On Tuesday, December 14, 2021, Parliamentary Day was held virtually within the framework of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit, with the objective of bringing together the open parliament community to reflect on the role that legislatures have played as partners for open government reforms. It was attended by legislators, parliamentary staff, and civil society representatives from around the world, who exchanged initiatives, actions, and challenges regarding the progress of this agenda, centring the two themes: strengthening civic space and innovative measures against corruption.

The first part of the meeting highlighted the current challenges in safeguarding civic space and its implications for democracy. Likewise, initiatives that are being developed to guarantee citizen participation in the legislative work were shared. One of the cases presented was that of Costa Rica by Member of the Legislative Assembly Ana Lucia Delgado (Costa Rica), First Vice-President for Central America of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network, who spoke about the Open Parliament Institutional Committee that includes three representatives of civil society in its composition. To this end, a regulation was approved to establish the institutional processes for the integration of civil society organizations in this committee whose purpose is to lead the efforts in favour of legislative openness. To this end, a resolution was approved to establish the institutional processes needed for the integration of civil society organizations in this committee, whose purpose is to lead the efforts in support of legislative openness. This panel also included the Honourable Cornelius Mweetwa, Member of the National Assembly of Zambia; Mr. Damar Juniarto, Executive Director of the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet); Mr. José Marinero Cortés, President of the Fundación Democracia, Transparencia y Justicia in El Salvador; and was moderated by Ms. Julia Keutgen, Senior Advisor on Transparency at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

In the second part of the meeting, the participants discussed innovative strategies to address corruption, considering the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Along these lines, initiatives, mechanisms, and tools that both parliaments and civil society organizations have used to monitor and promote public integrity in government actions were shared. Representing Canada, the Honourable Senator René Cormier, Second Vice-President for North America of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network, highlighted the recommendations made by the Senate to the Canadian Government to ensure that all measures against COVID are effective and produce the expected results. The recommendations highlighted the importance of improving data collection and reporting practices through the inclusion of additional details on region, race, ethnicity and gender, taking into consideration the economic impact of the pandemic on historically marginalized groups. This panel included interventions by Member of Parliament Givi Mikanadze from Georgia; Dr. Shiow-Duan Hawang, Professor at Soochow University in Taiwan; Ms. Caroline Gaita, Executive Director of Mzalendo Trust in Kenya; Ms. Etilda Gjonaj, former Minister of Justice of Albania; and was moderated by Ms. Corina Rebegea, Advisor to the National Democratic Institute.

The event was also attended by Senator Javier Macaya (Chile), President of ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network, who emphasized that “legislative openness does not advance on its own: it requires the will of both legislators and civil servants, active citizenry, organizations with proposals, and a spirit of collaboration.” In this regard, he also highlighted the approval of OGP’s memorandum on parliamentary engagement, which is the result of a participatory process and is intended to guide parliaments in the necessary processes to establish action plans for legislative openness. Other notable interventions were made by the Honourable Dr. Paran Umar Tarawally, Secretary General of the Parliament of the Republic of Sierra Leone and Secretary of the OGP Parliamentary Working Group; Ms. Maria Baron, OGP Co-Chair and Global Executive Director of Directorio Legislativo; Mr. Luis Rojas, Deputy Secretary of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile and General Coordinator of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament; and Ms. Vita Dumanska, Executive Director of CHESNO in Ukraine.

Parliamentary Day was a joint effort by leading parliamentary organizations and founding members of the Open Parliament Global Network (OpeN): Directorio Legislativo, Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency, National Democratic Institute, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, ParlAmericas, and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

Today, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM-OAS), with the support of the European Union through its EUROsociAL+ program, hosted a parliamentary dialogue with the objective of receiving inputs, knowledge, and experiences from parliamentarians to strengthen the base document of the Inter-American Model Law on Care Services.

This consultation took place in the context of a series of meetings with civil society organizations and other stakeholders. The discussion centred on analysis of existing legal frameworks to inform the design of practical recommendations for laws to guarantee the economic rights of women, with a focus on visibilizing and protecting those who carry out care work.

Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat (Mexico), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality, participated in the event and provided a summary of the process of designing and proposing a bill in the Senate of Mexico on a national system of care services. This proposal’s aim is to guarantee access to high-quality care for all, based on the principle of co-responsibility between men and women, families, communities, the private sector, and the government.

Ms. Kathy Ramos, Director of the Gender Unit of the National Assembly of Panama, also participated in the event in representation of the Honourable Member of the National Assembly Kayra Harding (Panama), Vice-President for Central America of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality. Ms. Ramos shared an overview of relevant good practices that have been implemented in Panama to promote equality between women and men in the labour market.

With the support of the Chilean Senate as host parliament, ParlAmericas held its 18th Plenary Assembly on November 26 and 29 and December 10 with a series of virtual activities focused on exploring the rebuilding of the social contract.

The Plenary Assembly brought together parliamentarians, parliamentary staff, and representatives of youth and civil society organizations from the Americas and the Caribbean to discuss the need to rebuild the social contract in the context of post-pandemic recovery efforts and in response to civil society’s demands to reinvent and transform governance and development models based on inclusive, sustainable and democratic principles that leave no one behind.

The event, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of the creation of ParlAmericas and the adoption of the Inter-American Democratic Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS), began with an inter-parliamentary dialogue session held on November 26. The session included a keynote address by the Secretary General of the OAS, Mr. Luis Almagro, and speeches by Senator Rosa Gálvez (Canada), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change, and Member of Parliament Manzoor Nadir (Guyana), Speaker of the National Assembly and member of the Board of Directors of ParlAmericas.

A high-level dialogue was also held, which included a discussion, prospective analysis, and exchange of good legislative practices regarding the role of parliaments in rebuilding the social contract. The panel, which was moderated by Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat (Mexico), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality (PNGE), included the participation of Senator Reginald Farley (Barbados), president of the Senate; Member of the Legislative Assembly Paola Vega (Costa Rica), Vice-President for Central America of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change; and the Honourable Representative Juan Carlos Losada (Colombia).

In addition, on November 29, the parliamentary dialogue session was held with representatives of civil society and youth organizations from the Americas and the Caribbean. The session was inaugurated by Member of the Chamber of Deputies Javier Macaya (Chile), President of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network, and Senator Alincia Williams Grant (Antigua and Barbuda), president of the Senate and member of the Board of Directors of ParlAmericas. A dialogue was held during the session, which was moderated by Member of Parliament Marc Serré (Canada), member of the Board of Directors of ParlAmericas, with the participation of Paulina Valenzuela, member of the Chilean Constitutional Convention, and former youth Member of the National Assembly of Panama Jorge Marín, representative of the Youth Legislative Impact project in Panama. During the discussion, the panellists and participants offered their perspectives on the role of civil society and youth organizations in the process of rebuilding the social contract, the priorities on their political agendas, and the importance of promoting youth political participation.

Finally, the plenary session was held on December 10, with opening remarks from  Senator Blanca Ovelar (Paraguay), President of ParlAmericas, the Honourable Bridgid Annisette-George (Trinidad and Tobago), Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Senator Marcela Sabat (Chile), representative of the host parliament of the 18th Plenary Assembly to the Board of Directors of ParlAmericas. As is customary, the accountability reports from the authorities of the Board of Directors of ParlAmericas were presented. This year, the annual report from the President of ParlAmericas along with those of the three network Presidents were presented in video format, with subtitles in all of ParlAmericas’ official languages. Subsequently, a round of parliamentary interventions was held, featuring moderation by Member of the Legislative Assembly María Inés Solís (Costa Rica), member of the Board of Directors of ParlAmericas. During this period, one legislator designated by each member parliament presented some of the legislative initiatives that are being carried out in different areas to rebuild the social contract with the collaboration of civil society and young people.

Afterwards, Member of the Legislative Assembly María Inés Solís (Costa Rica) read the declaration of the 18th ParlAmericas Plenary Assembly. Prior to closing the meeting, Director General of ParlAmericas Alisha Todd announced the results of the elections, in which the candidates were elected by acclamation.

In reference to the relevance of the theme of the plenary session, Senator Blanca Ovelar (Paraguay), President of ParlAmericas, stated that “it is necessary to establish a new social contract that better meets the needs and demands of citizens to strengthen the democratic model, reinforce mechanisms for participating in public affairs, bolster social protection systems, transform production and consumption models under sustainable paradigms, and address the effects of climate change.”

Senator Marcela Sabat (Chile), representative of the host parliament of the 18th Plenary Assembly to the Board of Directors of ParlAmericas, pointed out that “the depth of our citizens’ demands requires effective and efficient action by the branches of government, to be attuned to them and channel the energy they generate through institutional and legal channels. This is where institutions that represent the people must—by definition—play a leading role.”

Senator Carlos Filizzola Pallarés, chair of the Equity and Gender Committee of the Honourable Chamber of Senators of Paraguay, presented the results of the First survey on workplace violence, gender-based violence and sexual harassment in the Honourable Chamber of Senators of Paraguay during the Senate’s sitting on December 2. The survey was carried out by the Senate of Paraguay and ParlAmericas as part of a technical support project on parliamentary gender mainstreaming undertaken through a Memorandum of Understanding between the organizations.

The online, anonymous survey was distributed by the Senate’s General Secretariat and the General Directorate on Human Resources to all parliamentary staff and senators in November 2020, and it had three main objectives: to provide an initial assessment of instances of violence experienced and/or witnesses by people working at the Senate; to learn about their perceptions of these situations; and to shed light on this unacceptable phenomenon as the first step in developing the institutional responses required to eradicate it.

Workplace and gender-based violence are problems that affect all kinds of workplaces, including parliaments. Addressing these problems should be prioritized to ensure the safety and integrity of all. The implementation of this survey in Paraguay represents a good practice at the regional and global levels, as it helps to illuminate instances of workplace and gender-based violence, and to facilitate the development of response measures based on gender-disaggregated data.

In his speech during the Senate’s plenary session, Senator Filizzola stated that “we trust that this essential initiative will contribute to addressing the issue of workplace violence, especially against women, and to making this Chamber an inclusive, respectful, friendly, and safe space for everyone.”

In addition, on Tuesday, November 30, Lisane Thirsk, Deputy Director for Gender Equality at ParlAmericas, presented the results of the survey in a session of the Senate’s Equity and Gender Committee, with the distinguished participation of Senator Filizzola, Senator Georgia Arrúa, Secretary General Mr. Antonio Sánchez, as well as representatives of different administrative departments. One of the main findings of the survey was that 86% of the people who report having experienced an incident of harassment or violence are women, demonstrating the need to apply a gender-lens to address this problem.

On Tuesday, November 23, the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Permanent Observer Mission of Spain to the OAS organized the event “Economic Empowerment of Women as a Tool Against Discrimination and Gender Violence.”

The event, which sought to highlight the importance of empowering women and girls as a way to eradicate gender violence, also highlighted the role of alliances between governments, parliaments, civil society, the private sector, and the general population to achieve the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), from a perspective of inclusion and gender equality, to “leave no one behind.”

The first panel of the hybrid session, called “Public policies to promote the empowerment of women,” included the participation of Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat (Mexico), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality; Senator Faride Raful (Dominican Republic); Member of the Chamber of Deputies Carmen Calvo (Spain); Ms. Gina Watson, Head of the Equity, Gender, and Cultural Diversity Office of the Pan American Health Organization; and Ms. Raquel Coello, Head of Economic Empowerment of the UN Women regional office.

During her participation, Senator Raful highlighted that “as a country we have made progress on issues of women’s rights and empowerment, however, we still have imminent challenges to deal with. It is important to build alliances with international organizations, to be able to work together and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and thus improve the living conditions of women and girls in our countries, bridging any obstacles that arise, together.”

