Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Geneva, 11 March 1998
N° 68

IPU REPORTING ON VIOLATIONS OF MPs' RIGHTS
TO HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

The Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the Inter-Parliamentary Union's (IPU) watchdog of parliamentarians' rights, has currently on its agenda cases concerning 162 MPs in 30 countries. The majority of the cases concern parliamentarians who have been stripped of their mandate, or threatened, detained, prosecuted or even assassinated for having exercised their rights to freedom of speech.

A great number of the cases on the Committee's agenda are public ones, of 134 MPs in the following 12 countries: Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Djibouti, Gambia, Honduras, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Togo and Turkey. And the IPU will be presenting a report on these cases to the 54th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights when it meets in Geneva from 16 March to 24 April.

The other cases are confidential because the Committee, in its procedure, first seeks a satisfactory settlement through confidential dialogue and co-operation with the authorities of the countries concerned. It holds hearings and undertakes on-site missions as necessary to gain as much information as possible on cases. But if it does not prove possible to reach a satisfactory settlement of the case during this first phase of confidential examination, the Committee then submits public reports and recommendations to the Inter-Parliamentary Council (IPU governing body) at its twice-annual meetings. This draws media attention to the cases and encourages progress from the national authorities concerned.

The Committee is composed of five members of parliament, representing the world's main geopolitical regions. Currently its members are: Mr Clyde Holding (Chairman, Australia), Senator François Autain (Vice-Chairman, France), Senator Hugo Batalla (Uruguay), Mr François Borel (Switzerland), and Mr Hilarion Etong (Cameroon). It normally meets four times a year: two of the week-long sessions are held at the Geneva headquarters of the IPU, in January and July, and the other two are held during the twice-annual (April and September) Inter-Parliamentary Conferences of all IPU members.

IPU member-parliaments also lend their support to the work of the Committee through a multitude of actions which have contributed to the satisfactory settlement of a large proportion of the 935 cases of MPs in 85 countries that it has declared admissible since it began its work in 1976. The regional breakdown of total cases examined by the IPU is presented in the diagramme on the right.

DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS IN GENERAL

The IPU also promotes action by national parliaments to advance human rights in general. It does so by encouraging the ratification of international human rights instruments and their effective implementation at the national level. This year, in the context of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the IPU is undertaking a series of measures to reinforce national human rights promotion and protection.

The IPU also makes recommendations for action on human rights topics at its conferences, for example, on national structures for human rights (1994), protection of minorities (1996) and respect and protection of human rights in general and in particular for women and children (1996). In 1997 it adopted recommendations for action in relation to child labour, elimination of commercial and other forms of sexual exploitation of children, and protection of children in armed conflicts.

At the upcoming session of the Commission on Human Rights, the IPU will also be presenting its Universal Declaration on Democracy--the first text on democracy ever to be adopted at the world-wide level by politicians. "Democracy is founded on the primacy of the law and the exercise of human rights," the Declaration states.

The IPU also has a vast programme for promoting equality between men and women, focusing especially on women's participation in political life. It believes that democracy will only assume true significance when political policies and legislation are decided jointly by men and women in the interests of both halves of the population.

The IPU also promotes democracy through strengthening the parliamentary institution, and deals with other main issues before the international community for which proposals and solutions can be advanced by parliamentary co-operation and diplomacy, such as sustainable development and international security.

The IPU has a current membership of 137 national parliaments.

For more information: Robin Newmann, IPU Information Officer, tel. 919.4125/50

Burundi (33 MPs): The case concerns members of the National Assembly of Burundi, all belonging to the FRODEBU Party (Burundi Front for Democracy), who were either assassinated or injured following attacks on them, forced into exile or are currently being prosecuted on the basis of accusations which may be false and politically motivated.

Cambodia (8 MPs): The case concerns several members of the Cambodian parliament, among them the former Finance Minister, Mr Sam Rainsy, who was stripped of his parliamentary mandate after having been expelled from his party, the FUNCINPEC. All of them have suffered attempts on their life and were forced into exile following the coup d'Etat of Second Prime Minister Hun Sen in July 1996. Most of them have now returned to Cambodia to participate in the legislative elections scheduled for July 1998. However, the Committee considers the absence of any serious investigations regarding the attempts on their lives to be not conducive to the holding of free and fair elections.

Colombia (8 MPs): The Committee deals with two different cases involving Colombian MPs. The first concerns five MPs assassinated at different dates between 1986 and 1994. The involvement of military or paramilitary groups in these murders is alleged. The second case concerns two parliamentarians who have consistently received death threats, which has led one of them, Senator Motta, to go into exile. All MPs concerned were members of the Unión Patriotica, an opposition party. As regards the first case, none of the murders has been elucidated and most of the files have been provisionally closed. Only in one case, namely that of Senator Cepeda Vargas, have the investigations produced a result and led to the formal accusation of two military personnel.

Djibouti (3 MPs): On 15 June 1996, the parliamentary immunity of Mr Boulaleh Barreh, Mr Mahamade Houmed and Mr Bahdon Farah, members of the National Assembly, was lifted to permit their prosecution for offending the Head of State. They were sentenced on 7 August 1996 to a six-month prison term, a heavy fine and forfeiture of their civic rights for a period of five years, on account of having offended the Head of State. On 17 November 1996, the Supreme Court upheld this judgement. The following January the President of the Republic reduced the sentences and the three were released as a result. However, they remained deprived of their political rights and were unable to participate in the legislative elections of December 1997.

Gambia (2 MPs): The cases concern two members of the parliament dissolved following the 1994 coup d'Etat. Both were arrested shortly after the dissolution and held without any charges ever being brought against them. Since being released last year, one has filed a lawsuit against the competent authorities claiming compensation for the human rights violations he had suffered at the hands of officials acting under State authority.

