A/HRC/40/65 connecting the parliament to the people through the Internet, a useful development considering the country’s challenging physical terrain. She said that lack of resources and lack of consistency were two of the most challenging aspects of parliamentary oversight. The National Assembly of Bhutan had a strategic development plan to carry out staff development needs assessments, collaborate with international parliamentary institutions and work on capacity gaps. Ms. Om referred to the inadequate representation of women in the National Assembly. She said that gender mainstreaming was key not only for advancing gender equality but also for effective oversight, and both men and women parliamentarians bore responsibility. She recalled that effective oversight required a combination of a strong mandate, adequate parliamentary resources and willing and committed parliamentarians. Lack of resources was one of the greatest challenges to effective oversight, as was the need to prioritize constituency issues over national issues in some cases. She concluded with recommendations for improving parliamentary oversight: parliamentary oversight should be a priority, the mandate and capacity for oversight needed to be strengthened, and parliamentarians should build public support for more parliamentary oversight. 12. Ms. Ksiksi referred to the recent debate in the Tunisian Parliament concerning proposed legislation on racial discrimination. She recalled how that legislation had been seen by some as a threat to democracy which could foster discord, but that civil society had pressed on regardless. Ms. Ksiksi said she had worked hard to defend the draft legislation during parliamentary debates, and, on 9 October 2018, the legislation had been adopted. Stressing the representative nature of parliament, Ms. Ksiksi said there needed to be ethnic, religious and gender diversity among members of parliament. She stressed the need for inclusion to ensure that all voices were heard during parliamentary debates and while decisions were being made. She explained how she had been able to convince the other parliamentarians of the relevance of the law on racial discrimination in light of her intersecting identities as a black woman who is Arab, Muslim, Mediterranean and Tunisian. She discussed her work as Chair of the Pan-African Parliament’s Women’s Caucus and her work to promote the rights of the black population in Tunisia. Ms. Ksiksi spoke about how, as a member of the parliamentary Health Committee, she promoted access to health care and social care. She emphasized that parliamentarians must defend the rights of those they represented, including through the adoption of legal measures to defend vulnerable groups. She spoke about the need to tackle discrimination by speaking out and defending those who were affected. She concluded by recommending the representation of diverse and vulnerable groups in parliament, the involvement of all stakeholders in the promotion of human rights, and the provision of training on human rights for parliamentarians. 13. Mr. Arifari spoke about the work of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians. He said that parliamentarians needed to enjoy their own human rights in order to defend the rule of law and human rights for their constituents. In 2017, 507 cases in 41 countries had been examined by the Committee, which was mandated to examine complaints about alleged violations of the human rights of parliamentarians. There was no requirement of exhaustion of domestic remedies to approach the Committee. He noted that the Committee was supported by a technical team, which carried out the preliminary investigations. Questions were sent to the relevant authorities in the parliamentarians’ countries. He explained that the Committee worked in private but its decisions were made public and endorsed by IPU as a whole through its Governing Council. The Committee undertook missions of inquiry to relevant countries to defend the rights of parliamentarians, including when parliamentarians were on trial. The Committee followed cases until they were resolved. The Committee’s role was not to punish but to engage in a dialogue with a view to satisfactory resolution of the matter in question. Mr. Arifari concluded by referring to cases where parliamentarians who had received support from the Committee had been able to move forward and were serving as prime minister, speaker of parliament, or president, or had been re-elected to parliament. 14. In the ensuing discussions, participants underlined that States should promote the full realization of human rights, in particular the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, association and peaceful assembly, as a prerequisite to the enjoyment of democracy and the rule of law. They also remarked that States should include human rights and citizenship education in the curricula for general and vocational education and training. Participants recalled the important role of parliaments in defending human rights and 5