IPC Background

The Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom (IPC) embodies transformational potential for the institutions of global governance. By connecting the most democratic elements of governments – parliaments – rather than the least democratic elements – foreign ministries – the IPC fosters international collaboration in the service of the values, desires, dreams, goals, futures, and needs of actual human beings rather than abstract conceptions of national interest of governments. Complementing the work of traditional intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, NATO, the African Union, and the World Bank, the IPC is a global megaphone for the needs and best practices of community-based leadership.

Directly-elected legislators can relate to one another about the local challenges and opportunities they share, as well as questions of national and global interest. When they agree, they can take collaborative action, not through cumbersome formal treaty processes but directly through parallel legislation – identical where possible and differing where particular circumstances require. Interparliamentary cooperation without negotiated agreements opens a new door on David Mittrany's animating vision of the process of international organization as “binding together those interests which are common, where they are common, and to the extent to which they are common,” articulated by Inis Claude as cooperation "where, when and to the extent possible." It frees international cooperation from the suspicion of legislators that accompanies the opaque processes through which it is developed and creates an environment in which legislators learn to appreciate each other as peers and colleagues in a global profession of democratic leadership.

The Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom has launched an aggressive program of cooperative parliamentary diplomacy in its short five year history as a project of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. The concluding documents of the previous four sessions – included for your review – reflect the significant impact that such human diplomacy and coordinated policymaking can have. From addressing traditional and non-traditional threats to security to AIDs, from trafficking in persons to education, the IPC has taken on some of the most significant issues of our time and has created opportunities for parliaments as diverse as Israel, Libya, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Russia, and many others to find common ground on which to address such issues.

The Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom is constantly in the process of resolving issues of rising tensions – religious and others – and moving the world in such a collaborative, parliamentary means to peace. The networks built by the IPC – across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas – allow us as parliamentarians to work collaboratively toward a world without war, famine, hatred, and terrorism. The King of Morocco, His Majesty Mohammed VI addressed the Second Session of the Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom stating that “it is appropriate that this sort of initiative becomes the foundational undertaking of an international civilization where complementarity substitutes confrontation between people, and where the paramount necessity of cooperation overcomes the illusion of self-reliance and autarchy.”

The work of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy and the Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom has constructed a new paradigm of peacemaking and governance. No longer are foreign policy, national security, and fundamental rights solely in the hands of national executives and administrations. Instead, legislators around the globe are now taking the responsibility at the initiative of the IPC to address questions of fundamental rights, security, wealth and poverty, global warming, and the countless other vital concerns of the global population in a collaborative, coordinated, and effective manner.

Human security in the twenty-first century depends on the motivation and capacity of legislators to accept their responsibility in upholding fundamental rights, fighting corruption, championing disarmament and establishing moral governance. The Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy provides the tools for such movement.