Puan Maharani Chairs World Parliamentary Forum Agrees On Russia-Ukraine Peace Resolution

The Chairperson of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, gave a statement to the media during a press conference following the closing of the 144th IPU Assembly Session at BICC, Nusa Dua, Bali, Thursday (24/3/2022). ANTARA/Genta Tenri Mawangi

BADUNG - The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, chaired the 144th Session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) which succeeded in agreeing on a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

The peaceful resolution was agreed upon by thousands of delegates representing parliaments from 115 countries after going through a series of stages of hearings and debate sessions led by Puan Maharani as chair of this year's IPU assembly.

"Indonesia has played an important role in drafting this resolution. We are members of the drafting committee. Indonesia has emphasized the importance of the IPU's central role in seeking a balanced solution in Ukraine," said Puan Maharani during a press conference following the closing of the 144th IPU Assembly Session at BICC. , Nusa Dua, Badung Regency, Bali reported by Antara, Thursday, March 24.

In the IPU's 144th Assembly Session on 20–24 March 2022, each member country is invited to propose an urgent draft resolution (emergency item). At this year's IPU assembly session, a delegation from the Ukrainian Parliament proposed a draft resolution on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The draft resolution submitted by the Ukrainian Parliament asked the IPU to publicly condemn Russia and Belarus for their military actions in Ukraine.

However, according to the Indonesian delegation, this view risks escalating the conflict and hindering peace efforts, said Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives' Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Agency (BKSAP), Fadli Zon.

Fadli is a representative from Indonesia who is a member of the drafting team for the final resolution related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Therefore, at the general debate session which took place on March 21, Indonesia also submitted a draft resolution, which was followed by New Zealand.

In the process, Ukraine withdrew its proposal, leaving Indonesia and New Zealand's draft proposals remaining. Although in the end the draft from Indonesia did not receive much support, the contents of the draft from New Zealand included several points proposed by Indonesia.

Some of Indonesia's proposals found in the New Zealand draft, among others, put forward the collective role of parliament to open dialogue between Russia and Ukraine, and form a task force to carry out the role as a liaison between the two conflicting parties.

"Indonesia has convinced the IPU to agree on a task force to push for a peaceful solution to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Of course, Indonesia in this session discussed the importance of mainstreaming gender equality and the participation of women and youth in decision making," said Puan.

The effort to mainstream gender is carried out by the Forum of Women Parliamentarians — a body within the IPU consisting of women DPR members. For this year, the Forum of Women Parliamentarians IPU was chaired by the Indonesian delegation, Member of the Indonesian Parliament, Irine Yusiana Roba Putri.

Irine, when delivering the results of the forum discussion at the Assembly Session, said that the task force that will be formed must be filled by half of women.

The proposal from the Forum of Women Parliamentarians was included in the final draft resolution which was then adopted or ratified in the 144th Assembly Session, Thursday.