During her intervention, Senator Camino pointed out that “the pandemic deeply affected the informal sector, which is made up of women in significant percentages. It is therefore essential that governments offer innovative solutions and tools that allow micro and small entrepreneurs, who are mostly women, to develop their businesses with accessible financing and technologies.” The President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality also recognized the importance of “promoting regulations that grant informal workers the right tools and processes to move to formalization, consequently also provide governments of sources of relevant and disaggregated data, useful to design and implement legislative actions and initiatives that serve specific sectors.”

A virtual meeting was held on Tuesday, November 23, 2021, for staff and advisers of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies and Senate, to share experiences and learn about the implementation of actions for advancing legislative openness, and thus continue to consolidate these efforts.

The virtual meeting was organized by the Open Parliament e-Network (OPeN), a consortium of international organizations that promote open parliament initiatives and measures around the world, which, on this occasion, was represented by ParlAmericas, the Directorio Legislativo Foundation and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) of Mexico.

Senator Bertha Caraveo (Mexico), Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network, introduced the meeting by emphasizing that “from ensuring the sustainability and formalization of initiatives in favour of legislative openness to their effective implementation, parliamentary staff plays an essential role in open parliament processes. One of the cross-cutting aspects that we see in other experiences in the region is not only the multi-party nature of these efforts, but also the involvement of staff from different parliamentary offices and agencies that make it possible to meet open parliament commitments and achieve the expected results.”

Experiences and lessons learned on open parliament were shared during the virtual meeting, which included presentations from Mexico, Spain and Panama. Mr. Fredy Erazo, General Coordinator of the Mexican Senate’s Transparency Unit and Regional Coordinator of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament, delivered a presentation on the progress made in Mexico in terms of transparency and collaboration with civil society through an agreement with the Legislative Observatory of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Mr. Miguel Ángel Gonzalo, Head of Project Coordination and Planning Unit pertaining to the Cabinet of the Secretary General of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, highlighted the tools used by the Spanish Parliament to facilitate access to information and citizen engagement, as well as the continuous training of deputies, collaboration and networking to strengthen the commitment to legislative innovation as key elements of the staff’s contribution to legislative openness. Finally, the presentations concluded with a speech by Ms. Marinés Tapiero, representative of the Youth Legislative Impact Program of Panama on the experience of young people in the development of a citizens’ initiative presented to the National Assembly of Panama with the support and contributions of Panamanian parliamentary staff.

There was an interesting dialogue between panellists and participants during the Q&A session, moderated by Keila González, Resident Director of NDI Mexico. The event ended with closing remarks by Noel Alonso Murray, Executive Director of the Directorio Legislativo Foundation.

In her capacity as President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change (PNCC), Senator the Honourable Rosa Galvez (Canada),  presents ParlAmericas interactive resource Environment and Sustainability: Mapping the Strategies and Plans of the Americas and the Caribbean during COP26 in the Parliamentary Webinar Series, hosted by GLOBE International, E3G, and the World Resources Institute. The resource systemizes and compiles the most recent strategies and plans developed by member countries of the region in a centralized location, to provide easy access to parliamentarians as they work to ensure national legislation and parliamentary initiatives reinforce the objectives of the Paris Agreement, the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), long-term climate strategies, the integration of gender dimensions, and citizen participation in climate decision-making, among others.

The negotiations that occur at COP26 are intended to generate commitments for more ambitious and inclusive climate action to achieve the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21. To promote the strengthening of parliamentary networks and the integration of parliamentarians in COP26 and UNFCCC meetings, the Parliamentary Group, of which ParlAmericas is a founding member, hosts briefings, coordination meetings, and webinars. As the representative of ParlAmericas at today’s 4^th session of the webinar series, Senator Galvez presents the new resource, highlighting that “it is imperative that governments remain true to their targets and that they are held accountable through our parliamentary oversight function to the commitments made under the various international multilateral environmental agreements. This resource provides us, as legislators, a platform to help us easily identify if our country has a strategy in place to meet these commitments, and to help bring awareness on the endeavours of other countries in the region.”

As key actors in forwarding the climate action agenda, parliamentarians have a role to play in informing their country’s negotiation position on international agreements. This resource promotes the alignment of national climate legislation with these agreements and their country’s development priorities. Our recently published Parliaments and the Paris Agreement, also complements these efforts as it highlights global good parliamentary practices for the development and adoption of national climate commitments and offers guiding questions for parliamentarians.

On November 1, ParlAmericas hosted the Working Meeting of Caribbean Presiding Officers on Open Parliament which brought together presiding officers, parliamentarians, and clerks from 11 countries of the Caribbean to explore possible next actions to implement legislative openness in the region based on priorities and challenges identified at a previous working meeting that took place in April this year.

Participants highlighted the importance of continuing high-level exchanges among presiding officers of the Caribbean to facilitate greater cooperation. It was emphasized that transparency and sharing information regarding standing orders, legislation and decisions adopted by parliaments, would be welcomed to deepen that cooperation. Likewise, the need to continue strengthening codes of ethics, spaces for interaction with citizens, and accountability mechanisms was discussed, and it was emphasized that gender-considerations should inform this work.

The Honourable Bridgid Annisette-George (Trinidad and Tobago), Speaker of the House of Representatives and Vice-President of ParlAmericas, welcomed all participants emphasizing that “we need to be leaders in our parliaments to cultivate a culture of continuous learning and improvement to ensure that our parliaments are leading by example for more inclusive, responsive and effective governance, especially as we confront the many complex challenges and opportunities that our countries are facing.”

The meeting was chaired by Arthur E. Holder (Barbados), Speaker of the House of Assembly and ParlAmericas Board Member, who stressed that “advancing on Open Parliament initiatives needs to be understood as working to improve our institutions to serve all of our citizens, and to do so we need to be conscious of how aspects of our institutional processes have gendered dimensions so that we are deliberate in developing actions that make our parliaments more accessible for both women and men equally.” The Honourable Marinus Bee (Suriname), Speaker of the National Assembly and ParlAmericas Board Member, concluded the meeting by stating that investing in open parliament means investing in strengthened legislatures that are preparing to work through mounting challenges, including building back from COVID-19 with stronger, more resilient societies.

This year marks the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), also known as COP26, which will convene negotiators, government representatives, parliamentarians, civil society, and the private sector as well as official observer organizations such as ParlAmericas in Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK), under the presidency of the UK and in partnership with Italy. ParlAmericas will be represented by Senator the Honourable Rosa Galvez (Canada), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change (PNCC) and Senator Raúl Bolaños-Cacho Cué (Mexico), Vice-President for North America of the PNCC who will also be participating in his capacity as member of the national delegation of Mexico. During the weeks of October 31, 2021, to November 12, 2021, there will be numerous sessions covering various climate change mitigation and adaptation themes in addition to the COP negotiations to generate commitments for more ambitious and inclusive climate action to achieve the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21.

“Parliamentarians have a crucial responsibility to oversee the executive branch to ensure the efficient and effective use of expenditures, laws, policies, and programmes for the implementation of the Paris Agreement and national climate commitments,” states Senator Bolaños, as he speaks to the importance of incorporating parliamentary perspectives in climate debates. “I am honoured to participate at COP26 as part of the national delegation of Mexico. The integration of parliamentarians at these negotiations provides an opportunity to build the consensus necessary to achieve ambitious climate action.”

On the margins of COP26, Senator Galvez will participate at the COP26 Legislators Summit hosted by GLOBE and the Scottish Parliament, a parliamentary gathering to facilitate the exchange of innovations and good practices among legislators from across the world, being held virtually and in-person November 5 – 6, 2021 in Edinburgh, UK. As part of her involvement, in a session featuring a keynote address by Dr. Marcelo Carvalho de Andrade, Founder of ProNatural and Co-Founder of Earth Capital (global), she will speak in the panel alongside Professor Dan Etsy from Yale University to address the financial realities of achieving national net zero decarbonisation, investing in climate change adaptation and reconciling loss and damage, in the face of COVID-19 and debt recovery. She will discuss the need to ensure that businesses and investors align themselves and support the achievement of climate commitments through legislative innovation in climate finance. Senator Galvez will likewise present at the Inter-Parliamentary Union COP26 Parliamentary Meeting to deliver her expert opinion on climate change and a clean recovery, including the key findings from her white paper on Building Forward Better: A Clean and Just Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Reflecting on her participation, Senator Galvez noted: “I am pleased to represent ParlAmericas at COP26 and these parliamentary gatherings to discuss how as parliamentarians we can ensure that the agreements decided in these negotiations are fulfilled and remain prioritized in the public agenda, public budget, and legislative proposals, as well as hold government accountable to the advice and warnings of the scientific and academic community. We cannot ignore the warnings made by the IPCC physical science report and the NDC synthesis report that current climate action is not sufficient to meet the Paris Agreement and that countries need to scale up their efforts to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, namely by rapidly phasing out fossil fuels.”

Today, ParlAmericas concluded its final virtual session of the 13th Gathering of its Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality (PNGE), titled Bolstering Social Protection beyond COVID-19: What the Data Tells Us, organized with the National Assembly of Belize and the Chamber of Senators of Bolivia. The gathering brought together parliamentarians from 21 countries in the Americas and the Caribbean, as well as parliamentary staff, specialists in the field, and representatives of civil society and youth organizations from across the hemisphere.

The keynote addresses that launched the Gathering’s activities featured interviews on social protection between the Honourable Valerie Woods, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Belize, and co-host of the Gathering; and Ms. Isiuwa Iyahen, Programme Specialist for Economic Empowerment and Statistics at the UN Women Multi-Country Office for the Caribbean (available in podcast format, in English). In addition, Senator Yolanda Condo Ponce of Bolivia interviewed Dr. Roxana Mauricio, Regional Specialist on Labour Economics at the International Labour Organization (ILO) (available in podcast format, in Spanish).

The first session of the gathering, held on September 13, was organized as an Inter-parliamentary Dialogue with UN-system specialists on the benefits of inclusive social protection. In it, a panel moderated by Senator Natalie Campbell-Rodriques (Jamaica) featured presentations by Dr. Carlos Maldonado, Social Affairs Officer from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Dr. Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed, Gender and Development Research Manager from the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Office of Research – Innocenti; and Claudia Brito Bruno, Policy Officer for Gender and Social Systems from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

On September 22, a Parliamentary Dialogue with Civil Society and Youth Representatives took place. Moderated by Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat, Vice-President of the PNGE for North America, it provided an opportunity for exchange on the most pressing needs for pandemic response and sustainable recovery planning based on the emerging data and lived experiences during the pandemic.

The 13th Gathering concluded on October 4 with a Plenary Session, which included a panel on parliamentary experiences in promoting inclusive social protection moderated by the Honourable Representative Jezmi Barraza Arraut. In addition, the Gathering’s final declaration was adopted, and elections for all positions in the Executive Committee of the PNGE were held, with the following results:

• President – Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat (Mexico)
• Vice-President, North America – The Honourable Mobina Jaffer, Senator (Canada)
• Vice-President, Central America – Member of the National Assembly Kayra Harding (Panama)
• Vice-President, South America – Honorable Representative Jezmi Barraza Arraut (Colombia)
• Vice-President, The Caribbean – Senator Natalie Campbell-Rodriques (Jamaica)

In reference to the theme of the 13th Gathering, Senator Andrónico Rodríguez, President of the Chamber of Senators (Bolivia), and co-host of the Gathering, stated that “when they are based on quality data, and an intersectional gender analysis is applied, social protection systems can contribute to addressing the structural causes of social and gender inequalities.”

In the words of The Honourable Valerie Woods, Speaker of the House of Representatives and co-host of the Gathering, “It will fall to all of us to take our learning and apply it in our legislative work to contribute to strengthening our national social protection systems based on the principles of human rights, non-discrimination, and universal access. As we know, this is made even more pressing by the ongoing COVID-19 context, its direct health impacts, and the ripples that have been felt – unequally – in the socioeconomic realm by our populations.”

For her part, Member of the Chamber of Deputies Maya Fernández Allende (Chile), outgoing President of the PNGE, noted that “We have discerned that broad, multisectorial collaboration is important for the proper governance and promotion of available social protection services, and further helps to prevent obstacles to accessing these services.”

