Manama: Shura Council attended the coordination meeting of the Islamic parliamentary group, held on the sidelines of the 146th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which kicked off yesterday in Bahrain and will last for five days.
The Shura Council delegation to the meeting was headed by Shura Council Speaker H E Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim.
The meeting saw the Shura Council discuss and submit, on behalf of the Arab parliamentary group, a request to include the criminalization of contempt of religions, as an emergency item on the Assembly’s agenda, titled criminalizing contempt of religions, violating places of worship and sanctities, spreading hatred among peoples, and instead calling for the promotion of coexistence, tolerance, world peace and security.
Participants stressed the importance of this item, working to add it to the agenda, and uniting their efforts to urge the various parliamentary groups to vote for it, expressing that the item’s topic, which was submitted by the State of Qatar, is compatible with the IPU’s current session on peaceful coexistence.
During the meeting, the items on the 146th session of the IPU Assembly’s agenda were reviewed and discussed extensively, stressing the Islamic group’s united front in support of it.
In the same context, the Shura Council, headed by Shura Council Speaker H E Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim, participated in the coordination meeting of the Asian parliamentary group, also held today on the sidelines of the IPU Assembly.
Participants supported the State of Qatar’s request to criminalize contempt of religions, the need to vote in support of it, as well as having it added onto the Assembly’s agenda as an emergency item, stressing parliamentarians’ important role in adopting legislation that supports peaceful coexistence, adding that coexistence is reached when there is a lack of contempt of religions and instead there is a respect of religious beliefs and sanctities.
The two meetings were attended by the Shura Council delegation participating in the IPU Assembly’s meeting and its accompanying sideline meetings.
Also Shura Council participated in the joint meeting between the heads of geopolitical groups and the heads of the Standing Committees of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which took place on the sidelines of the 146th IPU Assembly in Bahrain.
Shura Council Member and President of the IPU Committee on Peace and International Security H E Mohammed bin Mahdi Al Ahbabi represented the Shura Council in the meeting.
During the meeting, IPU President Duarte Pacheco reviewed the latest developments and the main activities since the 145th Assembly in Rwanda.
The heads of the geopolitical groups reviewed their main activities since the Rwanda meetings and their expectations from the IPU Assembly in Bahrain.
The meeting touched on strengthening cooperation among the geopolitical groups and the contribution of the standing committees to the IPU strategy.
Mohammed bin Mahdi Al Ahbabi discussed the activities and programs of the Committee on Peace and International Security during the last period and the various topics and issues concerning regional and global peace and security.
