and transformative reform.

30:16 It cannot be business as usual. It needs to be real reform. We know that for decades there have been discussions about reform of the UN Security Council, bridging the democracy gap in other mechanisms. We have at the IP our own standing committee on UN affairs that adopts motions and submits recommendations for the consideration of the UN member states.

30:44 So we believe this reform is really important and it can be done. And again, it's an opportunity to connect the speakers with their representatives, with their ambassadors here in Geneva to have some serious discussions, which maybe they don't always have the chance to carry out in their respective capitals.

31:08 And all of this hopefully will lead to a strong outcome document. A high-level declaration that for us will serve as a roadmap for a work ahead, both at IPU, but also collectively in terms of our cooperation with the member parliaments, but also with our partners and in particular the United Nations.

31:31 It's a very rich and meaningful agenda and meeting to be at. And if I understand rightly, registrations are still open. So who's likely to be attending and who should still register to attend? We are expecting the participation of speakers of parliament from basically all over the world. We are still in the process of receiving registrations. Perhaps 150 speakers would be attending, we anticipate, the speakers' conference.

32:05 We're also, in terms of the panels, We're trying to make them as interactive as possible. So we are reaching out to the heads of the UN agencies here in the Geneva community. So we are expecting this to be a very well-attended and a very meaningful event. And yes, registration is still open. As it happens on Thursday, we have a briefing session with our members to respond to some of the questions about the process in the weeks going forward, including the negotiation of the outcome document.

32:39 And we will put the information also in the notes here. So, Ambassador Filip, thank you so much for joining us today and for telling us so much about IPU. It has been my pleasure. Thank you so much.