On Friday, September 24, one of the modules of the “Co-creation of open parliament action plans” online course was delivered and hosted by the National Democratic Institute of Mexico and the Mexican Senate through the Centro de Capacitación y Formación Permanente (CECAFP) and the Belisario Domínguez Institute (IBD). Parliamentary staff from the National Congress, as well as from the subnational parliaments of Mexico participated in this activity. On this occasion, ParlAmericas was represented by Mr. Fredy Erazo, General Coordinator of the Transparency Unit of the Senate of Mexico, and Mr. Juan Carlos Chavarría, Director of the Department of Citizen Participation of the Costa Rica Legislative Assembly, in their capacity of regional coordinators of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament for North America and Central America, respectively. They were accompanied by Ms. Natalí Casanova, Open Parliament Projects Manager at the ParlAmericas International Secretariat.

This module focused on exploring the processes and coordination necessary for the co-creation of action plans, taking as a reference the steps included in the Guide to Develop Open Parliament Action Plans published by ParlAmericas. From a regional perspective, the presentations addressed how different parliaments have identified the most appropriate processes to carry out co-creation, as well as explored in depth the case of Costa Rica and the key considerations that guide a successful co-creation process.

Within this session, Mr. Erazo highlighted that “legislative openness is a fundamental issue not only because it strengthens the work of parliament, but also allows us to have better tools and build consensus for stronger democratic institutions leaving no one behind”.  For his part, Mr. Chavarría emphasized that “the co-creation processes in Costa Rica have resulted not only in active participation of civil society, but also organizations are now members of the Institutional Committee of Open Parliament, the parliamentary body that leads action plans within the Legislative Assembly”.

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On September 24, the Honourable Senator Rosa Galvez (Canada), President of the ParlAmericas Climate Change Network participated in the webinar titled “Parliaments and the Paris Agreement”. This webinar was organized to launch the publication, “Parliaments and the Paris Agreement”,  a joint effort by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, ParlAmericas, GLOBE International, and INTER PARES International IDEA.

With regard to the publication, Senator Galvez provided the following insight: “This publication speaks to the important role that parliaments have in these spaces, as well as in the development of the countries’ negotiating position and NDC. Through our representative role we can help ensure that these plans and positions consider human rights obligations, especially the potential impact on Indigenous peoples, afro-descendants, migrants, children, people with disabilities, and people in vulnerable situations, that they conduct a gender-based analysis and apply an intersectionality lens”.

The webinar also featured a panel discussion which served as a space for reflection upon the role parliaments have played in advancing international climate commitments and identifying opportunities for strengthening parliamentary engagement in the development and implementation of future commitments. Mr. Rafael Jiménez-Aybar, Senior Environmental Adviser, Westminster Foundation for Democracy & GLOBE, provided welcoming remarks as well as moderated the presentations delivered by the speakers, where they highlighted ongoing initiatives by parliaments to respond to the challenge of the Paris Agreement, with efforts rooted in the principles of multilateral cooperation, common but differentiated responsibilities, and multi stakeholder engagement. The speakers included Mr. Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary General, INTER PARES / International IDEA; the Honourable Senator Rosa Galvez (Canada); Mr. Franklin De Vrieze, Senior Governance Adviser, WFD; and Ms. Malini Mehra, Chief Executive, GLOBE International.

In anticipation of this year’s COP26, the webinar was an engaging opportunity to understand how parliaments have organized their work to contribute to global commitments on climate action and collect good practices. For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

The Impacto Legislativo Joven program was developed by ParlAmericas, in cooperation with the National Forum of Women in Political Parties of Panama (FONAMUPP) and in coordination with the National Directorate for the Promotion of Citizen Participation. The project was carried out from June to August 2021, with the participation of young former members of the Youth Assembly of Panama.

The program was aimed at promoting the political participation of young Panamanians and included two phases. The first phase consisted of a series of workshops and seminars, in which a significant number of future leaders learned more about political leadership, intersectionality and how to incorporate gender-responsive and inclusive perspectives in public policy analysis. During these meetings, the young people were also able to have discussions with important national and regional parliamentarians and hear about their experiences.

During the second phase of the program, the young people worked to co-create a citizens’ initiative focused on ecotourism development in Panama, incorporating a gender-responsive and inclusive perspective at all stages.

During extensive and productive work sessions, the young people had the opportunity to interact with specialists on issues that are relevant to the proposal, allowing them to develop innovative concepts for the initiative, such as the importance of education and training in environmental conservation, the inclusion of communities and community-based organizations and the prominent role played by women entrepreneurs in regions where tourism activities are carried out in Panama.

This initiative is part of the Women’s Political Leadership Project, supported by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada. The Impacto Legislativo Joven program culminated in the submission of the citizens’ initiative by the young participants to the National Directorate for the Promotion of Citizen Participation of the National Assembly of Panama on Wednesday, September 15, in the context of the International Day of Democracy.

From Monday, September 13, to Wednesday, September 15, Bússola Tech, a Brazilian organization that promotes the exchange of experiences and initiatives through the use of technology, will be holding the LegisTech for Democracy conference. The conference features 30 hours of panels, presentations, and dialogues with parliaments from around the world, as they reflect on technological innovation in parliaments and the opportunities it presents in the current context. Mr. Bernardo Andrés Gutiérrez Hidalgo (Ecuador), Regional Coordinator for South America of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament, will represent the institution and share his thoughts on the digital transformation of parliaments. For her part, Ms. Alisha Todd, Director General of ParlAmericas, will give a presentation on the development and modernization of parliamentary diplomacy. Lastly, Natalí Casanova, Open Parliament Project Manager at ParlAmericas, will moderate a dialogue on the experiences of the legislative branches in Ecuador and Suriname.

The event is aimed at examining the efforts made by parliaments to rethink their internal processes and promote innovation to strengthen their technical capacities and their political role, with the understanding that collaboration and cooperation between the different stakeholders is an essential part of this process. It also focuses on the development of parliamentary diplomacy strategies and the exchange of good practices to promote legislative transparency and citizen participation in parliamentary processes.

Ms. Todd will focus on the fact that “we need global answers more than ever, because there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. Parliamentary diplomacy is a method for learning among peers and promoting comprehensive agreements to find collective solutions to difficult problems, such as disinformation and how it profoundly affects the quality of our democracies or how to adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects.”

Mr. Gutiérrez Hidalgo’s contribution will include a reflection on the dialogues that took place at the 3rd Meeting of the Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament in March 2021, which focused on technological innovation. He will emphasize the need to “invest in the digital transformation as a means to achieve stronger parliaments and to continue to strengthen their relationship with citizens. In this regard, different challenges such as disinformation, computer security and polarization, among others, can be addressed if this investment in digital transformation has a clear aim: to improve the standards of transparency and citizen participation.”

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On August 19th, Senator Anthony Vieira (Trinidad and Tobago), Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Climate Change Network for the Caribbean, participated in the webinar titled “Supporting the Development of Long-Term Climate Change Strategies in the Caribbean”. This meeting is the second session of the Caribbean NDC Support Virtual Exchange Series, organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Regional Collaboration Centre for the Caribbean and the NDC Partnership. The aim of this series is to enhance the technical capacity of national experts, identify regional needs and challenges, and strengthen institutional partnerships to facilitate the creation of long-term climate strategies mandated by the Paris Agreement.

The webinar brought together subject matter specialists, government officials, and parliamentarians, including Her Excellency, Fiona Clouder, COP26 Regional Ambassador for Latin America and the Caribbean. It explored the manners in which long-term climate strategies can provide direction for a country’s sustainable development, climate neutrality targets, and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) including through presentations on climate change strategies in Jamaica and Fiji and on projects being implemented to support the preparation of such strategies.

In his remarks, Senator Vieira addressed the contribution of legislatures in the development of long-term climate strategies and highlighted that parliamentarians “have a critical role in holding governments accountable for the efficient and effective delivery of expenditures, laws, policies, and programmes to ensure the implementation of the Paris Agreement and national climate commitments, including long-term climate strategies. Meetings like these can help deepen our own knowledge and therefore better our capacity to support the process and our government’s commitments.”

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

Today, the ParlAmericas International Secretariat and the ParlAmericas Canadian Section convened parliamentarians and ambassadors from Canada and Central America to reflect on the last 60 years of regional multilateralism and to identify opportunities for increased collaboration. The dialogue underscored the importance of parliamentary diplomacy as a mechanism to address common challenges and achieve key priorities.

Following the adoption of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Canada established diplomatic relations with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. The Convention served as a reference point for the exchange and appropriate treatment of envoys between different states, setting a legal foundation for the strengthening of cooperation among countries. Along the same lines, parliaments contribute to strengthen relations between countries through high-level exchanges and dialogues and the adoption of concrete actions for further synergies in spaces such as ParlAmericas.

Mr. Marc Serré (Canada), Chair of the ParlAmericas Canadian Section, emphasized that “Canada has worked in partnership with the countries in Central America to encourage economic growth and sustainable development, to promote and defend human rights, to advance gender equality and women’s political empowerment, to strengthen democracy, to support climate change mitigation, to improve regional security, and to increase opportunities for marginalized groups.”

The Honourable Senator Rosa Galvez (Canada), member of the ParlAmericas Board of Directors and Canadian Section of ParlAmericas, moderated the presentations delivered by the parliamentary delegations, which highlighted achievements reached through parliamentary cooperation. The speakers included Ms. Silvia Hernández (Costa Rica), President of the Legislative Assembly; Ms. Sofía Hernández (Guatemala), Vice-President of the Congress of the Republic; Mr. Felicito Ávila (Honduras), Vice-President of the National Congress; Ms. Maritza Espinales (Nicaragua), Vice-President of the National Assembly, member of the ParlAmericas Board of Directors; Mr. Mariano López (Panama), Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the National Assembly; and The Honourable Senator Mobina Jaffer (Canada).

Member of the Legislative Assembly María Inés Solís Quirós (Costa Rica), Member of the ParlAmericas Board of Directors, in her welcoming remarks stated that “Our leadership, good practices, and actions, which have been decisive in continuing to consolidate our democracies, will set the path for further cooperation governed by mutual respect and trust.”

The meeting concluded with closing remarks from Mr. Fernando Arce (Panama), member of the ParlAmericas Board of Directors, and H.E. Sofía Cerrato, Ambassador of Honduras to Canada and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Canada.

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

ParlAmericas expresses its solidarity with the people of Haiti for the loss of life, injuries and destruction caused by the earthquake that struck the Sud, Nippes, and Grand’Anse departments on August 14, 2021. We wish to convey our condolences to the people whose lives have been shattered by this earthquake and our hope that life-saving efforts that are still underway are spared from the brunt of Tropical Depression Grace.

ParlAmericas reaffirms its commitment to measures that favour management of disaster risk and calls for cooperation to provide assistance where this is possible and requested.

On Friday, July 30, Anabella Zavagno, Deputy Director General of ParlAmericas, participated in the International Parliamentary Institutions course, International Diploma in Parliamentary Diplomacy, organized by the School of Government of Argentina’s Austral University. The Deputy Director General presented the work carried out by ParlAmericas as a parliamentary institution of the inter-American system, which is composed of the national legislatures of the Americas and the Caribbean, and whose purpose is to facilitate co-operative political dialogue and the exchange of good legislative practices to continue strengthening the function of legislative branches  in the region. She also presented on the thematic areas prioritized by ParlAmericas, which include mainstreaming gender equality and women’s empowerment in politics; the advancement of open parliaments that foster transparency, accountability, citizen participation, and ethics in legislative work; and the promotion of policies and legislative actions for mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals.

