PAM – A Gemstone emanating from the IPU – President Saber Chowdhury

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MEDIA INFORMATION: 43/2015
ISSUED ON: 23/10/2015

A high level delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), made up of Honorary President, Sen. Francesco Amoruso (Head of the Italian delegation), Hon. Bilal Kasem (Vice President of the 3rd Standing Committee, Palestine), and the PAM Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Vienna, Amb. Peter Schatzer, participated at the 133rd IPU Assembly, held in Geneva, on 17-21 October 2015.

During the Panel discussion on Parliamentary action in meeting international commitments to counter terrorism”, Sen. Amoruso gave a brief overview of PAMs initiatives, at the legislative regional level, and the latest joint activities undertaken in collaboration with the UN Security Council CTED and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – UNODC.

PAM Honorary President referred to the Regional Workshop on the Challenges posed by a preventative criminal justice response to terrorism and Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs)”, recently jointly organised by PAM and UNODC, together with the European Union (EU), and in consultation with the United Nations Security Councils Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED). The workshop, hosted by the Chamber of Deputies of Romania, in Bucharest on 8-9 October 2015, was particularly addressed to PAM Parliamentarians of the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region, the Balkans and Southern Europe. This was the third in a series of joint meetings, held previously in Malta and Rome, for members of the judiciary, officials responsible for national security and parliamentarians. Also the the UNODC Executive Director, Under-Secretary General, Mr. Yuri Fedotov, underlined this fruitful cooperation, in his opening address to the Panel.

Sen. Amoruso also announced that, on the occasion of the 70th General Assembly of the United Nations, last September, PAM was requested to host, in 2016, a joint UN/PAM conference for the evaluation of how national parliaments of the Euro-Mediterranean region have transposed in their respective legislation Security Council Resolutions 2170, 2178 and 2199, all adopted under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. This represents a clear recognition and practical contribution of parliamentary diplomacy in international cooperation in the global fight against terrorism”, Sen. Amoruso underlined.

In his concluding remarks, PAM Honorary President referred to consultations with Amb. Mokhtar Omar of the IPU, on the occasion of the joint UNODC/PAM workshop for the Maghreb Parliamentarians, held in Rome last February. Sen. Amoruso reiterated that PAM is sharing with IPU all its experience on counter terrorism, and is available to organise together, and under the auspices of the IPU, joint activities, in order to further reinforce international and regional parliamentary mechanisms for an effective strategy to fight, at its roots, the terrorism phenomenon. Finally, Sen. Amoruso also thanked IPU President, Mr. Saber Chowdhury, for his precious comments on the stature reached by PAM and its origins.

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