Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs, President of the Committee of the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), said today that the Committee examined the cases of 289 legislators, among them public cases concerning 238 parliamentarians in 19 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Lebanon, Mongolia, Myanmar, Palestine/Israel, the Philippines, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Zimbabwe.
In her report to the IPU Governing Council, Senator Carstairs emphasized the case of Ms. Malalai Joya, a member of the Lower House of Parliament in Afghanistan, whose parliamentary mandate was suspended on 21 May 2007 for what the House considered insulting remarks she had made on television about several fellow parliamentarians. The Committee believes that Ms. Joya’s continuing suspension, which has now lasted almost two years, is both unlawful and out of place. In October 2008, the Deputy Speaker had told the Committee that her mandate should be fully restored and that he would do his best to make this happen. However, Ms. Joya has still not been reinstated. The Committee therefore calls on the Afghan Parliament to allow her to resume her mandate as quickly as possible.
Senator Carstairs welcomed the recent release of Mr. Ayman Nour, a former MP from Egypt and founder of the Al-Ghad party. Mr. Nour had been sentenced to a five-year prison term after the court had found him guilty of forgery and counterfeiting for the purpose of registering his party. The Committee had raised questions regarding the proceedings against him and had been particularly concerned about his state of health. It was therefore pleased to learn on 18 February 2009 that the authorities had released him on health grounds.
Senator Carstairs referred in particular to the cases of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council held in detention and in particular the more than 30 PLC members who were elected in the January 2006 polls on the Change and Reform (Hamas) list and arrested shortly after the capture of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border attack on Israeli military installations. “They were accused of membership in a terrorist organization, exercising an activity on its behalf and providing services to it. Most of them have meanwhile been found guilty and sentenced to about 40 months’ imprisonment.”
The Committee noted that “the judgment handed down on the parliamentarians concerned confirms that their arrest and detention is totally unrelated to any criminal activity on their part, and is linked instead to their election on the Change and Reform list in a free and fair election recognized as such by the international community”. It affirms that “there can be no doubt that Israel was aware of and accepted the participation of Hamas in the election, and considers therefore the arrest, detention and prosecution of the parliamentarians concerned to be politically motivated and hence arbitrary”. It calls on the Israeli authorities “to release them forthwith”.
On other matters, the IPU Governing Council endorsed the activities planned by the IPU to mark the International Day of Democracy 2009. Based on its experience of the first International Day of Democracy, held on 15 September 2008, and feedback received from parliaments, the IPU proposes to organize a conference for African parliaments from 14 to 16 September 2009 in partnership with the Parliament of Botswana, on the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
The Governing Council adopted the report of the Committee on Middle East Questions presented by Senator Serge Janquin (France). The Committee received IPU President Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, who reported on his visit to the Middle East in early March. President Gurirab explained that his principal port of call had been Gaza, where he had seen for himself the destruction wrought by the recent Israeli bombardment. His journey had also taken him to Ramallah, Amman, Cairo, Muscat and Sharm el-Sheikh. The IPU President said that he regretted not visiting Jerusalem on his tour, as the new Israeli Government was still being formed. He would only consider his visit complete when he had also held talks with the Israeli side.
The Committee on Middle East Questions regretted that the delegations of Israel and Palestine were unwilling to engage in a dialogue with the Committee. It agreed that a visit to the region would serve no purpose in the immediate future, and that its objective should be to seek out the voices of moderation in the respective parliaments with a view to convening future meetings in Geneva. In the past, such meetings had tended to produce a better dynamic for dialogue.
The IPU Governing Council also decided to reaffiliate the Parliament of Bangladesh and to suspend the parliaments of Madagascar and Guinea.
The 121st IPU Assembly will be held in Geneva, from 19 to 21 October 2009.
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