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Dear PGA Friends,

The year 2016 was defined by numerous achievements by Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), the largest non-governmental organization of individual legislators committed to human rights and the Rule of Law, democracy, human security, non-discrimination and gender equality, with approximately 1400 members in 143 Parliaments around the world.

We are delighted to share with you our efforts towards a more equitable, just and peaceful world, with growth and progress in each of our three programmes: International Peace and Security, International Law and Human Rights, and Gender, Equality and Population. PGA successfully completed year one of our 2016-18 strategic plan and gained 223 new PGA member-parliamentarians representing all regions of the world.

In December, PGA convened the largest political gathering of Legislators on the fight against impunity, the 2016 PGA Annual Forum and 9th Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians for the International Criminal Court & the Rule of Law (CAP-ICC) in Dakar, Senegal.

The meeting occurred at an opportune time as the ICC is facing new threats as some African countries are moving to withdraw from the Court and provided a platform for the ICC Prosecutor and President and Parliamentarians from Africa and other regions of the world to address concerns and reaffirm political support for the Rome Statute system. The Consultative Assembly ended with the consideration and adoption of the Dakar Plan of Action on the prevention of Mass Atrocities, Strengthening the Rule of Law and Support for the International Criminal Court (English | Français | Español | Arabic), which contains a blueprint of strategies and initiatives that Legislators committed to take to generate support for, and compliance with, the ICC in order to seek justice for victims and fight impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Thank you to all of our PGA friends for your continued encouragement and support of the PGA mission to contribute to the creation of a rules-based international order for a more equitable, safe and democratic world. With your help, we achieved good results across all of our campaigns to end injustice and oppression around the world. I invite you now to continue learning about our significant achievements in the following 2016 Annual Report. On behalf of PGA, I am grateful to our invaluable network of parliamentarians and our steadfast partners and look forward to continued success in 2017.

Sincerely,

David Donat Cattin (Ph.D., Law)
Secretary-General, Parliamentarians for Global Action