Honduras (1 MP): This case concerns Mr Miguel Angel Pavón Salazar, a member of the Honduran Congress, who was shot dead on 14 January 1988 in San Pedro Sula by a man in civilian clothes. The judicial investigations, which established a link between his murder and evidence he gave in October 1987 before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in cases against the Government of Honduras concerning "disappearances", after having come to a virtual standstill, were finally re-opened in July 1996 by the Criminal Investigation Branch (DIC) of the Public Prosecutor's Office. They brought new evidence to light regarding the persons--military officers--presumed to be involved in the murder, permitting an indictment to be eventually filed with the courts. According to the DIC, its success will depend on the collaboration extended by the Public Security Forces and the Armed Forces.

Indonesia (3 MPs): The cases concern: Sri Bintang Pamungkas, an outspoken critic of the government. He was expelled from parliament and convicted in May 1996 to two years and 10 months' imprisonment for insulting the President of Indonesia by allegedly calling him a "dictator". He is currently facing a new trial on subversion charges. Mrs Megawati Sukarnoputri, a member of the House of Representatives, who was--according to the sources--unlawfully unseated in June 1996 as leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and prevented from standing for election in May 1997. Mr Aberson Sihaloho, also a member of the House of Representatives, who was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment on 21 July 1997 after being convicted of "insulting" the Indonesian President.

Malaysia (1 MP): The case concerns Mr Lim Guan Eng, son of opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) leader Lim Kit Siang. He was charged on 28 February 1995 under the Sedition Act and subsequently, on 17 March 1995, under the Printing and Publications Act for having criticised the Attorney General for his handling of a statutory rape case. He was subsequently found guilty and fined; however, the Attorney General found that the sentences imposed were inadequate, and Mr Lim Guan Eng faces the possibility of forfeiting his parliamentary mandate and even imprisonment.

Myanmar (49 MPs): The complaints originally concerned 83 members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) who were elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw (People's Assembly) in the legislative elections held on 27 May 1990 and arrested between 1990 and 1993 under legislation proclaiming a state of emergency. The original complaint relates to the failure of SLORC to convene the Pyithu Hluttaw, to the death of one of the MPs-elect in prison, to the detention of others without charge or trial or to their being harshly sentenced after summary trials. Since the submission of the complaints to the Committee, a number of the MPs-elect in question have been released but lost their mandate following a disqualification measure while others have died in detention or been assassinated. According to information in the Committee's possession as at July 1997, 12 MPs-elect among those imprisoned in connection with the 1990 elections are still in detention. Subsequent allegations relate to the wave of arrests which took place in particular during May 1996 and February 1997, when scores of NLD MPs-elect were arrested or rearrested in connection with a congress the NLD held at the compound of Aung San Suu Kyi from 26 to 28 May 1996 and with an NLD Union day meeting, respectively.

Nigeria (8 MPs): The complaint concerns members of the former Nigerian Parliament, elected in July 1992 and dissolved in the wake of General Sani Abacha's coup d'Etat of November 1993. Senators Ebute, Okorafor, Nwulu, Nwite, Ibrahim and Tinubu were arrested on 2 June 1994 and charged with treasonable felony and conspiring with others to overthrow the Government for having met on 30 May 1994 and urged General Sani Abacha to step down as Head of State. On 22 July 1994, they were released on bail. In December 1995 the judge ordered the closure of the cases except that of Senator Tinubu, who was subsequently also charged with sabotaging oil installations. He went into exile for fear of his life. The others have been warned against criticising the Government and are reportedly being prevented from travelling abroad. Mr Olawale Oshun, a member of the dissolved House of Representatives, was arrested on 19 May 1995 and detained incommunicado without any charge. He was released in December 1995 and went underground in April 1996, subsequent to two raids on his office and his home. He has since gone into exile. And Senator O.J. Adewunmi, former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Planning, has reportedly been in detention for almost two years without any charge having been brought against him.

Togo (3 MPs): Mr Atidépé and Mr Amorin, both members of the High Council of the Republic of Togo, the former transitional legislative body, were assassinated in May and July 1992 respectively. Mr Edeh, MP-elect, was murdered in February 1994. The killings of all three parliamentarians were allegedly carried out by military personnel. According to information supplied by the authorities until 1996, investigations into these murders had been instituted. However, in June 1996, the Minister of Justice informed the Committee that, in conformity with the amnesty law of December 1994, regarding all politically motivated crimes committed before that date, the files in question had been closed. The Togolese government, which had expressed its intention to take the question of entitlement to compensation into consideration, finally decided on 25 November 1997 to award a sum of 10,000,000 CFA in compensation to each of the families of the parliamentarians concerned which still has to be paid.

Turkey (15 MPs): The persons concerned, all of Kurdish origin, were elected members of the Turkish parliament in 1991, representing the south-eastern region of Turkey. Apart from six of them who went into exile following the dissolution of the Democracy Party (DEP) to which they all belonged except Mr Alinak, the others stood trial on charges of separatism, participating in a terrorist organisation and making separatist propaganda. The Court found four of them, namely Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Dogan and Selim Sadak, guilty of membership in an armed organisation and sentenced them to 15 years' imprisonment. Their case has been brought before the European Commission and Court of Human Rights. Pressing appeals of the international community to release them have so far gone unheeded. The remaining MPs were sentenced to 14 months' imprisonment and heavy fines as well as forfeiture of their political rights. Moreover, Mr Yurtdas and Mr Alinak, who are both lawyers, have been banned for life from exercising their profession. As regards Mr Sinçar, his murder in September 1993 has never been elucidated.