IPU increasingly worried by reduced space for political expression

At the 140 th IPU Assembly in Doha, Qatar, the global parliamentary community strongly condemned human rights violations against MPs worldwide. At the Assembly, the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, recommended action in the cases of 187 parliamentarians in a dozen countries whose human rights have been violated.

At the 139 th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, the global parliamentary community expressed serious concerns about MP human rights violations worldwide including cases in Cambodia, Venezuela, Turkey, and Uganda. However, there was also good news from Malaysia and the Maldives.At the Assembly, the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support persecuted MPs, met for its 157 th session. The committee meets three times a year to hear both complainants and the parliamentary authorities. Based on these hearings and other information, the committee takes position and its decisions are adopted by the IPU’s Governing Council. At this sitting, the committee took position on human rights violations of 295 MPs in 13 countries.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has expressed deep concern about the increasing repression and escalation of human rights violations against opposition MPs in Cambodia, Venezuela, Turkey and the Maldives on the closing day of the 137 th IPU Assembly in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. The IPU has called for fact-finding missions by the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to be sent to the four countries in the very near future.

The year 2016 has seen a sharp increase in the number of parliamentarians who have suffered violations of their fundamental rights or who have alleged such violations, according to IPU statistics that underscore once more the dangers MPs face across the world in exercising their mandate and their right to freedom of expression. Marking Human Rights Day 2016 (10 December), IPU released Human Rights Abuses of MPs—2016. This comprehensive overview of the cases being examined by IPU’s Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians shows an overall increase in violations of MPs human rights for the third year in a row.

Parliamentarians from across the globe declared their commitment to raising the alarm and taking action when serious human rights challenges emerge, particularly in conflict situations. In a declaration on human rights abuses as precursors of conflict, adopted at the conclusion of the 135 th IPU Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, IPU Members said that parliamentarians are the guardians of human rights and the rule of law, and if violations or challenges occur they are the early responders.

Read this press release at http://archive.ipu.org/press-e/pressrelease201603142.htm