PROTECTING LEGISLATORS: TO SPEAK OR NOT TO SPEAK

The new President and Vice-President of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians are determined to make their voices heard when defending the human rights of legislators. In an interview with The World of Parliaments, the President of the Committee, Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs, and the Vice-President of this unique body, Mexican Senator Rosario Green, envision a three-pronged approach: staying in closer contact with the highest parliamentary authorities of countries where legislators may be the target of human rights violations; highlighting public cases in the media; and encouraging the intervention of parliamentarians at the regional and international levels.

"There are legitimate reasons to keep some of our cases confidential, but at least half of the cases we deal with are public. Therefore we have to focus on the public dimension", said Senator Carstairs, the first woman to be appointed Deputy Leader of Government in the Canadian Senate in 1997.

The Committee's new President wants IPU members to understand that to achieve real success in bringing change, "then everyone as to be part of the solution. It cannot just be the commitment of the five people who sit on the Committee."Senator Rosario Green, who has served as a former Foreign Minister of Mexico, is of the opinion that a parliamentarian's best insurance policy is the concern of eer MPs around the world. "No parliamentarian can be assured of being safe from harassment". The world changes and governments hange. Any legislator may someday need the IPU's support.

The Committee does not operate as a bureaucratic body, reviewing the same set of files over and over without producing results. And ven when results are not immediately visible, its work is important for the parliamentarians concerned, and for their families. Parliamentary solidarity is essential, and Senators Carstairs and Green believe no effort should be spared in making these cases known to as many fellow parliamentarians as possible.The Committee is aware that raising human rights violations in the case of legislators can be a highly sensitive matter in many countries and that the authorities concerned are sometimes reluctant to accept field visits. As underscored by the Committee's President and Vice-President, however, the Committee and its members deal "with human beings like themselves, who have disappeared, found themselves in jail, or been tortured". Silence, in such cases, can be misconstrued. An interesting approach in this regard - a success story for the Committee - was taken in the Philippines, following the detention of parliamentarians who included Mr. Crispin Beltran. The IPU sent a mission to Manila to gather firsthand information on the case and discuss it with the authorities. Thanks to the efforts of the Committee and its President and Vice President at that time - respectively, Senator Franklin Drilon, former President of the Philippines Senate, and Senator Carstairs, who led the mission - Mr. Beltran was finally released in early June. Parliamentary diplomacy and public information proved to be helpful in achieving that outcome.

L.B.

	IPU President visits China   IPU President Pier Ferdinando Casini paid an official visit to China in August, at the invitation of Mr. Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC). While meeting with Chairman Wu, President Casini spoke of the contribution that China had made to promoting IPU reform and development, expecting the NPC to play a bigger role on various IPU issues. Chairman Wu spoke of IPU reform and stressed that China, as one of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, would support cooperation between the IPU and the UN. President Casini and Chairman Wu Bangguo also exchanged views on international issues, including Iraq, anti-terrorism, and Darfur. Mr. Casini spoke of China's strengthened role on the international arena, and Mr. Wu pledged China's support to IPU's efforts to safeguard world peace and promote development for all. President Casini also held talks with Mr. Lu Congmin, Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NPC and Member of the IPU Executive Committee.