On the same day, Natalí Casanova, Senior Program Officer of Open Parliament at ParlAmericas, participated on a panel addressing the current context and future challenges parliaments face, during the First International Meeting on Comprehensive Parliamentary Administration and Management organized by the Association of Legislative Administration of the Argentine Republic (ASALRA), in the panel on the current context and future challenges for parliaments. The objective of this meeting was the exchange of experiences and knowledge between parliamentary staff and other specialists in parliamentary matters, to improve legislative functioning. In her presentation, Ms. Casanova highlighted the transition to virtual and hybrid sessions undertaken by parliaments in the region due to the pandemic, emphasizing the advancement of open parliament as an aspect that facilitated the transition. This session was moderated by Gabriel Duarte, Head of the Parliamentary Research and Documentation Department of the Congress of the Republic of Peru and also featured presentations by Karina Millán Bueno, President of the Academy of Public Administration of Universidad Autónoma de Occidente in Culiacán, Mexico; Patricia Rosset, President of the Association of Legislative Technical Advisers of the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo, Brazil; and Gustavo Sánchez Piñeiro, Secretary Rapporteur of the Chamber of Senators and the General Assembly of Uruguay.

For more information on our work, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

In collaboration with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), ParlAmericas and parliamentarians from Canada, Indonesia, Georgia, Kenya and Pakistan have published a statement highlighting the urgent need for public empowerment to be a top priority at COP26 and underscoring its role in ensuring the overall success of the Paris Agreement.

The statement recognizes the six components of Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE), a term adopted by the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to refer to work under Article 6 of the Convention (1992) and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement, to empower all members of society to engage in climate action through education, training, public awareness, public participation, public access to information, and international cooperation on these issues. It suggests that a recommitment to the role all of society can play in climate action is perfectly suited for this moment following the threats to democracy presented by responses to COVID-19. It also outlines the need to strengthen climate governance and ensure greater participation of and engagement in action to address climate change, and recognizes the important role that parliaments play in these efforts, as recently explored in the 5^th Gathering of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change.

The signatories to the statement are Senator the Honourable Rosa Galvez (Canada), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change; the Honourable Munaza Hassan (Pakistan), Chair of the Climate Change Committee of the National Assembly; the Honourable Fadli Zon (Indonesia), Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee of the House of Representatives; the Honourable Japhet Miriti Kareke Mbiuki (Kenya), Chair of the Environment & Natural Resources Committee of the National Assembly; the Honourable Maia Bitadze (Georgia), Chair of the Environmental Protection And Natural Resources Committee of the Parliament; Alisha Todd, Director General of ParlAmericas, and Rafael Jimenez Aybar, Environmental Democracy Adviser of WFD.

In support of the statement, Senator Rosa Galvez commented that “the pandemic has curtailed the full exercise of democratic activities which have yet to return to full capacity, thus reducing adequate measures to hold governments accountable for their climate promises. This is why it is so important to prioritize public empowerment, and as parliamentarians, we have a critical role in ensuring adequate frameworks and programs are in place to guarantee access to information, education and public participation in the development and implementation of climate legislation and policies.”

Read the full statement here.

Parliamentary staff from various Latin American countries met virtually on July 19, for the 1st Meeting of the Gender Equality Staff Network.

The objective of this parliamentary staff network is to accompany the work carried out by the Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality (PNGE), in which legislators from across the hemisphere exchange knowledge and good practices on important issues such as women’s economic empowerment, the eradication of gender-based political violence, electoral reforms to promote women’s candidacies, among others.

During this meeting, the participants committed to aligning agendas and promoting collaborative networking to identify and work on common priorities for the region. In addition, they agreed to develop a work plan in the upcoming months, which will consider the challenges and positive experiences in their parliamentary work.

In her welcoming remarks, Member of the Chamber of Deputies Maya Fernández Allende (Chile) stated that the staff network “is an adept space for exchanging experiences and learning among peers on efforts and initiatives in favor of gender equality in the parliaments of the hemisphere.” She invited the attendees to promote this “community of parliamentary staff members, committed to promoting equal opportunities for all our fellow citizens.”

To learn more about ParlAmericas work visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

In collaboration with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), ParlAmericas and parliamentarians from Canada, Indonesia, Georgia, Kenya and Pakistan have published a statement highlighting the urgent need for public empowerment to be a top priority at COP26 and underscoring its role in ensuring the overall success of the Paris Agreement.

The statement recognizes the six components of Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE), a term adopted by the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to refer to work under Article 6 of the Convention (1992) and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement, to empower all members of society to engage in climate action through education, training, public awareness, public participation, public access to information, and international cooperation on these issues. It suggests that a recommitment to the role all of society can play in climate action is perfectly suited for this moment following the threats to democracy presented by responses to COVID-19. It also outlines the need to strengthen climate governance and ensure greater participation of and engagement in action to address climate change, and recognizes the important role that parliaments play in these efforts, as recently explored in the 5^th Gathering of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change.

The signatories to the statement are Senator the Honourable Rosa Galvez (Canada), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change; the Honourable Munaza Hassan (Pakistan), Chair of the Climate Change Committee of the National Assembly; the Honourable Fadli Zon (Indonesia), Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee of the House of Representatives; the Honourable Japhet Miriti Kareke Mbiuki (Kenya), Chair of the Environment & Natural Resources Committee of the National Assembly; the Honourable Maia Bitadze (Georgia), Chair of the Environmental Protection And Natural Resources Committee of the Parliament; Alisha Todd, Director General of ParlAmericas, and Rafael Jimenez Aybar, Environmental Democracy Adviser of WFD.

In support of the statement, Senator Rosa Galvez commented that “the pandemic has curtailed the full exercise of democratic activities which have yet to return to full capacity, thus reducing adequate measures to hold governments accountable for their climate promises. This is why it is so important to prioritize public empowerment, and as parliamentarians, we have a critical role in ensuring adequate frameworks and programs are in place to guarantee access to information, education and public participation in the development and implementation of climate legislation and policies.”

Read the full statement here.

Following the assassination of the President of Haiti on July 7, 2021 ParlAmericas expresses its deepest sorrow and solidarity with the People of Haiti.

With recognition of the universal principle of sovereignty, ParlAmericas urges for the upholding of peaceful dialogue between democratic and civic actors and institutions at this distressing time. Violence has no place in democratic societies and must be condemned in all its forms.

ParlAmericas is holding the 5th Gathering of its Network on Climate Change titled “Addressing Inequalities to Enable Climate Ambition: A Just Transition to Achieve the Paris Agreement,” organized with the Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the Senate of Mexico. The gathering will bring together parliamentarians from more than 20 countries in the Americas and the Caribbean, as well as parliamentary staff, specialists in the field and representatives of civil society and youth organizations from the entire hemisphere.

The first session of the gathering, held on June 4, was dedicated to an inter-parliamentary dialogue to analyze strategies to promote inclusive climate action, incorporating intersectional and gender-responsive approaches to promoting a just transition. The session was moderated by the Honourable Rosa Galvez (Canada), Senator and Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change (PNCC) for North America, and included the participation of specialists Enrico Botta, Coordinator of the Green Growth and Global Relations Committee at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Claudia de Windt, Founding Partner and CEO of the Inter-American Institute on Justice and Sustainability; Samantha Smith, Director of the Just Transition Centre of the International Trade Union Confederation; and Eduardo Uribe-Botero, Director of Grupo Energía Bogotá.

In addition, on June 15, a discussion was held with parliamentarians and representatives of civil society and youth organizations in collaboration with the regional offices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to exchange ideas on inclusive climate action incorporating intersectional approaches and social consultation processes, and on the importance of the Action for Climate Empowerment approach as a tool for strengthening citizens’ commitment to climate action. This session was moderated by Member of the Legislative Assembly Paola Vega (Costa Rica), Vice-President of the PNCC for Central America, and provided an opportunity for an interactive exchange with stakeholders to report on the work carried out by parliamentarians in relation to these issues.

The 5th Gathering will end on June 25 with a plenary session, which will include a keynote address by Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba (Mexico), special envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the 2019 Climate Change Summit, and a panel on parliamentary experiences in promoting inclusive climate action for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. In addition, elections for vacant positions in the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change will be held during the plenary session.

In reference to the theme of the 5th Gathering, the Honourable Bridgid Annisette-George (Trinidad and Tobago), Speaker of the House of Representatives and Vice-President of ParlAmericas stated that “as political leaders, we have a duty to implement an ambitious, inclusive and democratic climate agenda that honours the spirit of the 2030 Agenda of leaving no one behind. It should be a moral and ethical commitment to our children and the legacy that we will leave for future generations.”

For his part, Senator Eduardo Ramírez (Mexico), President of the Senate, stated that “the urgent fight against the effects of climate change requires that legislators incorporate intersectional and gender-responsive approaches into our parliamentary work to take into account the complex universe of inequalities experienced by the most vulnerable populations, to ensure that climate plans and just transition processes toward resilient, zero-emission economies meet their needs and do not exacerbate existing inequalities.”

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On June 2 and 3, 2021, ParlAmericas participated in the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) Global MP Exchange organized by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) which brought together legislators from Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Peru, The Gambia, Tunisia and the United States to address the importance of legislative openness and transparency in legislative institutions to create inclusive processes that ensure governments and public officials are held accountable to citizen priorities.

As part of this exchange, Member of the Chamber of Deputies Javier Macaya (Chile), President of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network (OPN) participated as a panellist in the session Improved Methods to Curb Corruption through Openness where he discussed the importance of legislative openness efforts to establish high ethical standards in public institutions and thereby strengthen citizen’s  trust. He highlighted that “to promote integrity and combat corruption, we need to motivate that behavior through public policy, a policy that considers choice architecture and a sense of responsibility of the individual as well as social oversight, meaning that as a society, we reject corruption. Thanks to the co-creation of open parliament commitments by parliamentarians, parliamentary staff and civil society, important and innovative initiatives have been developed in the Congress of Chile which have been key to strengthening our oversight mechanisms, such as the establishment of the National Congressional Budget Office which provides essential technical support for financial scrutiny.”

Additionally, Emilie Lemieux, Deputy Director for Open Parliament and Sustainable Development at ParlAmericas participated as a panellist in the session Legislative Openness in the Ongoing Pandemic Environment and discussed key reflections from parliaments in the hemisphere on their transition to virtual or hybrid sittings, the important role that digital transparency and public participation platforms played during the pandemic, and ongoing efforts to develop and implement open parliament commitments and action plans in this context. She concluded by bringing attention to the challenges posed by disinformation in this context and the need for global parliamentary collaboration to develop solutions.

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On May 17, ParlAmericas hosted a meeting of women presiding officers of Caribbean parliaments. More than half of the countries in the Anglophone Caribbean currently have a woman leading at least one of the chambers of their parliaments. The main objective of this meeting was to facilitate dialogue on the gender equality issues on national legislative agendas and strategies to advance collectively on issues of common concern. The presiding officers also explored how to further enhance the supportive ties among the community of parliamentary leaders.

The Honourable Bridgid Annisette-George (Trinidad and Tobago), Speaker of the House of Representatives and Vice-President of ParlAmericas, chaired the meeting and reflected that, “We must recognize and celebrate the positive contributions to our democracies made possible by advances in women’s political representation in CARICOM countries. Women have been positively impacting legislative agendas and decision-making, as exemplified by the women presiding officers gathered virtually today. We know that gender equality and women’s rights require not only our full attention as legislators and the active participation of our male colleagues; these objectives also require our solidarity and articulation across borders. Only with this wider support can we hope to fortify our efforts and spark greater momentum during the present challenging times.”

The Honourable Alincia Williams Grant (Antigua and Barbuda), President of the Senate and member of the ParlAmericas Board added, “The last year has not been easy. We have faced and overcome obstacles in the way we perform our jobs and in the way we reach out to our communities. Nevertheless, the critical importance of undertaking our functions in an inclusive way and with a focus on advancing women’s rights and gender equality has never been clearer. The pandemic has exacerbated and made visible existing inequalities, and we must do everything we can to eradicate these issues to the benefit of our entire populations.”

