Established in 1889, the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) is an international organization of Parliaments of sovereign states. The IPU is one of the leading organizations in the promotion and strengthening of the institutions of parliamentary democracy. The IPU consists of the Assembly, the Governing Council, the Executive Committee and the Secretariat. The Assembly is assisted in its work by three Standing Committees which prepare reports and draft resolutions for the Assembly to consider, namely, the Standing Committee on Peace and International Security, the Standing Committee on Sustainable Development, Finance and Trade and the Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights. The current President of the IPU is Mr T-B Gurirab from Namibia.