Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Amman, 6 May 2000
N° 8

The 103rd Inter-Parliamentary Conference, which was held from 30 April to 6 May at the Grand Hyatt/Zara Expo in Amman, ended with the final sitting of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the governing body of the world organisation of parliaments. During the week, the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians examined the cases of 190 MPs from 27 countries. Today, the President of the Committee, Mr François Autain (France), submitted to the Council for approval the public cases of 140 parliamentarians from 15 countries (five of which were examined for the first time).

This Committee, which meets four times yearly to examine the cases of MPs who have been subjected to arbitrary treatment during their term of office, is composed of five members: Mr François Autain, France, President; Mr Hilarion Etong, Cameroon, Vice-President as well as Mr Juan Pablo Letelier, Chile, Mr Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka and Mrs Maria Grazia Daniele Galdi, Italy, who was elected to the Committee in Amman.

Among the cases made public was that of several members of the Parliament of Guinea. An IPU mission visited the country from 10 to 14 January. In its findings the mission highlighted serious violations of the Constitution and provisions of the Code of Penal Procedure. With regard to the case of Mr. Alpha Condé, President of the Guinean Rally for the People (RPG) and member of the National Assembly, who has been imprisoned since 15 December 1998 and whose trial has just been adjourned sine die, the members of the mission felt that the charges were unsubstantiated. They had hoped that the Court would rule accordingly but that had not been the case. They had also noted that the authorities had not made any effort to investigate the serious allegations of ill-treatment made by some of these MPs.

Among the other cases examined by the Committee was that of the MPs-elect of Myanmar. For ten years, the military government has refused to convene the Parliament elected in 1990 and for ten years the MPs-elect have been prosecuted, threatened, forced to resign or imprisoned. The Committee representing the People's Parliament which they set up had resulted in new persecution for them. The Committee felt that this case was very serious and should be a major concern of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The Council decided that a debate on this subject could take place at the next IPU Conference in Jakarta in October 2000 within the framework of a discussion on "the prevention of military and other coups against democratically elected governments and against the free will of the people expressed through direct suffrage, and action to be taken with regard to grave violations of the human rights of MPs".

With regard to the case of Belarus, the Committee carried out an on-site mission in November 1999. In its report to the Council, the Committee welcomed certain positive developments, particularly the authorities' promise to release Mr Koudinov, a member of the 13th Supreme Soviet, once the new Penal Code entered into force on 1 July 2000. It also learned with satisfaction that, according to the new Electoral Code, administrative sanctions no longer entailed ineligibility. However, it was deeply concerned by the trial of Mr Klimov, also a member of the 13th Supreme Soviet, and the judgment handed down against him. Moreover, the Committee felt that the harassment to which Members of the 13th Supreme Soviet who are opposed to President Loukachenko had apparently been subjected was incompatible with genuine democracy.

The Committee also went public with cases of violations of the human rights of MPs from the following countries: Argentina, Bhutan, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Honduras, Malaysia, Nigeria, Republic of Moldova, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

The Committee on Middle East Questions met in Amman and viewed as positive the fact that it was able to hear again the representatives of the Arab countries and Israel together. However, it regretted that the Lebanese and Syrian parliamentarians were not present at the meeting, since their agreement was necessary to a comprehensive settlement of the conflict. It took note of the Committee's report, and called on the parliaments of the States concerned to contribute to a rapprochement of points of views in order to arrive at a meaningful agreement by autumn 2000.

A meeting was held in Amman in the presence of the Group of Facilitators for Cyprus between the representatives of the Greek Cypriot parties present at the Conference as members of the House of Representatives and representatives of the Turkish Cypriot parties. The Cypriot parties agreed on the need to pursue contacts during IPU Conferences and a meeting was scheduled for October 2000 in Jakarta.

The Council also had before it an exhaustive report of the Executive Committee on IPU/UN cooperation and endorsed a recommendation stipulating that the IPU must give a parliamentary dimension to international cooperation. It finalised the arrangements for the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments at UN Headquarters from 30 August to 1 September 2000. It also decided to organise a specialised conference on trade, financing and development, in cooperation with the competent multilateral institutions, in Geneva in early 2001. The Council invited the United States Congress as well as the European Parliament to join the Union in organising this specialised conference.

The representatives of the parties to the process of the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean (CSCM) held their 16^th meeting in Amman. The participants analysed the results of the Third Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean, held in Marseilles from 30 March to 3 April 2000 at the invitation of the French Parliament. They endorsed the Final Document adopted by the Third CSCM. They also noted that the Mediterranean women MPs included in delegations to the Amman Meetings had formed a coordinating group with the aim of providing steady input to the CSCM process and ensuring the follow-up of the recommendations contained in the Final Document of the Marseilles Conference. A committee of nine countries was created to examine future stages of IPU action in this field: Cyprus, Egypt, France, Malta, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia.

The Council heard the report of the Chairperson of the Third Meeting of Women Parliamentarians, Senator Leila Sharaf of Jordan. It took note that Mrs Viola Furubjelke (Sweden) had been elected in Amman to the post of President of the Coordinating Committee of the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians, and that Mrs Rios-Montt (Guatemala) and Mrs Mahlanghu (South Africa) had been elected to the posts of First and Second Vice-Presidents. Mrs Furubjelke became a member ex officio of the Executive Committee.

The 104th Inter-Parliamentary Conference will take place in Jakarta, at the invitation of the Indonesian Parliament, from 15 to 21 October 2000. The Conference will examine the following subjects:

• the prevention of military and other coups against democratically elected governments and against the free will of the people expressed through direct suffrage, and action to be taken with regard to grave violations of the human rights of MPs;
• financing for development and a new paradigm of economic and social development designed to eradicate poverty.

The Council also elected to the Executive Committee Mr Henning Gjellerod (Denmark) to replace Mrs Barbara Imiolczyk (Poland), whose term of office had expired.

Contact in Amman for information and interviews (on the spot or by telephone): Mrs Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer. Tel.: 463 7639, fax 462 8430, e-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cd@mail.ipu.org