For more information on the work carried by ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On this day, Monday, May 17, parliamentarians and parliamentary staff of Latin American legislatures and civil society organizations that are part of the Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency participated in a co-creation meeting to review and update the Road Map towards Legislative Openness, which provides a framework and support for open parliament initiatives, commitments and action plans in the hemisphere.

The participants addressed topics related to the concept of open parliament and the pillars of legislative openness, namely: transparency and access to information, accountability, citizen participation and ethics and probity, and shared their thoughts on the most effective ways to implement the Road Map in the countries in the region. Among the contributions shared, they highlighted the importance of having regulatory frameworks in place for personal data protection and the fight against disinformation, ensuring accountability with disaggregated data from the national budget and actions carried out to strengthen oversight and the tracking of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, promoting inclusive participation, engaging not only civil society organizations, but also academia, the private sector and the general public, and measures to strengthen a culture of ethics and probity, such as integrity systems, sanctions against workplace and sexual harassment, as well as conflicts of interest and parliamentary floor-crossing.

Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile Javier Macaya and Mexican Senator Bertha Caraveo, President and Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network (OPN), respectively, made the opening remarks. Mr. Macaya stated that “updating the Road Map and keeping it in effect is very important, and even more so to do so with the spirit of open parliament processes in mind, that is to say, through co-creation spaces where civil society and parliamentarians can establish a dialogue and jointly determine the direction of future commitments and action plans in our countries”. This session was moderated by Member of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica Ana Lucía Delgado, First Vice-President of the OPN for Central America, who shared information about the experience of the Institutional Open Parliament Committee in Costa Rica as a strategy to ensure the sustainability of this agenda. Finally, the closing remarks were made by Member of the National Assembly of Panama Corina Cano, Second Vice-President of the OPN for Central America, who highlighted the importance of continuing to create synergies and strengthen ties between parliaments and citizens.

The process of reviewing and updating the Road Map will include the preparation of a summary of everything that was shared today, for the subsequent submission of final comments and contributions to be included in the new version of this document. Following its approval by the OPN Executive Committee, it will be released later this year.

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On Thursday, May 6, Bússola Tech, a Brazilian organization that promotes the exchange of experiences and initiatives supported by technology, hosted the webinar “The Digital Transformation of the Legislative Process” to reflect on technological innovation and the modernization of parliaments. Ms. Alisha Todd, Director General of ParlAmericas participated in this panel alongside Mr. Gustavo Sabóia Vieira, Secretary General of the Board of the Senate of Brazil; Mr. Juan Manuel Cheppi, Secretary General of the Chamber of Deputies of Argentina; and Nicolás Robinson Andrade, Director of Government Relations at Zoom Video Communications. This panel was moderated by Mr. Luís Kimaid, CEO of Bússola Tech.

This panel addressed efforts undertaken by parliaments to adapt their processes to enable remote work, modify legal provisions where necessary, and adopt new ICTs to support parliamentary processes during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also focused on the development of digital transformation strategies to strengthen the effectiveness of parliamentary work as well as transparency and participatory processes. Panellists reflected on the possible continued value of these efforts in the future, even if they were adopted as a temporary solution to address the current crisis.

Reflecting on the discussions that took place at the 3^rd Meeting of the Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament focused on technological innovation in March 2021, Ms. Todd noted that “modernization is broader than just digital transformation, as modernization efforts focus on improving the way that parliaments work to better serve citizens. This said, digital transformation plays a key role in modernization as many of our interactions these days happen in the digital sphere and therefore parliaments have an opportunity to use these tools to improve the effectiveness of parliament’s work and its accessibility to citizens.”

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On May 5 and 6, the National Assembly of Panama, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) organized the virtual workshop “Parliament’s Role in Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda,” in collaboration with ParlAmericas.

The purpose of the workshop, which was carried out with the participation of Members of the National Assembly and parliamentary staff, was to transfer knowledge about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the 2030 Agenda and socialize actions that can be promoted by parliaments for their achievement. In addition, Emilie Lemieux, Deputy Director of Open Parliament and Sustainable Development and Maria Boada, Climate Change Program Officer at ParlAmericas, gave a presentation on the role of parliaments in the implementation of the SDGs, which included good practices from parliaments in the hemisphere.

Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Panama Fernando Arce, who participated in the inauguration of the workshop on behalf of ParlAmericas, stated that “as legislators, we have a responsibility to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs through our role in legislation, supervision, budgetary allocation and representation. Parliamentary work is essential to advancing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals and to meeting citizens’ demands and building fairer and more inclusive societies in which no one is left behind.”

This activity is part of a broader program carried out by the Parliamentary Office for the Monitoring and Implementation of the SDGs of the National Assembly of Panama to support the exchange of knowledge and the development of new tools to promote parliamentary activities for advancing the 2030 Agenda. A parliamentary meeting had been previously organized on January 19, 2021, in collaboration with ParlAmericas, during which Members of the National Assembly of Panama discussed and shared their knowledge about mechanisms to better integrate parliamentary activities with the goals of the 2030 Agenda. Afterwards, a technical meeting for the staff of the National Assembly of Panama, organized by ParlAmericas, was held on February 24 to address a series of good practices that are being carried out in other parliaments in order to share lessons learned and ideas to lay the foundation for advancing the SDGs. Lastly, on April 20, the International Relations Unit of the National Assembly of Panama organized a meeting for Members of the National Assembly and parliamentary staff, in collaboration with ParlAmericas, to introduce a new tool developed to track the SDGs in legislative committees.

For more information on our work, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

The ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change participated in the Global Virtual Conference on Catalysing Parliamentary Action to Fight Climate Change organized by the Inter Pares EU Global Project to Strengthen the Capacity of Parliaments which took place over the course of May 11 and 12, 2021.

This conference aimed to share good European and international practices and lessons learned on parliamentary action on climate change with practitioners and other parliaments around the world and exposed participants to a range of parliamentary innovations on climate change, highlighting the key areas of parliamentary responsibility, including legislation, oversight, representation, and the national budget.

Member of the Legislative Assembly Paola Vega (Costa Rica), Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change for Central America participated in the session on Regional and Global Parliamentary Action, moderated by Emilie Lemieux, Deputy Director – Open Parliament and Sustainable Development at ParlAmericas. The session also brought together Malini Mehra, CEO of the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) and Michael Scoullos, Secretary-General of the Circle of Mediterranean Parliamentarians for Sustainable Development on the ways through which these networks foster enhanced parliamentary action on environmental issues.

On the challenges currently faced by parliamentarians in the region, Ms. Vega noted that “while the pandemic has taken hold, climate change will not be put on pause; on the contrary its effects can now be doubly catastrophic. In Latin America, we’ve seen a rise in a discourse that has introduced a false opposition between economic development and the environment that needs to be confronted. This is why it’s important that through these spaces and networks for the exchange of knowledge and experiences, we work to raise awareness and provide information to establish priorities and favour an informed evidence-based dialogue.”

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On 13 May, the Honourable Bridgid Annisette-George (Trinidad and Tobago), Speaker of the House of Representatives and Vice-President of ParlAmericas, and Member of the Legislative Assembly  Paola Vega (Costa Rica), Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Climate Change Network for Central America, will represent ParlAmericas in the panel Unifying climate risk data at the national level to be held as part of Latin America Climate Week 2021.

The event, organised by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the United Nations University and the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative, will explore the value and challenges of unifying climate risk data, the development of climate risk profiles and the experiences and lessons from Latin American and Caribbean countries and cities, among other topics related to climate risk data.

Speaking on the importance of such data in the context of small island states, the Honourable Bridgid Annisette-George (Trinidad and Tobago) noted that “as we continue to face the climate emergency, Small Island Developing States will have to continue to battle many crises simultaneously. It is therefore of critical importance that we have data to better understand the scale of risk and allows us to better prepare for future hazards and adapt to the effects of our changing climate. As legislators we can support this endeavour by encouraging the use and collection of data on disaster risk.”

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament Paola Vega (Costa Rica), stated that “collecting gender-disaggregated data is a key element to ensure that legislation is not gender-neutral and, on the contrary, recognises the differential impacts that the effects of climate change have on girls and women”.

The event will contribute to the catalytic role of the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) and the Technical Expert Group on Comprehensive Risk Management (TEG-CRM) in promoting comprehensive risk management to avoid, minimise or address the residual/unavoidable impacts of climate change.

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

In the context of this pandemic, transparency and access to information are crucial to building bridges between the government and citizens to address these challenges through a greater culture of accountability and citizen participation. These issues are especially relevant in the parliamentary sphere because of its proximity to the problems and needs of citizens, who also demand a greater role in decision-making and in the construction of their own future.

That is why, following the approval by the OAS Annual Assembly of the Inter-American Model Law 2.0 on Access to Public Information in October 2020, it is important to share its nature and scope with parliamentarians and parliamentary staff of the Americas and the Caribbean, international specialists, and transparency enforcement bodies, and to create new spaces for cooperation.

To contribute to this, the parliaments of the Americas and the Caribbean, ParlAmericas, the Transparency and Access to Information Network (RTA), the European Union’s EUROsociAL+ programme and the Organisation of American States (OAS) will hold the webinar “Inter-American Model Law 2.0 on Access to Public Information for the Parliaments of the Americas and the Caribbean.”

The event will include a presentation on the Inter-American Model Law 2.0 on Access to Public Information, which is intended to serve as a hemispheric reference to further advance in strengthening standards of transparency and access to information for the benefit of citizens in the region. The panel Reflections on national experiences will be moderated by the expert María José Méndez, EUROsociAL+ consultant, and will include the participation of Caroline Maynard, Information Commissioner of Canada; Gloria de la Fuente, President of the Council for Transparency of Chile; and Senator Ranard Eric Henfield of The Bahamas, Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network for the Caribbean. The panel will promote the exchange of good legislative practices for transparency and access to information, aspects that are part of the Legislative Transparency Toolkit, developed by ParlAmericas, EUROsociAL+, and the RTA.

On this toolkit, Felice Zaccheo, Head of Unit for Mexico, Central America, Caribbean and Regional Operations, DG International Partnerships of the European Commission, pointed out that it is a tool that contains numerous contributions from European legislatures, including the European Parliament, the Parliaments of Estonia, the United Kingdom, Georgia, Italy, Spain, France and Norway, and “valuable contributions from legislatures in Latin America and other regions of the world, which makes it a truly global effort for knowledge management and the exchange of best practices.”

Senator Bertha Alicia Caraveo Camarena (Mexico), Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network for North America, stressed that “for ParlAmericas, transparency and access to information are central pillars of an open parliament, which is why these issues are at the heart of our institutional agenda. Offering this type of informed dialogue to parliamentarians from the Americas and the Caribbean, in which they can familiarise themselves with the Model Law and strengthen the collaboration with the enforcement bodies on access to information issues, is fundamental.”

Gabriel Delpiazzo Antón, president of the RTA, said that “with more transparent parliaments, greater citizen participation is achieved and trust is restored for a more democratic society.”

Member of Parliament Ana Lucia Delgado (Costa Rica), Vice President of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network for Central America explained that “the adoption or updating of laws on access to public information is a task that cannot be postponed as it responds to our commitments to transparency and openness. Having first-hand knowledge of the proposals and standards developed by the OAS is an excellent opportunity for legislators in the Americas and the Caribbean to articulate our work on these issues.”

You can find the agenda of the webinar in this link.

For more information about our work, see our respective websites and social media: ParlAmericas (website and Twitter); RTA (website and Twitter) and EUROsociAL+ (website and Twitter).

On April 27, 2021, Member of the National Assembly of Ecuador Elizabeth Cabezas, immediate past president of ParlAmericas, participated as a panellist in the Regional review meeting on the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration in Latin America and the Caribbean, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). She joined specialists, government officials, and representatives of international organizations to share her experiences at a round table on “Addressing irregular migration, including through managing borders and combating transnational crime.”

