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Building inclusive, responsive and capable states together with addressing sexual and genderbasedviolence through community-based programmes;Preventing conflict and supporting disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of formercombatants;Encouraging inclusion of disaster risk reduction policies and programmes in national plans.More specifically, Mr. Kamaluddeen indicated that this seminar is organized in the framework of anew programme aiming at:1) Strengthening regional parliamentary activities in West Africa through parliamentary fora,regional dialogue and parliamentary working groups;2) Developing mechanisms and approaches to facilitate swift response to parliamentary assistancerequests in West Africa;3) Promoting knowledge sharing and dissemination of good practices through AGORA, theparliamentary development web portal.To conclude, Mr. Kamaluddeen stressed the importance of networks, peer support and south-southcooperation and urged parliamentarians to take advantage of this opportunity to learn from eachother by discussing and sharing their experiences, success stories and similar challenges with regardto the role parliaments can play in preventing political violence and crisis, and ensure that theyacquire the knowledge and know-how to play their role accordingly.13. Mr. Olivier Pierre-Louveaux, UNDP Parliamentary Development Knowledge Manager - presented ashort movie on AGORA (www.agora-parl.org) – a web Portal for knowledge sharing onparliamentary development which brings together parliamentarians, parliamentary staff, donors,practitioners, as well as academics, civil society and the media. The Portal seeks to consolidateknowledge, expertise and lessons learned as well as facilitate active collaboration among theworldwide parliamentary development community of practice. AGORA's Trusted Area, a privateplatform for members of the global community of practice, offers e-discussions, private groups suchas the group on ‘parliaments and crisis prevention and recovery in West Africa’, a calendar ofevents, a blog, a newsfeed and much more. A Trusted Area member can post documents andarticles, share works, and join new networks. In order to get an AGORA account, participants wereinvited to request an invitation via www.agora-parl.org or directly on https://agora.trustedarea.netor by contacting the AGORA Knowledge Manager, at olivier.louveaux@undp.org.10
SESSION 1: Political Violence and Instability in West Africa: A CriticalAnalysis of the Role of Parliamentarians and Political Parties14. The first session was devoted to presenting, reviewing anddiscussing the findings of Mr. Issaka Souare’s draftresearch paper entitled: “Political Violence and Instability inWest Africa: A Critical Analysis of the Role ofParliamentarians and Political Parties”.15. Mr. Souare defined political violence as an organisedviolent or potentially violent activity or coordinated violentreaction to an organised activity to achieve political goals.He summarized the issues generating violence and politicalviolence by referring to a quote from Kofi Annan:“the nature of political power inmany African States, together withthe real and perceived consequencesof capturing and maintaining power,is a key source of conflict across thecontinent” (1998)16. In his paper, Mr. Souare examined where political parties and parliaments stand vis-à-vis thosestructural and triggering factors through the example of 5 case studies of countries marked eitherby civil wars, popular uprisings and insurgencies, military coups or attempted ones, electoralviolence, violently repressed protests or massacres, namely: Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Nigeria,and Togo.17. While recognizing that political parties and parliaments play an essential role in preventing conflictsor relapses into hostilities, he indicated that many obstacles still remain. These obstacles are mainlylinked to: political challenges (role of the executive, partisanship, legitimacy); legal andconstitutional limitations (mandates, dissolution); and capacity and material limitations (researchand reference materials, office space, assistant staff, and funds).18. To conclude, Mr. Souare recalled the importance of transparency as a means to prevent violence.He also indicated a series of recommendations to prevent political violence and favor access topower through peaceful ways in West Africa:The executive should adhere to principles of good governance and provide parliaments withnecessary resources;Parliaments should ratify the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance;Political leaders and parliamentarians should act responsibly, for the national interest, and beproactive in crisis prevention;11
Page 1: Regional SeminarREPORTTowards Stren
Page 4 and 5: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYOn the basis of UN
Page 6 and 7: INTRODUCTION1. On the basis of UNDP
Page 8 and 9: OPENING CEREMONY9. The opening cere
Page 12 and 13: Parliaments should adopt a region-w
Page 14 and 15: SESSION 2: Parliamentary Performanc
Page 17 and 18: SESSION 3: Parliaments as Peace-Bui
Page 19 and 20: 36. General reflections on the foll
Page 21 and 22: Sierra Leone for example, a reprodu
Page 23 and 24: a) Effective parliamentary oversigh
Page 25 and 26: 51. Mr. Asoba identified 4 major ch
Page 27 and 28: consultations and campaigns for pea
Page 29 and 30: From left to right: Dr. Rasheed Dra
Page 31 and 32: Strengthening the mechanisms of reg
Page 33 and 34: 3) Successful interventions in the
Page 35 and 36: 19) Encourage parliamentarians to e
Page 37 and 38: SESSION 9: Closing session: partner
Page 39 and 40: CONCLUSION85. Strengthening parliam
Page 41 and 42: 11:00 - 11:15 Coffee breakSession 3
Page 43 and 44: Annex 2: Participants ListMembers o
Page 45 and 46: International and Regional Organiza

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