Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy

The Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (Greek: Διακοινοβουλευτική Συνέλευση Ορθοδοξίας, Russian: Межпарламентская Ассамблея Православия), or I.A.O., is a transnational, inter-parliamentary institution that in 1994 was originally established as the European Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (EIAO).

Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy
Διακοινοβουλευτική Συνέλευση Ορθοδοξίας
Межпарламентская Ассамблея Православия
AbbreviationI.A.O.
Formation5 November 1994 (1994-11-05)
TypeReligious inter-parliamentary institution
Headquarters22-24 Vas. Amalias St.
Athens, Greece
Location
Membership
Parliamentary committees of 21 national parliaments
Official language
Greek, Russian, English, French
Secretary General
Maximos Charakopoulos
President of the General Assembly
Sergei Gavrilov
International Secretariat
Main organ
General Assembly
Websiteeiao.org

Based in Athens, Greece, the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy constitutes a permanent communication structure between parliamentarians of member states aiming at unity in diversity of Orthodox Christians on the principles and values of Christianity and democracy.[1]

History
I.A.O. delegation headed by Sergei Popov (c.) meeting Greek Alternate Minister of European Affairs Nikos Hountis (r.)

Inspired by a conference held from 30 June to 4 July 1993 in Chalkidiki on the topic of "Orthodoxy in the New European Reality", the European Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy was formed by the initiative of the Hellenic Parliament.[2] Following the 1993 Manifesto of the Participants, the official Founding Act was passed by the participants of the Founding Synod held in November 1994 in Athens.[3] In 2001, groups of parliamentarians from Australia, Asia, Africa and the United States participated in the General Assembly, the organization was then renamed Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O.).[2]

During the June 2004 General Assembly in Kyiv, Ukraine, it was decided to seek cooperation with the Parliamentary Union of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (P.U.I.C.). A co-operation agreement was drafted at a meeting of the two organizations on 22 March 2005, in Athens.[2] On 19 May 2010, a cooperation agreement with the Pan-African Parliament was signed by PUIC's President Idriss Ndele Moussa and I.A.O.'s Secretary-General Anastasios Nerantzis[4]

Massive protests broke out during the 2019 General Assembly in Tbilisi, Georgia, after the chairman of the assembly, a Russian communist named Sergei Gavrilov, made a number of public statements that were viewed by the Georgian public as denigrating Georgian sovereignty.[5][6]

Institutional bodies

General Assembly

The supreme organ of the I.A.O. is the General Assembly, consisting of delegations from all member parliaments. The General Assembly convenes once annually during the month of June.[7]

General Assembly timeline
No. Country City Year Main subject
1 Greece Olympia 1993 Orthodoxy in the new European Reality
2 Greece Athens 1994 European Countries and their mission in the new European reality
3 Russia Moscow 1995 The Cultural and Enlightenment Tradition of Orthodoxy
4 Bulgaria Sofia 1996 The Social Dimension of Orthodoxy
5 Greece Chalkidiki 1997 Orthodoxy in the context of the European civilization- history and future
6 Poland Warsaw 1998 The problems of the novel heresies (sects) in the E.I.A.O. countries and effective ways of dealing with them
7 Russia Moscow 1999 Ways of legal protection of the traditional family as a diachronic value of society
8 Israel Jerusalem 2000 The Son of Man in the year 2000 AD
9 Greece Patmos 2001 The contribution of Orthodoxy in the enlarged European Union
10 Romania Bucharest 2002 Globalisation and Orthodoxy
11 Lithuania Vilnius 2003 Globalization and Orthodoxy
12 Ukraine Kyiv 2004 Security with freedom
13 Switzerland Geneva 2005 Christianism before the challenges of the modern era
14 Italy Venice 2006 The contribution of the Orthodox culture to the construction of the New Europe
15 Kazakhstan Astana 2007 The Inter-religious dialogue as a factor of peaceful and fair relationships among peoples
16 Greece Rhodes 2008 The crisis of the global value system as a challenge before Christian Orthodoxy
17 Serbia Belgrade 2009 The Global Economic Crisis and its impact on Social – Spiritual – Cultural European tradition
18 Armenia Yerevan 2010 The contribution of Orthodoxy in the dynamics and development of statehood of the countries of Eastern Christian tradition
19 France Paris 2011 Religious values in the Economic crisis reality
20 Czech Republic Prague 2012 Challenges for democracy during periods of global economic crisis
21 Greece Athens 2013 Parliamentary Democracy – Christianity – Orthodoxy: values and concepts
22 Russia Moscow 2014 Orthodoxy: values and concepts
23 Austria Vienna 2015 Orthodox Historic Communities in Europe and around the world
24 Greece Thessaloniki 2016 Fundamental global changes – Christian Orthodox perspective
25 Italy Rome 2017 The Christian understanding of global crisis and ways to overcome it
26 Greece Athens 2018 25 years of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy
27 Georgia Tbilisi 2019 The contribution of Parliamentarism in understanding modern Political – Social Phenomena
28 Virtual meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020 Elections of the I.A.O organs and the agenda of the future I.A.O. activities. 85 Members of Parliaments, official representatives of Parliaments, parliamentary groups and individual Parliamentary representatives participated in the General Assembly.
29 Greece Crete 2021 The World’s Future and the Future of Europe after the pandemic
30 Greece Chalkidiki 2023 30 years of I.A.O.: Facing new challenges. Before new perspectives
31 TBD TBD 2024 TBD

