The Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, chaired by Canadian Senator Mrs. Sharon Carstairs, is holding its 118th session from today till 19 July 2007, at IPU Headquarters, The House of Parliaments. The Committee will examine 56 cases among them 33 public cases concerning 198 legislators in: Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Eritrea, Honduras, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Zimbabwe.

Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs assumed the Presidency of the Committee, in June 2007. A teacher by profession Senator Carstairs was the first woman appointed Deputy Leader of the Government, at the Senate of Canada in 1997.

The other members participating in the session are: Mrs. Rosario Green (Senator, Mexico, Vice-President of the Committee), Mrs. Zahia Benarous (Senator, Algeria), Mr. Aquilino Q. Pimentel (Senator, Philippines), Mr. Philippe Mahoux (Senator, Belgium) and Mrs. Alima Boumediene-Thiery (Senator, France, Substitute Member).

The Committee will examine the report of the mission it dispatched to the Philippines in late April this year to gather information on the case of six members of the Philippine House of Representatives accused of rebellion. One of them, Mr. Crispin Beltran, was in detention at the time. The Committee's delegation concluded that the charges brought against the parliamentarians concerned were politically motivated, that Mr. Beltran's detention was arbitrary and that he should be released. Last week, the Supreme Court of the Philippines dismissed the charges against the parliamentarians concerned and Mr. Beltran was acquitted just a few days ago.

The Committee will also continue its work in favour of the parliamentarians-elect in Myanmar, who are still in prison or are being otherwise harassed. The situation in Colombia, especially the fate of the kidnapped parliamentarians who remain in the hands of the FARC - some for over six years - will also be a focus of its concerns, all the more so after the recent killing of eleven provincial legislators who were shot dead when an unidentified military group attacked the camp where they being held hostage by the FARC. The Committee has consistently called for the conclusion of a humanitarian agreement between the parties concerned, and it will examine how it could best help to achieve this.

Finally, the Committee will meet with the Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Legal Affairs Committee, Mr. Christos Pourgourides, mandated to investigate disappearances for allegedly political reasons in Belarus, to exchange views about the case of a former member of parliament and Vice-President of the 13th Supreme Soviet, Mr. Victor Gonchar, who disappeared in September 1999.

---

Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 147 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. In 1976, it created the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians. 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 over the 500 cases in more than 100 countries that it has examined since its creation.
Other press releases	Version française de ce communiqué de presse	More information

---

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 of the IPU Human Rights Programme 5, ch. du Pommier, CH - 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex / Geneva Phone: +41 22 919 41 42 E-mail: is@mail.ipu.org and Mr. Rogier Huizenga, Programme Officer Tel.: +41 22 919 41 24 E-mail: rh@mail.ipu.org