• The Global Centre for Information and Communication Technologies in Parliament acts as a hub for information, research and technical assistance to parliaments in the area of ICT and offers a platform for exchanging information and expertise among parliaments, centres of excellence, international organizations, the civil society, the private sector and the donor community.

  • Latest Tweet

    ictparliament: New post: Global Survey of ICT in Parliaments t.co/fWzXbx3u - 1 day 6 hours ago.

  • World e-Parliament Conference 2012

    In 2010 the Board of the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament decided that the World e-Parliament Conferences will be held every two years, and no longer annually. Therefore, the next edition will be organized in October/November 2012, at a venue still under discussion.

  • Second technical assistance missions to the Parliament of Barbados

    The mission team from the Global Centre and CARICAD succesfully completed the 2nd mission to the Parliament of Barbados. The Clerk and senior staff provided lots of inputs in the crafting of the vision statement and strategic objectives for ICT.

  • International Meeting: Achieving Greater Transparency in Legislatures through the Use of Open Document Standards

    The United Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the U.S. House of Representatives are organizing the event Achieving Greater Transparency in Legislatures through the Use of Open Document Standards, to be be held at the U.S. House of Representatives on 27 - 29 February.

  • Second technical assistance mission to the Parliament of Swaziland

    The second technical assistance mission to the National Assembly of Swaziland was successfully completed. The mission team collaborated with Parliamentary senior staff during the entire week in finalising the assessment report from the first technical assistance mission.

Upcoming Events

International Meeting: Achieving Greater Transparency in Legislatures through the Use of Open Document Standards

Improvements in technology over the last decade offer parliaments new opportunities to foster the democratic values of transparency, openness and accountability. Making information available on a timely basis in machine readable and re-usable format has become a vital means for enhancing the transparency of legislative bodies and for improving public access to parliamentary documents. The use of open document standards is one of the essential and effective ways of achieving these goals through technology.
To address these challenges in an international context, the United Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the U.S. House of Representatives are organizing the event Achieving Greater Transparency in Legislatures through the Use of Open Document Standards. The International Meeting will be held at the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. on 27, 28 and 29 February 2012.

Global Survey of ICT in Parliaments

In preparation for the release of the third issue of the World e-Parliament Report, the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament has just launched the Global Survey of ICT in Parliaments 2012. The questionnaire is being distributed among parliaments worldwide to assess globally the use of technology in Parliament.

Regional Seminar on “Emerging Trends and Challenges for ICT in Parliaments”

USAID’s funded parliamentary program implemented in Beirut by the State University of New York/Center for International Development (SUNY/CID)  and the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament organized the regional seminar on “Emerging Trends and Challenges for ICT in Parliaments" on 16 and 17 January 2012.  The event, addressed to Arab parliaments, took place at the newly established Arab Institute for Parliamentary Training and Legislative Studies, within the premises of the Lebanese Parliament, under the sponsorship of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU) and the Lebanese Parliament.

Working Group on ICT-based Libraries

The Global Centre for ICT in Parliament is finalizing, in collaboration with the IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments, a Handbook on the use of ICT in parliamentary libraries and research services, which will cover various topics ranging from cataloguing to digital information services, from digitization to connecting MPs and citizens to services through social media.

Second technical assistance mission to the Parliament of Swaziland

Following the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament's first technical assistance mission to the Parliament of Swaziland in June 2011, where an assessment of the Parliament's ICT capabilities was taken, a second technical assistance mission took place from 23 to 27 January 2012. The follow-up mission, which falls within the framework of the European Commission funded project “Support to ICT Strategic Planning in SADC Parliaments”, used the findings made in the assessment and aim to assist the legislature in developing an ICT strategic plan.

 Second technical assistance missions to the National Assembly of Belize and the Parliament of Barbados

Following the first technical assistance missions carried out by the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament in September and November 2011, respectively to the National Assembly of Belize and the Parliament of Barbados in the framework of the European Commission funded project “Support to ICT Strategic Planning in Caribbean Parliaments”, the second missions took place between 19 January and 1 February with the aim of assisting each legislature with the formulation of a shared vision for ICT and a strategic plan. In addition the technical missions will advise on the technical implementation options.
U.S. House Administration Adopts New Posting Standards for House Documents

As part of the initiative to increase House transparency and improve access to legislative data, the Committee on House Administration adopted new standards that require all House legislative documents be published electronically in an open, searchable format on one centralized website.

Strengthening Parliamentary Accountability, Citizen Engagement and Access to Information

The National Democracy Institute and the World Bank Institute recently published a report which identifies 190 parliamentary monitoring organizations (PMOs) in over 80 countries, documents good practices in parliamentary monitoring and suggests recommendations for the international donor community in supporting PMOs.  It draws on surveys completed by 63 PMOs, interviews with PMO leaders and representatives of international organizations engaged in supporting PMO activities.
First Technical Assistance Mission to the National Assembly of Namibia

In the framework of the European Commission funded project “Support to ICT Strategic Planning in SADC Parliaments”, a first technical mission has been undertaken to the National Assembly of Namibia (12 to 16 December 2011) to carry out an assessment of the status of ICT in the Parliament and make initial recommendations for the development of an ICT Strategic Plan.

 Developing countries most vulnerable to cyberattacks

Developing countries are at higher risk of being the target of cyberattacks, a United Nations-led forum on cybersecurity heard today, where experts discussed ways to mitigate this phenomenon at the national and international levels. “The economic impact and consequences of cyberattacks against critical physical infrastructure, the banking system, national health systems, essential government and industry databanks and services could be extremely high,” said Lazarous Kapambwe, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), in his opening remarks at the Special Event on Cybersecurity and Development that was held at UN Headquarters.

Call for application: Joint International Doctoral (Ph.D.) Degree in Law, Science and Technology

The Joint International Doctoral Degree in “Law, Science and Technology” is an interdisciplinary integrated doctorate designed to address new challenges in legal, socio-ethical and technical domains arising from the information society and newly emerging technologies. The Legal Informatics track will cover AI and Law, Legislative Informatics, Legal Information Systems, Computer Forensics.
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 Intersteno Newsletter

Intersteno (International Federation for Information and Communication Processing) celebrates the 50th issue of the Newsletter. The first was released in November 2004 and consisted of only one page with a general announcement and brief information about the Council meeting in Helsinki.