Certain key issues were discussed at the table regarding the way in which the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the vulnerability of migrant population groups who already face discrimination based on gender, race, sexual orientation, and nationality, among other factors. In addition, participants discussed the importance of consular and international cooperation to improve access to protective services and justice for migrants, in order to reduce the number of human trafficking victims. Lastly, they discussed the need to strengthen mechanisms to ensure the dignified and safe return and re-admission of migrants, according to the principle of non-refoulement and the prohibition of collective expulsion under international human rights law.

Based on the panellists’ dialogue and contributions, recommendations were made for countries in the region highlighting the need to provide greater support to populations that are more vulnerable to human trafficking due to the increase in poverty and unemployment caused by COVID-19. Participants also underscored the importance of cooperation at the national level between the different levels of governance and civil society, as well as at the international level, to identify transnational crime networks and ensure access to justice and protective services for victims.

Member of the National Assembly of Ecuador Elizabeth Cabezas highlighted the representative role of parliaments in the continuous discussions between specialists and civil society groups working on the issue, regional government authorities, and migrants, to ensure that migrant safety and protection strategies are effective. The Member of the National Assembly of Ecuador added that another one of their commitments as parliamentarians is to adopt dynamic legislation focused on funding resources for migrant assistance and safety, according to local needs, and in line with the objectives of international strategies for combating transnational organized crime.

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On Tuesday, April 20, the International Relations Unit of the National Assembly of Panama and Smartly Social Entrepreneurship in SDGs organized a meeting, in collaboration with ParlAmericas, to introduce a new tool developed to track the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in legislative committees. This initiative is tailored towards the parliamentarians and parliamentary staff and is carried out as part of the efforts initiated by the National Assembly of Panama to advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in their legislative activities.

On this occasion, Álvaro Terán, Parliamentary Relations Coordinator at ParlAmericas moderated the panel, which consisted of Evangelina Colli, Director of Localizing the SDGs and Coordinator of the Local Parliament Network on the SDGs, and Analía Pastran, Executive Director of Smartly Social Enterprise on the SDGs.  They provided a detailed presentation on the importance of using this technical tool for identifying and implementing the SDGs in the work carried out by legislative committees. In their presentation, they also highlighted the significant role played by the parliamentary staff of legislative committees and the importance of strengthening their capacity to effectively implement and monitor the SDGs in committee activities.

This activity is part of a broader program carried out by the Parliamentary Office for the Monitoring and Implementation of the SDGs of the National Assembly of Panama to support the exchange of knowledge and the development of new tools to promote parliamentary activities that advance the 2030 Agenda. The National Assembly of Panama held an earlier parliamentary meeting on January 19, 2021, in collaboration with ParlAmericas, during which Members of the National Assembly discussed and shared their knowledge about mechanisms to better integrate parliamentary activities with the goals of the 2030 Agenda. Afterwards, ParlAmericas organized a technical meeting for the parliamentary staff of the National Assembly of Panama, which was held on February 24  and sought to explore a series of good practices that are being implemented by  parliaments across the region. This event encouraged parliamentary staff to share lessons learned and ideas which would lay the foundation for advancing the SDGs in their parliaments.

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On April 19, ParlAmericas will host the Working Meeting of Caribbean Presiding Officers on Open Parliament which will bring together parliamentarians and clerks from 8 countries in the Caribbean to identify key priorities and corresponding challenges for openness reforms in accordance with the Road Map towards Legislative Openness, which is currently being updated through a collaborative process. It will aim to contribute to the development of a strategy to support the implementation of these legislative openness priorities by member parliaments in the Caribbean.

The Honourable Bridgid Annisette-George (Trinidad and Tobago), Speaker of the House of Representatives and Vice-President of ParlAmericas noted that “as parliamentarians, our institutions are at the core of democratic systems, and ensuring that we are open to our citizens is critical to building trust in public institutions and contributing to public policies and services that benefit all sectors of our populations. This is even more important in crisis situations like the pandemic we face today, and the increasing amount of disasters caused by natural hazards that affect our countries, which require swift and efficient government action that can only take place when the public has a certain level of trust in its institutions.”

“This is why it is so critical for our parliaments to prioritize initiatives that strengthen the openness of democratic institutions by implementing mechanisms (or reinforcing the mechanisms we have in place) to ensure transparency and access to public information, the accountability of democratic institutions, the participation of citizens in legislative decision-making, and a culture of ethical behaviour in our national legislatures. This meeting will allow us to identify common priorities, regional successes and concerns and then contribute to a joint work plan to advance the aforementioned initiatives across all of our parliaments,” added Senator, the Honourable Ranard Eric Henfield (The Bahamas), Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network for the Caribbean.

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

ParlAmericas expresses its solidarity with the people and government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for the destruction caused by the recent eruption of the La Soufrière volcano, and especially with the surrounding communities affected by this event.

On behalf of ParlAmericas we wish to convey our deep regret concerning the situation that has transpired and our hope that the people who live in areas around the volcano can find refuge through the evacuation procedures adopted by the government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the regional support operations that are responding and helping to reduce the damages that this natural hazard may cause. ParlAmericas reaffirms its commitment to measures that favour the management of disaster risk and call for cooperation to address this situation.

ParlAmericas celebrated the 5th Gathering of its Open Parliament Network entitled “Countering Disinformation to Promote Responsible Public Discourse”, which was hosted by the Parliament of Canada. The gathering brought together parliamentarians from 26 countries, alongside parliamentary staff, subject-matter experts, and representatives of civil society organisations and youth organisations from across the hemisphere for a working session in English-French on March 15, and in Spanish-Portuguese on March 19, as well as a closing plenary session on March 26.

The Honourable Anthony Rota (Canada), Speaker of the House of Commons, in his opening remarks noted that “the topic of the 5th Gathering of ParlAmericas’ Open Parliament Network could not be more timely or relevant. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the public has relied on online resources to remain informed about the virus and the pandemic (…) Disinformation during a global pandemic can endanger public health and safety, especially if people believe false prevention measures or treatments, or if their trust in health services and public institutions is undermined.”

In addition, the Honourable Pierrette Ringuette (Canada), Speaker Pro Tempore of the Senate, stressed that “disinformation campaigns during an election can have a range of harmful impacts. For example, the disinformation spread through such concerted campaigns can obscure legitimate information for voters, polarize social discourse, and weaken confidence in the electoral process.”

From her perspective, Senator Blanca Ovelar (Paraguay), President of ParlAmericas, contributed that “we decided to dedicate this 5th Gathering of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network to analyse the phenomenon of disinformation and its different effects, recognising that the globalised and multifaceted nature of this problem requires a coordinated and collaborative approach.”

Through these sessions, participants engaged in dialogues around the harmful effects of disinformation and computational propaganda, including the proliferation of hate speech, undue interference in electoral processes, limits to political participation, delegitimization of government actions and campaigns, and the deterioration of democratic dialogue, which threatens peace and security. These dialogues were supported by experts including Professor Taylor Owen, Beaverbrook Chair in Media Ethics and Communications of the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University; Professor Marco Aurelio Ruediger, Director of Public Policy Analysis at Fundación Getúlio Vargas; Nazima Raghubir, First Vice-President of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers; Laura Zommer, Executive Director at Chequeado; Pedro Vaca Villarreal, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; Sandra Pepera, Daniel Arnaudo and Victoria Welborn, of the National Democratic Institute; Micaela Mantegna, Professor at Universidad de San Andres and Research Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center in Harvard University; Amalia Toledo, Consultant on Gender and Technology; and Professor Elena Gil González, Professor at Instituto de Empresa Law School.

It also included a high-level panel moderated by Senator, the Honourable Ranard Henfield (The Bahamas) and featuring Catalina Botero Marino, Member of the Facebook Oversight Board; Lucina Di Meco, Gender Equality Expert and Co-founder of #ShePersisted Global; and Member of Parliament Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Canada), Member of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation, which fostered a proactive discussion around the most pernicious effects of disinformation, including gender-based violence, and presented  innovative initiatives to address this issue, such as Facebook’s Oversight Board and the International Grand Committee on Disinformation.

The Gathering concluded with reports from parliamentary delegations on the progress achieved to implement the commitments presented at the previous Gathering which have been published on ParlAmericas’ Open Parliament Commitment Tool, as well as present new commitments that they intend to implement over the next year. A final declaration stressing parliamentary commitments to address disinformation in the hemisphere was adopted and the results for the election of the OPN Executive committee were announced.

In conclusion, Member of the Chamber of Deputies Javier Macaya (Chile), President-elect of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network, commented that “I am certain that we are leaving this meeting with a better understanding of a complex contemporary phenomena, with a renewed commitment to democratic principles of transparency, freedom and inclusion, and with better tools to support our ongoing efforts to strengthen governance and tackle this issue.”

All meeting materials, including panellist presentations can be accessed on the ParlAmericas website.  A final report outlining the discussions held within the various working sessions will be published in the coming weeks.

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

ParlAmericas celebrated the 3^rd Meeting of the Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament, which was hosted by the Parliament of Canada on March 22. It brought together parliamentary staff from 19 countries in the Americas and the Caribbean along with subject matter experts to exchange experiences and good practices on technological innovation.

Senator Silvia Giacoppo (Argentina), ParlAmericas Board Member, opened the meeting indicating that “in the path to legislative openness, it is imperative we strengthen the efforts to include innovative technological tools that improve our legislative work as well as our effort to better represent citizens.” In his welcome remarks, Mr. Blair Armitage (Canada), Clerk Assistant of the Senate Committees, added that “the Open Parliament Network and ParlAmericas are essential spaces for building mutual understanding and cooperation not only within the region itself, but between the Americas and the Caribbean and other countries around the world.”

The meeting provided opportunities for parliamentary staff to engage in a dialogue with peers and experts around a series of relevant topics through working groups focused on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, maximizing resources, and virtual parliamentary sessions. It also included a Panel on Technological Innovation in Parliaments with Dr. Tiago Peixoto, Senior Public Sector Specialist from the Governance Global Practice at the World Bank; Ms. María Paz Hermosilla, Director of the Public Innovation Lab (GobLab), from the School of Governance at the University Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile; Mr. Diego Subero, Consultant in the Cybersecurity Program from the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism at the Organization of American States; and Mr. Chris Beall, Policy Lead in the Governance Platform at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. The panel explored strategies to promote technological innovation, for example through collective and artificial intelligence, and strengthen cybersecurity, while continuing to support openness and counter disinformation.

To conclude the meeting, Luis Rojas (Chile), Deputy Secretary General of the Chamber of Deputies, noted the importance and value of these exchanges to improve parliaments’ efficiency, recognizing that “our legislatures have been working exhaustively to incorporate technological tools in parliamentary work, and this is in great part thanks to the wonderful work that parliamentary staff like yourselves do everyday.”

All meeting materials, including panelist presentations can be accessed on the ParlAmericas website.  A final report outlining the discussions held within the various working groups will be published in the coming weeks.

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On March 25, within the framework of the 65th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Inter-American Task Force on Women’s Leadership and the Summits of the Americas Secretariat of the OAS, with the support of the Government of Canada, are organizing the virtual side-event “Accelerating efforts towards the achievement of SDG 5.5 from the Americas” to inspire commitments and concrete actions in support of women’s leadership throughout the region.

During this session, the Inter-American Award for Good Practices in Women’s Leadership will be launched, seeking to recognize, highlight, and amplify public policies as well as initiatives from the private sector and civil society that promote increased representation of women in leadership positions.

The event will include welcoming remarks from the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada), a keynote presentation by Vice-President Epsy Campbell (Costa Rica), and a dialogue among government officials, private sector representatives, and civil society organizations who will discuss their work to promote women’s leadership across different sectors and areas of power and decision-making.

This high-level discussion will also include the participation of the Honorable Valerie Woods (Belize),  Speaker of the House of Representatives; Senator Martha L. Micher (Mexico); and Member of Congress Sonia M. Gutierrez (Guatemala). The parliamentarians and other panellists will present on their countries’ advances in terms of women’s political leadership, and they will offer reflections on the challenges the region faces towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5.5 on ensuring women’s full and effective leadership in political, economic, and public decision-making.

