More lawmakers faced human rights violations in 2020: IPU
No such violation was reported from India during the year, the IPU it said in its annual report ahead of the Human Rights Day on December 10. Its committee on human rights of parliaments examined 552 cases against MPs in 42 countries; compared to 533 in 2019
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) – the global organisation of national parliaments of which India is a member – has reported a rise in the number of MPs facing human rights violations during 2020, including some in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
No such violation was reported from India during the year, the IPU it said in its annual report ahead of the Human Rights Day on December 10. Its committee on human rights of parliaments examined 552 cases against MPs in 42 countries; compared to 533 in 2019.
The figures, it said, reveal an uptick in acts of intimidation and violence, with women MPs suffering more. Of the 552 cases, 43 were reported from Venezuela, and 83 from 13 countries were new this year. Opposition MPs accounted for 85% of the cases.
The most common human rights violations, the IPU said, were undue suspension and loss of parliamentary mandate; lack of fair trial and other unfair proceedings; threats, acts of intimidation; and violation of freedom of expression.
The figures reveal that women MPs are significantly more exposed to torture, ill treatment and acts of violence, with 34% of women parliamentarians considered by the IPU affected compared with 18% of male colleagues.
In 2020, the IPU examined 98 cases concerning women parliamentarians, up from 85 in 2019. This represented 18% of all cases before the committee and almost three times higher than the figure from six years ago (34 women in 2014).
Lobbying from the IPU and the global parliamentary community contributed to the release of some parliamentarians from detention; for example, four MPs were freed in Ivory Coast.
For the fifth year in a row, the IPU said the Americas account for the greatest proportion of human rights violations against parliamentarians: 32% (178 cases out of 552) - driven by a large caseload from Venezuela.
“The coronavirus pandemic has provided an opportunity for some governments to act against opposition MPs using lockdown laws to detain or otherwise infringe upon the rights of opposition parliamentarians, notably in Venezuela, Uganda and Zimbabwe,” IPU said.
Founded over 130 years ago, the IPU describes itself as the first multilateral political organisation in the world, encouraging cooperation and dialogue between all nations. Its membership comprises 179 national parliaments and 13 regional parliamentary bodies.
The IPU convenes twice a year over 1,500 parliamentary delegates and partners in a world assembly, bringing a parliamentary dimension to global governance.
