IPU alarmed at the arrest and detention of the Speaker of the PLC

In August 2023, Members of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians travelled to Iraq, pleading for the swift release of an opposition MP who had been arrested arbitrarily a decade earlier. The arrest had happened early one

A few days before Human Rights Day on 10 December, the IPU has released its annual map of the number of reported cases of human rights violations suffered by parliamentarians around the world. Although the numbers continue to rise, there

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the UN Human Rights Office have today launched a toolkit to help parliaments better integrate human rights into their work. Parliaments and Human Rights: A self-assessment toolkit provides a practical introduction to assessing how human

The IPU notes with interest the verdict delivered by the Swiss district criminal court of Rorschach (St. Gallen) in the case of the Belarusian opposition parliamentarian Mr. Victor Gonchar (Hanchar). Mr. Gonchar disappeared in September 1999, along with opposition colleague

In many countries, MPs face significant risks for simply doing their jobs. In some extreme cases, MPs who are critical of the governing powers are incarcerated, tortured or even murdered. Those responsible for such acts rarely face any legal consequences

In 1979, the United Nations adopted a global treaty to make gender inequality a thing of the past. 189 countries have since ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). A Handbook first