Mr. Franklin M. Drilon, President of the Senate of the Philippines, is the new President of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which is meeting at The House of Parliaments in Geneva. Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs (Mrs), has been elected Vice-President of the Committee.

A lawyer by profession and former Secretary of Justice of the Philippines, Mr. Drilon was born on 28 November 1945, in Iloilo City, Philippines. He is married with two children. Mr. Drilon presided over the 112th IPU Assembly in Manila, last year.

The IPU Human Rights Committee will examine, untill Friday, 30 public cases concerning 112 parliamentarians in 19 countries. Established in 1976, the Committee meets in camera four times a year.

The members present in Geneva are: Mr. Fernando Margaín (Mexico, Senator); Mrs. Zahia Benarous (Algeria, MP), and Mrs. Marie-José Laloy (Belgium, Senator, substitute member for the Twelve Plus geopolitical group).

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 146 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, Secretary of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians 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