ParlAmericas is a founding member of the Inter-American Task Force on Women’s Leadership.

For more information about the work of ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

ParlAmericas officially began the celebration of its 20th anniversary last week in the framework of the 5th Gathering of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network. Twenty years ago this month, in March 2001, the Parliament of Canada hosted the meeting at which the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas (FIPA; as ParlAmericas was known until 2011) was formally created by parliamentarians from across the Americas and the Caribbean to serve as a space for inter-parliamentary exchange and cooperation on issues of hemispheric concern.

“It was always a concept of mine and colleagues of mine that [Canada] was not sufficiently active in the Americas and we were becoming more and more active in what we called parliamentary diplomacy … and from there it was natural that we should be active in trying to establish a forum in the Americas that Canada could participate in – and, as it would turn out, provide the leadership role in forming – an organization that would bring parliamentarians together and allow parliamentary diplomacy to take place with the Americas and with the Caribbean, thus enhancing our relationship in the Americas,” said the inaugural President of FIPA the Honourable Bill Graham, former Canadian parliamentarian and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons in 2001, on the impetus for Canada’s leading role in establishing FIPA.

In commemoration of this landmark occasion, and as a tribute to its role in ParlAmericas’ founding, the Parliament of Canada is hosting the OPN Gathering, which is taking place virtually throughout the month of March. The Honourable Anthony Rota (Canada), Speaker of the House of Commons, the Honourable George Furey (Canada), Speaker of the Senate, along with members of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas shared  video messages that commenced the anniversary celebrations and invited parliamentary participation in the Gathering. ParlAmericas also premiered a digital timeline at the opening sessions of the Gathering, which details significant milestones in the institution’s history.

Throughout its 20 years, ParlAmericas has significantly expanded its role in the region, its network of partnerships and collaborations, and the ways in which it continues to uphold its founding mission of facilitating inter-parliamentary exchange on hemispheric priorities. The institution develops tailored resources, provides technical assistance, and coordinates activities related to its three key program pillars: gender equality, open parliament, and climate change. ParlAmericas’ work remains governed by and for parliamentarians, with members of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of each programmatic pillar elected in representation of each sub-region of the hemisphere.

Reflecting on the institution’s growth, Senator Blanca Ovelar (Paraguay), President of ParlAmericas, shared the following message: “ParlAmericas has become one of the foremost spaces for parliamentary diplomacy in our hemisphere, allowing for rich dialogue and the sharing of parliamentary good practices on themes that are crucial to sustainable development, equal growth, and good governance in the Americas and the Caribbean. This dynamic working space provides access to expertise and resources that support all parliamentarians and legislatures in successfully carrying out our roles in achieving each of these objectives. It is an honour to be part of this organization and I extend my congratulations to all who have contributed to ParlAmericas’ past and future success.”

The celebration of ParlAmericas’ 20^th anniversary will continue throughout this year, in alignment with each of the organization’s major hemispheric gatherings. This will include the launch of a series of video interviews with leaders and partners who have contributed to ParlAmericas’ work throughout the last two decades.

For further information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, and to follow the rest of our 20th anniversary celebrations, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On March 17, 2021, Senator Blanca Ovelar (Paraguay), President of ParlAmericas, participated as a panellist in the fourth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). She joined specialists, government officials, and representatives of civil society to share their experiences in a round table discussion on the topic of “Health and the economy – a false dichotomy?”.

The objective of the panel was to reflect on the responses of the region’s countries to the COVID-19 pandemic, the strengthening of health systems and emergency social protection programs, and the sustainability of these measures in a context of limited fiscal space and rising debt in the region, as well as difficulties in procuring, distributing and administering vaccines.

The dialogue highlighted various perspectives including the importance of ensuring the health of society as the basis for a strong economy and the critical role that interregional cooperation plays in achieving a fair distribution of vaccines. The panellists also commented on the urgency of addressing climate change, loss of biodiversity, and environmental degradation to prevent the appearance or reappearance of zoonotic diseases and reduce their prevalence and intensity, in order to avert a major crisis through a green and inclusive economic recovery. Finally, participants commented on the need to build resilience and adequately prepare for a future pandemic, by installing anticipatory governance.

In her remarks, Senator Ovelar underscored that “the role of the legislative powers in this context of a health, economic and social crisis is fundamental to make public policy decisions that are based on evidence and that respond to the public’s needs. As parliamentarians, we have the crucial role of exercising political control over government responses to COVID-19, and evaluating and passing emergency legislation that allocates national funds to meet the needs of the populations we represent. We also have the responsibility to promote transparency around global and national measures related to COVID-19, a key aspect in maintaining the public’s trust in the government’s actions to address the pandemic, and in ensuring that citizens receive the information they need.”

To learn more about the work of ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On March 8, Karina Arteaga, Member of the National Assembly of Ecuador and South American Vice-president of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality, will be organizing with the collaboration of ParlAmericas the event: “The impact of COVID-19 on the roles of a woman leader.” The event will address topics such as the impacts of COVID-19 on women specifically, the increase of domestic violence while social isolating, the threats for women’s economic autonomy in times of crisis, and the challenges female political leaders face during the pandemic.

The event will feature opening remarks by Ms. Arteaga and interventions by Member of Congress Arlette Contreras (Peru) and the Honorable Alternate Member of the National Assembly Ana Irene Delgado (Panama). The panel will be moderated by Ms. Nadia Ramos, Executive Director of the Centro de Liderazgo e Innovación para Mujeres de las Américas (Centre for Leadership and Innovation for Women in the Americas).

This event will take place within the International Women’s Day framework, to create a space for discussion and to encourage reflections about topics that are critical for all of society, while also integrating gender issues into public policies responding to the pandemic crisis.

For more information about the work of ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On Wednesday, February 24, ParlAmericas and the International Relations Unit of the National Assembly of Panama held a parliamentary staff meeting entitled “Accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the Assembly of Panama.” The objective of the meeting was to explore a series of good practices being implemented by other parliaments to advance the 2030 Agenda from a technical perspective. The goal was to share experiences and ideas that would help support the development of similar initiatives in the National Assembly of Panama to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This event took place in follow-up to the parliamentary meeting held on January 19, during which members of the National Assembly of Panama discussed and deepened their knowledge of the mechanisms needed to better integrate parliamentary activities with the goals of the Agenda.

The Honourable Member of the National Assembly Fernando Arce (Panama), President of the Foreign Relations Committee and ParlAmericas Board Member, presented opening remarks and expressed his hope that, “within the National Assembly of Panama, as parliamentarians and parliamentary staff, we work together to build and strengthen the dynamics, principles, relations, and institutions that allow every person to participate in social, economic, cultural and political life based on equal rights, equality, and dignity.”

The meeting was moderated by Mr. Cristóbal Campos of the National Directorate for the Promotion of Citizen Participation of the National Assembly of Panama. Moreover, there were presentations from subject-matter specialists who lead the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in their respective parliaments, including Member of the National Assembly Pabel Muñoz (Ecuador), Coordinator of the Parliamentary Group for the Eradication of Poverty and SDG Compliance of the National Assembly of Ecuador; Ms. Isabel Zúñiga Quiros, Head of the Legislative Research Center of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica; Mr. René Villasboa, Director General of the Legislative Observatory of the Chamber of Senators of Paraguay; and Mr. José María Hernández Vallejo, Technical Secretary of the Working Group for the Continuation of the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico.

During the meeting, Ms. María Gabriela Graell, Director of the International Relations Unit of the National Assembly of Panama commented that “it is fundamental to implement a strategy among parliamentary staff and, above all, exchange good practices with countries of the region.”

The presentations were followed by a space for dialogue between participants. The meeting concluded with closing remarks by Mr. Quibián Panay, Secretary General of the National Assembly of Panama, who emphasized that “all these alliances aim to strengthen legislation and build capacity for all parliamentary actors to generate more sustainable initiatives. However, it is important to realize that none of this would be possible without the hard work of a committed team of parliamentary staff who, from their positions, make it possible for all these initiatives to come to fruition. Behind the political will of parliamentarians there is always a team of parliamentary staff supporting and advising them from their knowledge and experience.”

This meeting is part of a broader program being carried out by the Parliamentary Office for the Monitoring and Implementation of the SDGs of the National Assembly of Panama, which will continue to work with parliamentary actors and strategic partners to support the exchange of knowledge and the development of new tools for the promotion of parliamentary work aligned with achieving the 2030 Agenda.

For further information on ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On February 24^th, 2021 the Honourable Bridgid Annisette-George (Trinidad and Tobago), Speaker of the House of Representatives and Vice-President of ParlAmericas provided welcoming remarks for the regional launch of the initiative “Making Cities Resilient 2030” (MCR2030) in the Americas and Caribbean, organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.

This event brought together representatives of UNDRR, youth leaders, local government officials, academia, national governments, and MCR partners to discuss the importance of improving urban resilience and sustainability in the region, as well as the manner in which the newly launched initiative, MCR2030, could help achieve this. MCR2030 is a global partnership that aims to strengthen local resilience by improving cities’ understanding of risk and strengthening their capacity to develop and implement inclusive local strategies to manage disaster risk, all while promoting vertical and horizontal integration between different levels of government and strategic partners.

Speaker Annisette-George highlighted during her intervention the critical role that parliaments have within this endeavour, sharing that “as MCR2030 highlights, climate governance is essential. In order to build the overall resilience of our countries, our communities must have the proper tools and resources to understand disaster risk and create holistic disaster management plans. As parliamentarians, we are the elected representatives of our people, and we have the responsibility to ensure that our actions and decisions are reflective and responsive to the diverse needs of our constituents. This naturally calls on us to work with our local government institutions, legislatures and members of the community.”

For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On November 13, 2020 and January 29, 2021, ParlAmericas and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) held two virtual sessions for members of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, members of the National Congress of Honduras, and members of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala as part of the series Experiences of Legislative Modernization in Latin America. The purpose of these activities was to provide parliamentarians from northern Central American countries with practical knowledge on legislative modernization, facilitate the exchange of experiences with parliamentarians from other Latin American countries, identify basic elements required to establish an inter-parliamentary agenda for legislative modernization, and promote collaboration between the parliaments of the three Central American countries.

The first meeting, held on November 13, 2020, was inaugurated by Member of the National Assembly Elizabeth Cabezas (Ecuador), President of ParlAmericas, who highlighted the importance of legislative modernization in the current situation: “The modernization and strengthening of parliamentary work is essential because it allows us to improve and continue fulfilling our legislative, representation, and oversight duties. In complicated contexts, such as those we are currently facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the role played by legislators is crucial to achieving an economic recovery that meets the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.”

Mr. Eduardo Núñez Vargas, Director of NDI’s Regional Program for Central America, also welcomed the participants and highlighted opportunities for parliaments to innovate and adapt: “The pandemic has made it necessary to innovate so that parliaments can continue to play their strategic roles. This situation should be seen as an opportunity to align the demands of our current context with medium- and long-term approaches to parliamentary reform and modernization as a tool for adapting to change and as a way to establish new foundations for the relationship between parliaments and citizens.” Mr. Núñez Vargas also moderated the session, which included presentations on reforms for strengthening institutions from a comparative perspective, as well as the cases of Ecuador and Argentina. Ms. Pamela Lozano, an invited panellist and legislative openness specialist, highlighted modernization processes in public administration carried out in Latin America and how related laws and policies have also contributed to recent efforts by parliaments to transition to remote sessions. Member of the National Assembly César Solórzano (Ecuador), Vice-President of the National Assembly and member of the Open Parliament Group, shared his thoughts on the opportunities and challenges related to implementing virtual plenary sessions in the National Assembly to adapt parliamentary work to the context of the pandemic. He also commented on the recent amendment of the Organic Law on Legislative Functions, highlighting its focus on strengthening the principles of ethics, accountability, and transparency. Member of the Chamber of Deputies Daniela Vilar (Argentina), President of the Special Committee for the Modernization of Parliamentary Work, presented on the progress that has been made to strengthen parliamentary functions in Argentina through the modernization program. This has included efforts to establish an open parliament, such as processes launched in November to co-create an action plan and measures to hold virtual parliamentary sessions through the approval of the Protocol for Remote Parliamentary Work of the Chamber of Deputies.

