CASE No - Inter-Parliamentary Union

- 12 - CL/183/SR.1
provide direct assistance for reconciliation and political dialogue. Dissemination and outreach
activities had been allocated 13 per cent of resources, in order to promote the work of
parliaments, particularly in the context of the United Nations.
The budget contained a gender perspective, since efforts were being made to
mainstream gender. All IPU Committees were therefore being asked to prepare and adopt a
statement on how they intended to address that in their work. Gender programmes had been
allocated five per cent of regular funding and 28 per cent of voluntary funding. The budget also
indicated the gender representation in the secretariat, which showed that parity had not been
achieved at the most senior level, but at all other levels there were more women than men in
the Secretariat.
The budget addressed the Organization’s environmental impact, in line with the
campaign that the IPU had begun in 2007 to promote parliamentary action on climate change.
The Organization’s carbon footprint was created by office heating, secretariat travel and
Members’ travel. A 10 per cent reduction in emissions by 2012 pursuant to the Kyoto Protocol
would be difficult to achieve, since the main source of the Organization’s carbon output was
travel, and the goal of the Organization was to bring together the world’s parliamentarians to
share information and discuss their experiences. The Organization’s carbon footprint could be
reduced in part by increasing teleconferencing, which would reduce the need for staff travel.
The IPU was committed to offsetting its environmental damage financially and to that end had
set aside funds to support parliaments in advocacy on climate change.
The consolidated budget was results-based and therefore contained indicators of
expected outcomes. The expectations included increased membership of the Organization,
new donors, the two statutory Assemblies for dialogue, 10 specialized meetings, 10 national
and regional seminars, planning to prepare for the next speakers’ conference in 2010, peace
missions and all work done on the promotion and protection of the human rights of
parliamentarians, the promotion of women in politics, carbon neutrality, and improvement of
access to meetings and events for persons with disabilities.
The President announced that the discussion on the draft budget would be postponed
until the Council’s second sitting, in order to give the geopolitical groups enough time to
discuss the draft, and formulate their comments.
It was so decided.
Item 6 of the agenda
FINANCIAL SITUATION OF THE IPU
(CL/183/6-R.1)
The Secretary General said that the income up to 30 September had been received
from assessed contributions, which had been invoiced at the beginning of 2008. Nine new
Members had been affiliated or reaffiliated, and their assessed contributions had also been
recorded as revenue. Other revenue had come from the internal assessment of staff salaries,
conditional grants from funding agencies and the Working Capital Fund. When the IPU budget
for 2008 had been adopted, the United States dollar had been trading at CHF 1.17. That
figure had fallen drastically by April 2008. That dramatic change had impacted on IPU
spending, since all operating costs denominated in dollars had been reduced, resulting in a
considerable saving over the first six months of 2008. The 118 th Assembly in Cape Town had
been carried out within the approved budget appropriation. Predicted expenditure for the year
was below the approved budget, owing to a shortfall in donor funding. Donors must be
confident in the ability of the Organization to deliver functioning projects and programmes.