Dansk Interparlamentarisk Gruppes bestyrelse 2020-21, Det Udenrigspolitiske Nævn 2020-21, Udenrigsudvalget 2020-21, OSCEs Parlamentariske Forsamling 2020-21, Europarådet 2020-21
IPU Alm.del Bilag 9, UPN Alm.del Bilag 90, URU Alm.del Bilag 91, OSCE Alm.del Bilag 14, ERD Alm.del Bilag 6
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Geneva, 3 December 2020
Parliamentary solidarity at work
Join the IPU in upholding the human rights of parliamentarians
Office of the
Secretary General
Dear Madam President,
Dear Mr. President,
As the world organization of national parliaments, the Inter-Parliamentary Union
(IPU) strives to give its Members a prominent role in fulfilling the Organization’s
mandate, which includes the promotion and protection of the human rights of
parliamentarians.
Hence, I seek to enlist your assistance with regard to the individual human rights
decisions adopted by the IPU Governing Council at its recently concluded
extraordinary virtual session (1-4 November 2020). These decisions, which are
available
here
and are attached, concern the human rights situation of 160 members
of national parliaments in 13 countries. In addition to these cases, there are many
other parliamentarians whose situation continues to be monitored by the IPU.
I invite you to consult this
interactive map
to get the full picture of our work in this
area.
The IPU strongly believes that parliamentarians, as the voice of the people, should
be able to exercise their mandate without hindrance and without fear of reprisals. In a
similar vein, we believe that parliaments have a crucial role to play in protecting the
rights of their own members as well as of colleagues in other countries who are at
risk for merely exercising their mandate.
By acting in solidarity with parliamentarians under threat, parliaments can help to
protect their lives and obtain redress. This also provides solace to victims and sends
a strong signal to those bent on undermining the work of individual members of
parliament that their actions are unacceptable.
There are many ways in which parliaments can come out in support of individual
parliamentarians at risk. Indeed, over the years, we have been informed of countless
interesting examples of parliamentary follow-up. We believe that these practices can
and should serve as an inspiration to all parliaments, which is why they are listed
below for consideration by your Parliament:
•
Systematically bring the decisions adopted by the IPU Governing Council on
cases involving violations of the human rights of parliamentarians to the
attention of the members of your Parliament.
Organize parliamentary debates on the cases and adopt a position to
support the parliamentarians whose fundamental rights are in jeopardy, in
particular through adopting resolutions/declarations.
./..
•
 OSCE, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 14: Parliamentary solidarity at work
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•
•
Set up a mechanism within parliament entrusted with taking follow-up action
based on IPU decisions on human rights cases.
Take bilateral measures by approaching other relevant authorities of your
country or of the countries concerned with a view to promoting the
settlement of cases.
Contact parliamentarians in the countries concerned to express your
concern over the cases taken up by the IPU and invite them to take
appropriate action to support their colleagues at risk.
Meet the ambassadors of the countries concerned accredited in your country
to discuss the cases and express your concern.
Organize parliamentary visits to discuss the cases or mandate
parliamentarians travelling on mission abroad to discuss the cases with their
counterparts.
Discuss the cases during visits to your country by foreign parliamentary
delegations or any other relevant authority of the countries concerned.
Request the intervention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of your country to
take diplomatic measures, either directly or through diplomatic
representatives in the countries concerned to contribute to a settlement in
the cases.
Take joint action with the parliaments of neighbouring countries when
relevant.
Convey these cases and IPU decisions to the authorities, institutions and
organizations concerned at the national, regional and sub-regional levels to
encourage them to intervene with a view to reaching a settlement in the
cases.
Inform the media of the cases and publicize the activities of your Parliament
and the IPU regarding the protection and promotion of the human rights of
parliamentarians in your country and around the world.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
I sincerely hope that your Parliament will be able to take one or more of these
suggested actions.
The IPU is keen to collect systematically information on concrete parliamentary
actions in support of parliamentarians at risk. I would therefore be grateful if you
could keep the IPU informed, through
[email protected],
of any such initiatives taken
by your Parliament. At the same time, the IPU stands ready to provide your
Parliament with information in real-time on ongoing and new individual human rights
cases so that your initiatives have the greatest relevance and impact.
I thank you in advance for your support and look forward to hearing from you soon on
this important matter.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Chungong
Secretary General