Following these presentations, Member of Congress Cornelio García (Guatemala), Member of the Legislative Assembly Anabel Belloso (El Salvador), and Member of Congress Enrique Yllescas (Honduras) shared reports on progress toward legislative modernization in their respective parliaments. They highlighted specific challenges in adopting the technologies needed to hold virtual plenary sessions and the importance of considering experiences and practices of different countries in the hemisphere in response to the pandemic as part of broader reforms. After these presentations, participating parliamentarians had the opportunity to ask the panellists questions and share additional thoughts on the topic. The session ended with closing remarks from Member of the National Assembly Cabezas and Mr. Alejandro Urizar, Director of NDI in Honduras.

The second session in this series focused on innovation and citizen participation. It was held on January 29, 2021 and included the participation of parliamentary staff from northern Central American parliaments, as well as Ambassador Rita Rudaitis-Renaud of the Canadian Embassy in Guatemala. The meeting began with welcoming remarks from Member of the Legislative Assembly Cristina Cornejo (El Salvador), a member of the ParlAmericas Board of Directors, who shared her thoughts on El Salvador’s progress in this area and highlighted that “parliaments’ ability to adapt in the context of changing political scenarios is essential to ensuring that citizen’s demands are taken into account and that effective conditions for political stability are established, especially in adverse times such as those we are currently facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In addition, Member of Congress Víctor Martínez (Honduras) shared information about the Open Parliament Committee of the National Congress of Honduras, which has provided training on openness and citizen participation tools both to members of Congress in the committee and to technical teams responsible for different parliamentary departments, with the goal of guiding the co-creation process for an open parliament action plan. Member of Congress Sofía Hernández (Guatemala), First Vice-President of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, presented on the implementation of parliamentary initiatives using information and communication technologies to expand the means used to interact with the Guatemalan population, including through social media, a television channel, and a mobile application. She also emphasized the value of the Unit for Access to Public Information as an accountability mechanism for citizens.

During the presentation on regional experiences,  Member of the Legislative Assembly Ana Lucía Delgado (Costa Rica), First Secretary of the Legislative Board of the Assembly, explained the experiences and lessons learned in relation to efforts on legislative openness and more effective citizen participation in the Legislative Assembly over the years. These have included key milestones, such as the Institutional Policy on Open Parliament approved in 2019 and the forthcoming approval of the regulations governing the Institutional Committee on Open Parliament, which will include civil society representatives, members of the Legislative Assembly, and parliamentary staff. In addition, Member of the Chamber of Deputies Vlado Mirosevic (Chile), a member of the Bicameral Transparency Group of the National Congress, emphasized the importance of initiatives to address citizen demands in the context of growing democratic tensions in the region and around the world. He highlighted strategies and significant advances made in Chile, including the Citizen Participation Regulations and Virtual Congress—a digital tool used to facilitate and increase the visibility of citizen contributions to debates on bills.

Following these presentations, participating parliamentarians shared their thoughts during a dialogue about a potential inter-parliamentary agenda for legislative modernization in northern Central American countries, moderated by Mr. Núñez Vargas and Ms. Josseline Matute, NDI Senior Program Officer. The meeting ended with closing remarks from Mr. Urizar and Ms. Natalí Casanova, Senior Program Officer of Open Parliament at ParlAmericas.

For more information, we invite you to visit the websites of ParlAmericas and NDI in Central America and follow @ParlAmericas, @NDIcentroameric, and @NDI on social media.

On February 8 and 12, 2021, the CARICOM Secretariat’s Gender and Development Programme and the UN Women Multi-Country Office for the Caribbean, along with ParlAmericas, Caribbean Women in Leadership (CIWiL), and the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the University of West Indies are organizing a preparatory meeting ahead of the 65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65), in recognition of the importance of the Caribbean region convening in a multi-stakeholder setting to establish its priorities and develop a concrete position in advance of the global proceedings.

CSW65 will take place at UN Headquarters on March 15-26, with opportunities for virtual participation; the priority theme is “Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.”

This preparatory meeting, titled Building a Coordinated Caribbean Position for CSW65, will convene ministers with responsibility for gender affairs, parliamentarians, heads of the national gender machinery, representatives of civil society, and academia. These actors will hold a focused dialogues on the CSW process, this year’s priority theme, and a CARICOM position.

The meeting will offer a variety of sessions that include a parliamentary panel on “The Impact of Women’s Leadership.” This panel will be moderated by Senator the Honourable Ranard Henfield (The Bahamas), Vice-President for the Caribbean of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament, and it will include presentations by the Honourable Pennelope Beckles (Trinidad and Tobago), MP and Minister of Housing and Urban Development; and by the Honourable Dr. Vindhya Persaud (Guyana), MP and Minister of Human Services and Social Security.

In the words of the Honorable Bridgid Annisette-George, Vice-President of ParlAmericas, “Supporting women’s leadership is a critical goal in itself, and it is also an objective that has myriad positive impacts for the inclusiveness and quality of our decision-making processes and their outputs. Collaborating with our partners in all sectors is essential to ensuring that we continue to advance women’s representation in the region, and intergovernmental processes like CSW provide an excellent opportunity for focused dialogue, reflection, and then further action.”

The outcome of this meeting will be the adoption of a CARICOM statement for CSW65 that will reinforce regional alignment and support initiatives addressing goals related to women’s political leadership, the elimination of gender violence, and the empowerment of all women and girls.

For further information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas and to participate in this meeting virtually, please use #ParlAmericasGEN.

On January 22, 2021, parliamentary staff from 15 countries in Latin America participated in a virtual meeting to reflect on the progress of legislative openness in the hemisphere and contribute to the current process of reviewing and updating the ParlAmericas Road Map towards Legislative Openness. The meeting also featured a presentation of the renewed methodology of the Latin American Legislative Transparency Index, developed since 2011 by the Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency.

Senator Blanca Ovelar (Paraguay), President of ParlAmericas, opened the meeting by highlighting that “parliamentary staff are key actors to anchor all the essential ideas that our mission promotes and to guarantee the institutionalization of all efforts towards opening parliaments.”

The first part of this activity was dedicated to advancing the process of updating the Road Map towards Legislative Openness. It was introduced by Ms. Rocío Noriega, Advisor to the Bicameral Transparency Group of the National Congress of Chile, who highlighted the usefulness of the Road Map to “facilitate the understanding of the concept of an open parliament and its pillars,” in addition to its value “during the preparation and implementation of action plans and commitments in the region.”

After a presentation on the results of a survey developed to guide the review of the Road Map by Ms. Emilie Lemieux, Deputy Director of Open Parliament and Sustainable Development at ParlAmericas, participants were divided into five working groups to further share experiences and explore ideas and good practices to strengthen this publication. These working groups were led by officials from the hemisphere’s parliaments: Mr. Waldir Bezerra Miranda, Deputy Secretary General of the Board of Directors of the Federal Senate of Brazil, led the working group on transparency and access to public information; Mrs. María Liz Sosa, Director General of Legislative Strengthening and External Cooperation of the Senate of Paraguay, led the working group on accountability; Mr. Juan Carlos Chavarría, Director of the Department of Citizen Participation of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, led the working group on citizen participation; Ms. Rocío Noriega led the working group on ethics and probity; and Mr. Mauricio Sarabia, General Coordinator of Planning of the National Assembly of Ecuador, was in charge of the working group on strategic planning.

The second part of the meeting focused on the presentation of the new methodology of the Latin American Legislative Transparency Index by the Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency and EUROsociAL+ and saw representatives of civil society organizations and international organizations join the conversation. Ms. Analina Montes, General Manager of the National Congress of Honduras, welcomed this segment of the meeting on behalf of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament and highlighted the value of the index and the importance of collaboration with civil society during the co-creation of open parliament action plans and commitments: “ParlAmericas established a Memorandum of Understanding with the Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency that includes civil society organizations in the region in order to continue consolidating closer collaborations between parliaments and civil society.” These were accompanied by welcoming remarks from Mr. Marcelo Espinel, Project Director of the Citizenship and Development Foundation, and Mr. Borja Diaz Rivillas, Good Governance Official of the Democratic Governance Area at EUROsociAL+.

Mr. Roger Celi, Coordinator of the Legislative Area of ​​the Citizenship and Development Foundation, the coordinating organization of the Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency, and Mr. Raúl Ferrada, EUROsociAL+ Consultant for the project to renew the Latin American Legislative Transparency Index, presented on the updates to the index and answered questions from participants.

Closing the meeting, Ms. María Gabriela Graell, Director of International Relations of the National Assembly of Panama, highlighted the importance of complementary tools such as the ParlAmericas Road Map towards Legislative Openness and the Legislative Transparency Index, and the relevance of spaces such as the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament for the exchange of ideas: “It is a joy to know that this network continues to strengthen and has been well received, allowing more parliaments and a broader range of internal departments to get involved and further engage in supporting open parliament initiatives.”

To learn more about ParlAmericas’ work, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.

On Tuesday, January 19, ParlAmericas and the International Relations Unit of the National Assembly of Panama held the parliamentary meeting “Accelerating implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the Assembly of Panama,” aimed at supporting the Assembly’s efforts to establish new mechanisms or practices to promote and monitor the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The meeting provided a space in which the Members of Panama’s National Assembly were able to learn about the experiences of other parliaments in the region to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The meeting was opened by the Honourable Member of the National Assembly Fernando Arce (Panama), President of the Foreign Relations Committee and ParlAmericas Board Member. Member of the National Assembly Arce stressed that “it is the right time to increase our action; the world calls upon us to rebuild better following the pandemic, and we have the opportunity to ensure that our efforts are linked to a sustainable and equitable future. In the Assembly of Panama, we have made progress and we have worked on different elements of the 2030 Agenda, but there are many opportunities to expand and strengthen these efforts to better integrate our parliamentary activities with the goals of the Agenda.”

The meeting was moderated by the Honourable Member of the National Assembly Ana Giselle Rosas (Panama), who noted that “today’s dialogue will allow us to address the efforts and the obstacles we face in our countries with a view to advancing the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, in the spirit of a collective search for solutions in the understanding that complex challenges demand innovative responses.” There was also a presentation by Member of the National Assembly Pabel Muñoz (Ecuador), Coordinator of the Parliamentary Group for the Eradication of Poverty and SDG Compliance of the National Assembly of Ecuador, who shared the experiences of Ecuador’s National Assembly in terms of its progress, achievements and challenges in the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs.

The gathering counted on the participation of the Association of Alternate parliamentarians of the National Assembly who are becoming increasingly involved in the efforts for the development of the 2030 Agenda. Furthermore, the Honourable Member of the National Assembly Melchor Herrera (Panama) stressed the importance of the parliamentary role in addressing the Agenda and the challenges they face as a result of COVID-19 and the global debate that has been generated around the effects of the pandemic.

Following the presentation, a space for dialogue was opened among the participants. The meeting concluded with the reflections of the Honourable Member of the National Assembly Edison Broce (Panama) and Maria Gabriela Graell, Director of International Relations of the National Assembly of Panama. In Member of the National Assembly Broce’s closing remarks, he stated: “I urge you to continue working as a team, because only as a team can we successfully complete several of these projects, which are not isolated, and perhaps they will not change everything from one day to the next, but taking them all together and thinking towards collective action can help us get closer to achieving the SDGs.

Finally, the Director of the International Relations Unit highlighted the participants’ willingness to make space in their day to address the issues of the Sustainable Development Goals, and invited them to continue making alliances to achieve progress in the 2030 Agenda.

For further information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, visit www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.