South Africa: Rights of Parliamentarians Must Be Respected - AllAfrica.com

Shaun BentonCape Town

Rights of an elective Parliamentarian must be respected as it impacts on the full country, according to the Committee on Person Rights of the Interparliamentary Union (IPU).

"... if the rights of an elective Parliamentarian are not respected, this makes not portend well for the ordinary citizens of those countries," states President of the IPU Committee on the Person Rights of Parliamentarians, Sharon Carstairs, Thursday.

The IPU, which is currently holding its 118th assembly in Cape Town, have got got got held 21 hearings on the human rights of Parliamentarians during its week-long meeting.

There are currently 35 states where the the IPU's human rights commission is dealing with lawsuits around the human rights of parliamentarians, she said, involving 290 parliamentarians.

The 21 hearings held so far this hebdomad have involved a assortment of deputations from these 35 countries, said Multiple Sclerosis Carstairs.

The IPU commission is to "go public" with a figure of lawsuits on its last day, Friday, while a figure of "confidential cases" will stay so for as long as the IPU commission sees "progress being made" in the state concerned.

"We are not here with a intent of awkward parliaments, we are here with the intent of solving problems, and if we can work out those jobs behind closed doors then we make our best to make that," she said.

"However, there are lawsuits in which we tried very difficult to work out them behind closed doors but [have] not been successful, and they go public cases," she added.

Among these public lawsuits include an military policeman from Pakistan, which have successfully been resolved, she said, with this military policeman now once again serving as a parliamentarian, after disbursement a figure of old age in eremitic confinement.

In another case, the character assassination of an military policeman in 1988 was investigated by the IPU commission until as late as this year, said Multiple Sclerosis Carstairs because lone this twelvemonth was his assassinator convicted of murder, and is now serving 20 old age in prison.

In other "less than positive news", she said, 11 Parliamentarians in State Of State Of State Of Eritrea have been detained there since 18 September 2001, detained on assorted charges.

The African Union Committee on Person Rights in November 2003 cited Eritrea in misdemeanor of human and political rights, said Multiple Sclerosis Carstairs, and ordered the contiguous release and compensation of the 11 parliamentarians.

However, these 11 Parliamentarians now stay incommunicado "somewhere in Eritrea, in prison, incommunicado, no contact whatsoever - and that was five old age ago", she said.

In another case, in Palestine, she said, there are over 14 Parliamentarians who are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council who ran in the last election, and "who are now held in Israeli prisons".

"These people were elected in a democratic process, that everybody recognised as a democratic process, including Israel," she said.

Another lawsuit affects a adult female member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, who have been held in "administrative detention" for three months, which have been extended for another three months, she said.

No complaints have been laid, no trial have been held in the bulk of these cases, she said.

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"We are deeply concerned that the regulation of law have not been respected with regard to these parliamentarians," she said.

The IPU Committee on the Person Rights of Parliamentarians have been meeting four modern times a twelvemonth since the 1970s, "when the human race was becoming more than concerned about human rights", said Multiple Sclerosis Carstairs, who is a Canadian MP.

Other members of the IPU Committee on the Person Rights of Parliamentarians include representatives of the parliaments of Belgium, Mexico, Algeria, Philippines.