IPU HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE ELECTS NEW PRESIDENT

Belgian Senator Philippe Mahoux has been elected President of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians. The Committee is meeting from 4 until 7 July, at the House of Parliaments. It will continue to examine allegations of human rights violations relating to 370 legislators. Among them there are public cases in the following countries: Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey and Zimbabwe.

The new President of the IPU Committee is a medical doctor and surgeon. He was Chief of the Department of Abdominal Surgery at the Namur regional hospital in Belgium from 1985 to 1996 and has participated in a number of humanitarian missions to Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including with Médecins sans frontières and Oxfam. Senator Mahoux started his political career in 1990 when he was elected to the Senate for the first time. He left parliament for a few years - 1994 -1997 - to take over the post of Minister of Education and Broadcasting before returning to the Senate again. He held the position of Vice-President of the Senate and subsequently became President of the Socialist Group (French community) in the Belgian Senate, a position he still holds today. Senator Mahoux was the vice-president and rapporteur of the parliamentary commission on the Tutsi genocide and the assassination of 10 Belgian paratroopers in Rwanda.

Other members of the IPU human rights committee present in Geneva are Mexican Senator Ms. Rosario Green (Vice-President of the Committee), Mr. Bogdan Barovič (MP, Slovenia), Mr. Kazem Jalali (MP, Islamic Republic of Iran), Mr. Kassoum Tapo (MP, Mali) and Senator Francis Pangilinan (Philippines).

For the IPU, respect for human rights must be a priority on the parliamentary agenda. The world organization of parliaments helps legislators represent their constituents freely and effectively. In 1976, it set up the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, which has since examined cases in over 100 countries and worked to help secure respect for the fundamental rights of members of parliament. Such was the case of Mr. Alpha Condé some years ago, to cite but one example. Mr. Condé is currently the President of Guinea.