In the lead-up to Human Rights Day, the IPU continue to express grave concerns over the ever growing number of human rights violations against parliamentarians worldwide.
The number of cases brought before the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians has more than tripled in the last decade, from 311 in 2014 to 956 in 2024 according to the latest IPU map Violations of the human rights of MPs.
The number of countries with cases before the Committee has also increased significantly – from 41 in 2014 to 55 in 2024 – indicating a worrisome trend in the global landscape of parliamentary human rights. Among the countries with the highest number of cases are the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Yemen, but the IPU has received complaints from every region of the world.
The most commonly reported violations against MPs’ rights in 2024 were:
Undue suspension or loss of parliamentary mandate.
Violations of MPs’ freedom of expression.
Lack of a fair trial and other unfair proceedings against MPs.
Violation of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
The prevalence of these violations, particularly against opposition parliamentarians, highlights a global trend where opposition MPs are being disproportionately targeted compared to their colleagues from the majority.
In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the IPU is closely following the cases of 135 former opposition parliamentarians elected in 2015, who have faced allegedly politically motivated persecution, criminal proceedings, arrest warrants, and harassment, which have not been addressed by the authorities.
The IPU is also reviewing the case of former prominent opposition MP Ms. María Corina Machado, who was prevented from standing as a presidential candidate in the recent elections, in what also appears to be a politically motivated move.
In Yemen, the cases concern 116 members of the Yemeni Parliament, all elected during the 2003 parliamentary elections for a six-year term and who remain members of parliament in accordance with the Yemeni Constitution. Since 2014, they have allegedly been subjected to various human rights violations, including attempted murder, abduction, arbitrary detention and destruction of property.
The IPU Committee is addressing dozens of extremely serious situations, including the unresolved deaths of
Ms. Amina Mohamed Abdi from Somalia on 23 March 2022,
Ms. Murzal Nabizada from Afghanistan on 15 January 2023 and
Mr. Chérubin Okende Senga from the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 13 July 2023.
The IPU is also investigating the disappearance of two missing MPs:
Ms. Seham Sergiwa (Libya), missing since 17 July 2019
Mr. Brooklyn Rivera (Nicaragua), missing since 29 September 2023
Furthermore, the Committee is closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Türkiye, where several parliamentarians are currently imprisoned for alleged political reasons.
The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians is the only international complaints mechanism with the specific mandate to defend the human rights of persecuted parliamentarians around the world. Its work includes mobilizing the international parliamentary community to support threatened MPs, lobbying national authorities, visiting MPs in danger and sending trial observers.
Find out more about the live cases currently being monitored by the IPU.