Presidents of the General Assembly

The President of the General Assembly is elected for a two-year tenure by the plenary session of the Assembly.

  • 2020–present: Sergei Gavrilov Russia

International Secretariat

The International Secretariat appoints eight standing committees. It is headed by the Secretary-General, the Alternate Secretary and the Treasurer, and consists of an additional six members from various countries.[7] As of 2020, the leadership consists of:

  • Secretary-General: Maximos Charakopoulos Greece
  • Alternate Secretary: Andreas Michailidis Greece
  • Treasurer: Stavros Kalafatis Greece

International Secretariat representatives:

  • Alexandr Cotric Serbia
  • Theodore Ssekikubo Uganda
  • Eugeniusz Czykwin Poland
  • Dmitry Sablin Russia
  • Angelos Votsis Cyprus
  • Hany Naguib Egypt

Committees of the International Secretariat

As of 2020, the following committees are led by:

  • Committee on Human Rights: Vangjel Dule Albania
  • Committee on Mass Media: Milen Mihov Bulgaria
  • Committee on Social Activity, Family and Motherhood:Elie Ferzli Lebanon
  • Committee on Education: Alen Simonyan Armenia
  • Cooperation Committee with the Pan-African Parliament: Athanasios Davakis Greece
  • Cooperation Committee with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russian – Belarus Union: Gennadiy Davydko Belarus
  • Cooperation Committee with the Parliamentary Union of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation member-states: Joseph Iskander Sudan
  • Cooperation Working Group with the International Catholic Legislators Network: Lefteris Christoforou Cyprus

Member countries

The Assembly currently consists of parliamentary committees of 21 countries, mostly from Eastern Europe, including:[7]

Additionally, delegations from Africa, Asia, Australia, the European Union, and the United States have been participating in the Assembly.

Cooperation agreements

The I.A.O. has signed several cooperation agreements with various international organizations, including:[8]

The I.A.O has also participated in United Nations General Assembly conferences, has signed cooperation treaties with the parliaments of Egypt, Iran and Lebanon, as well as explored future cooperation with the Baltic Assembly, the European Parliament and the International Catholic Legislators Network: ICLN.[8]

See also

References
  1. "Declaration of the 20th anniversary annual General Assembly" (PDF). Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  2. "History". Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  3. "Manifesto of the participants – Founding Act – Regulation of Functions" (PDF) (2nd ed.). Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy. 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  4. "Co-operation Agreement between the Pan-African Parliament and the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy" (PDF). Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy. 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  5. "Georgia States Protests While Its Relations With Russian Are in a Tailspin". New York Times.
  6. Genin, Aaron (2019-07-25). "Georgian Protests: Tbilis's Two-Sided Conflict". The California Review. Archived from the original on 2019-07-26. Retrieved 2019-07-26.
  7. "About the I.A.O." Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  8. "HISTORY OF THE IAO". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
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