Human rights

IPU human rights mission to Sri Lanka

The IPU delegation received by the President of Sri Lanka, Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse. On 6 March 2008, Mr. K. Sivanesan, a Member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka belonging to the opposition Tamil National Alliance was killed together with his driver by a roadside bomb shortly after they had crossed into the Vanni region. This killing took place less than two weeks after a delegation of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, lead by Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs visited Colombo from 21 to 24 February.

The delegation, invited by the Parliament of Sri Lanka, was also received by the Head of State, President Rajapakse. It gathered on-site information on cases from the competent parliamentary, governmental, administrative and judicial authorities, the parliamentarians in question themselves and other concerned parties.

The mission enjoyed the cooperation of the authorities and was able to fully discharge its mandate. The report of the mission will be made public on the occasion of the 119th IPU Assembly in October 2008. Unfortunately, since the delegation's departure, the string of assassinations of parliamentarians continues, the most recent being the killing of Mr. Sivanesan. In thepast three years, an ever increasing number of cases concerning alleged violations of the right to life and security of members of the Parliament of Sri Lanka have been brought to the attention of the Committee.

Between December 2005 and January 2008, four members of parliament - three of whom belonged to the opposition - were gunned down and a number of others received death threats or were the target of assassination attempts. In none of those cases have the authorities so far succeeded in identifying the perpetrators and bringing them to justice.

IPU condemns the assassination of members of parliament

The IPU is appalled at the killing of members of parliament in recent months. In March 2008, Mr. K. Sivanesan, a parliamentarian belonging to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), and his driver were killed by a roadside bomb shortly after they had crossed into the Vanni region in Sri Lanka.

In January 2008, Mr. T. Maheswaran, an opposition legislator, was shot dead and Mr. Dassanayke, an MP and a member of Cabinet, was killed a few days later by a roadside bomb. In December 2005 and November 2006, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham and Mr. Nadiraj Ravirja respectively, both belonging to the TNA, were shot dead.

In Kenya, Mr. David Too of the Orange Democratic Movement was shot dead by a policeman in February 2008, following the killing a few days earlier of Mr. Mugabe Ware, amid a wave of violence triggered by the disputed presidential elections.

In November 2007, Mr. Wahab Akbar, a member of the Philippine House of Representatives, was killed when a powerful bomb hit part of the Philippine House of Representatives killing him and his driver. The same month, a suicide attack took the lives of more than 40 people in Afghanistan, including six members of the parliament and several children.

In September 2007, Mr. Antoine Ghanem, a member of the Lebanese Parliament, died as a car bomb exploded in Beirut, along with several other persons. He was the fourth Lebanese legislator to have been murdered in less than two years.

IPU posters on Myanmar at the international film festival and forum on human rights

On the evening dedicated to Burma entitled “Justice for Burma” two posters from the IPU exhibition on the human rights situation in Myanmar were presented at the Geneva-based International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH), held in March 2008. The posters were part of the exhibition prepared by the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians and on display at the IPU Assemblies in Bali and Geneva in 2007.