PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union

ment to following through a process and the powers of persuasion to
convince your colleagues on the committee that your proposals should
be implemented. The committee’s advisors will advise on the feasibility
of proposals and law drafting will be done by those who have specialist
drafting skills. You need to think critically while you are considering
legislation. Be prepared to ask questions if you do not understand
the bill before you. The chances are that if you do not understand it,
neither will the people you represent.
Protecting the rights of parliamentarians in fulfilling
their mandates
A representative parliament I 37
A fundamental condition for a parliament to be representative, and for its
members to represent their electors effectively, is that they be free to speak
their minds without fear or favour. Historically, parliamentarians have often
been subject to all kinds of pressure and intimidation from governments, especially
when they have spoken out against government abuses. They have also
been subjected to unwarranted pressure from other powerful forces within
society itself. It is for this reason that the rights of parliamentarians to free
speech have been given special protection through rules of parliamentary
‘privilege’ or ‘non-accountability’ which protect parliamentarians from prosecution
for opinions expressed or votes cast in the exercise of their mandate.
Parliamentary non-accountability applies to anything spoken or written
or any act committed by a member of a parliamentary assembly in
the ordinary course of his official duties……the protection afforded is
absolute and lifelong, even after he has ceased to be a member. All
countries without exception endorse the principle of non-accountability
defined in this way. (IPU Committee on the Human Rights of
Parliamentarians, 1993)
The point of such a privilege is not only for the protection of parliamentarians,
but so that they can better represent and protect the interests of their electors.
This is well expressed in a resolution of the Council of the IPU in Mexico
City in 1976: ‘Protection of the rights of parliamentarians is the necessary
prerequisite to enable them to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms
in their respective countries; in addition, the representative nature of a
Parliament closely depends on the respect of the rights of the members of
that Parliament.’