The Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union is holding its 116th session from today and till 19th January 2007, at the House of Parliaments, the IPU Headquarters. The Committee will examine 69 cases, among them public cases concerning 123 parliamentarians in Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Eritrea, Honduras, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Zimbabwe.

The Committee is chaired by Mr. Franklin M. Drilon, former President of the Senate of the Philippines. The Committee members participating in the session are: Mrs. Sharon Carstairs (Senator, Canada, Vice-President of the Committee), Mrs. Zahia Benarous (MP, Algeria), Mrs. Rosario Green (Senator, Mexico), Mrs. Esther Obeng-Dappah (MP, Ghana), and Mr. Kazem Jalali (MP, Iran).

Established in 1976, the Committee meets in camera four times a year to ensure that the human rights of the world's parliamentary community - composed of more than 40'000 members - are respected. It has contributed to the settlement of a large number of the over 500 cases in more than 100 countries that it has examined since its creation.

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 148 affiliated parliaments and seven regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations.
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Contact for additional information or interviews:

Mrs. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer 5, ch. du Pommier, CH - 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex / Geneva Phone: +41 22 919 41 16 Fax: +41 22 919 41 60 E-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cbl@mail.ipu.org Mrs Ingeborg Schwarz, Programme Manager, IPU Human Rights Programme Phone : +41 22 919 41 42 e-mail : is@mail.ipu.org Mr. Rogier Huizenga, Programme Officer Phone : +41 22 919 41 24 e-mail : rh@mail.ipu.org