Home Highlights 2025 ParlAmericas Board of Directors approves the creation of the Parliamentary Network on Hemispheric Security

ParlAmericas Board of Directors approves the creation of the Parliamentary Network on Hemispheric Security

August 21, 2025 | Press Release

Amid a hemispheric landscape marked by growing security challenges that threaten democratic stability, human rights, and the well-being of people across the region, the ParlAmericas Board of Directors, at its 72nd meeting held today, approved the creation of a Parliamentary Network on Hemispheric Security. This new permanent body will bring together parliamentarians from the Americas and the Caribbean to advance legislative responses that are grounded in a multidimensional security approach, recognizing the interconnected nature of the different dimensions of insecurity and promoting comprehensive solutions that address its structural causes.

The creation of the Network responds to the urgent need for coordinated legislative action to address the continued deterioration of security in the region, as evidenced by the expansion of transnational organized crime, the escalation of criminal violence, the impact of insecurity and violence on migratory flows, the rise in illicit arms and drug trafficking, and the growing use of emerging technologies by criminal actors, among other pressing issues.

The Network’s creation establishes a structured, specialized, pluralistic, and representative forum for parliamentary work and promotes cooperative political dialogue, the exchange of legislative experiences and frameworks, and the monitoring of hemispheric security commitments.

The Network will also strengthen the connection between parliaments and the inter-American system, including the Organization of American States (OAS), as well as with UN agencies, development banks, civil society organizations, and academic institutions. This joint work will enrich parliamentary deliberation, offer technical inputs, and align parliamentary efforts with multilateral security commitments, enabling more coordinated, inclusive, and sustainable responses throughout the region.

The official launch will take place at the interparliamentary meeting of the X Summit of the Americas, organized by ParlAmericas and the National Congress of the Dominican Republic, on November 27-28, 2025, in Santo Domingo. This gathering will serve as a strategic platform to formally present the Network within the framework of a Summit held under the theme Building a Secure and Sustainable Hemisphere with Shared Prosperity. Launching the Network in this key space will help align legislative agendas with regional commitments adopted at the Summit and strengthen interparliamentary cooperation to address the region’s most pressing security challenges.