At the 145th Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, the Seychelles delegation briefly met with the President of the IPU, the Rt. Hon Duarte Pacheco on Wednesday 12th October. President Pacheco remarked on Seychelles’ active participation in the Union and highlighted the importance of dialogue between nations describing the IPU as a good platform for that, where different perspectives are acknowledged, and compromises found.
The Hon Speaker Mancienne addressed the IPU Assembly following his meeting with President Pacheco on the theme of the debate ‘Gender equality and gender sensitive parliaments as drivers for a more resilient and peaceful world’. Mr Speaker began his speech by recognizing the importance of women in national progress and saluted the women of Seychelles who are active contributors and participants in the public service. He did confess however, that Seychelles has much to do in encouraging women’s participation in politics, with only about 24% of women holding seats in parliament. Acknowledging the various social responsibilities placed on women in Seychelles, the Hon Speaker expressed that a natural progression to women in politics is preferable and indeed possible for Seychelles. Work has already begun to sensitize young girls of the importance of their representation and this idea is in no way objected to in the National Assembly of Seychelles nor the rest of the country.
The Assembly convened to discuss the emergency item in plenary where now, three more items were added in addition to the one already submitted by Pakistan - ‘Creation of a global fund or financing facility for climate-vulnerable countries to address loss and damage associated to climate change.’
Mr Speaker and his delegation met with the Pakistan delegation upon their request on the afternoon of Thursday 13th October. Introductions were made and much political relatability between Speaker Mancienne and Senator Mushahid were established. Senator Mushahid thanked Seychelles for supporting Pakistan’s emergency item the day before. Speaker Mancienne enquired on the progress of the recovery efforts on the devastating floods that hit Pakistan in June this year on which the emergency item originated. He also asked of the political impacts of the flood. Both parties expressed their willingness and eagerness of the partnership ahead with Senator Mushahid extending an invitation to Speaker Mancienne to visit Pakistan. Hon William and Hon Wajeeha Quamar of the National Assembly of Pakistani parliament was also present.
Speaker Mancienne and Hon William attended a Climate change workshop that afternoon. There, Mr Speaker raised concern on the increased sea-level rise, which is one of biggest concerns of the future, for Seychelles and other small island states as they are at risk of being wiped out. He called on developing countries of mass consumption and GHG emitters to consider ways of scaling down activities that enhance temperature rise. Hon. William reiterated the need to relook at the subject of financing of loss and damage to vulnerable countries, especially since the subject has been on the table for 31 years now. He expressed and highlighted the need for IPU member states to seize the opportunity at COP 27 to make headway on this matter.
The Hon Speaker Mancienne sat with the Secretary General of the IPU, Mr Martin Chungong for their first meeting on Friday 14th October. Mr. Chungong kicked the meeting off by affirming his commitment to ensuring that the IPU serves all its members in an equitable manner specifically for the SIDS and their vulnerable status to climate change. He highlighted IPU’s goal of prioritizing climate change as the real challenge to the global committee and that this could be done with more representation of SIDS in IPU’s governing structures especially when there are vacancies. This is especially needed now that more focus is given to the conflict in Ukraine. SG Chungong believes that certain global issues cannot crowd the plight of SIDS and their issues. To that, Speaker Mancienne expressed his support on the global attention on Ukraine hoping that this will increase the global commitment to peace and security. He strongly agreed that climate change is an issue that needs an increased element of follow up from the IPU and the international community, describing it as an existential issue that will outlive all armed conflict if nothing is done.
Hon. William co-chaired the second meeting as Vice Chair of the Sustainable Development Committee on Friday 14th October. The theme of debate was ‘Reconnecting local communities with a local sustainable inclusive economy to achieve the targets of SDG 8’. The discussions were very objective and saw much participation. Hon. William contributed to the discussion by explaining that reconnecting the local economic activities to a sustainable national economy to achieve the targets of SDG 8, will be good for some countries categorized as developed but problematic for others relegated into the vulnerability status by the covid pandemic.
The Africa geopolitical group met once again on Friday 14th October to discuss various concerns relating to matters of procedure. The Chair of the Africa group, Hon Speaker of Tanzania wisely decided to call this meeting to address all the issues and for a more convenient Africa group working strategy within IPU, such as the frequency of the meetings, amendments to the IPU rules, emergency items and other matters.
The Georgia delegation, comprising of 5 people including their Speaker, Hon Shalva Papuashvili, organised a meeting with the Hon Speaker Mancienne on Friday 14th October, 2022. The initial aim of the meeting for the Georgian delegation was to build bilateral cooperation between the two parliaments and seek support from the National Assembly on some pertinent topics. To begin, Speaker Papuashvili spoke of the security issue surrounding Ukraine and how it is resonant to the 2008 Russo-Georgian where two of its territories were occupied by Russia. On deepening their parliamentary cooperation, Speaker Papuashvili spoke of building a friendship group and opportunities of peer reviews and parliamentary exchanges to mutually bolster the Secretariat of the National Assemblies. The two parties found relatability in their size with the Georgian delegation highlighting the importance of forming ties with small countries to their foreign policy.
Hon. William participated in the accountability segment of the assembly under the theme of the previous Assembly in Nusa Dua ‘Getting to zero: Mobilising parliaments to act on climate change’. His intervention focused on the work of the National Assembly Secretariat as well as the International Affairs Committee and his own work in his constituency. Hon. William began by highlighting the sustainability work of the Environmental Policy Implementation Committee (EPIC) of the National Assembly’s Secretariat. These include, rain water harvesting, using solar energy to generate electricity and cut costs and the adoption of the mangrove area around the precinct which is a continuous project.
In addition to this, Hon William made mention of the various follow up meetings of the IAC, of which he is the Chairperson. These included meetings with firstly the Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change, and Environment on the outcomes of COP 26 for Seychelles and secondly the meeting with the country’s disaster risk management department on the Mid Term Review of the Sendai Framework. Third, he noted the series of meetings IAC held with the agencies related to biosecurity and biosafety specifically related to environmental impacts and food security.
Hon William conclude his intervention with the launching of the Environmental Protection Association in his constituency of Grand Anse Mahe, which he spearheaded. There, residents were mobilized to join in district clean ups, beach vegetation restoration and an anti-littering awareness campaign through educational DIY boards positioned in key areas of the district.
