VOA常速英语2007-IPU Says Parliament Members Disappeared in Eritr

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
13 October 2007

The Human Rights Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union says the cases of more than 250 parliament members in 32 countries who have been imprisoned¹, killed or disappeared remain unresolved and continue to be a matter of grave concern.  Representatives from many of the more than 140 national parliaments that are members of the IPU attended an international conference in Geneva this week.  Lisa Schlein reports for VOA.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union, which groups more than 140 national parliaments worldwide, says parliament members often run into trouble in non-democratic countries.  It says leaders in these countries have little tolerance² for dissent³.  It says those in opposition⁴ are frequently intimidated⁵, jailed, sometimes killed and made to disappear.

The IPU Human Rights Committee says cases of concern include 40 Palestinian parliament members jailed without charge by Israel, 26 MPs languishing⁶ in Burmese prisons, 57 Ecuadorians stripped of their parliamentary seats and an increasing number of MPs killed in Lebanon.

Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs says she considers Eritrea to be the worst offending country.

"And, I would say it is the worst, because parliamentarians have disappeared in 2001," she said.  "And, they have literally⁷ disappeared off the face of the earth.  We know nothing about these individuals.  It is hard to highlight a case when you do not know anything about those individuals.  We have asked to go to Eritrea, to take a mission to Eritrea.  So far, we have not been able to do that." 

Carstairs says 11 Eritrean members of parliament have been held incommunicado since December 18, 2001 after they called for Democratic reforms.   She says it is not clear whether the MPs are still alive.

She says the IPU would like to put Eritrea under tight public scrutiny⁸, but she says this is difficult to do.

She says that making progress in a country like Zimbabwe is also difficult. Carstairs says the IPU has compiled reports about rights violations¹⁰ against MPs and has even been able to go on a mission there.  Nevertheless, she says none of this has made a difference.

"Having said that, we cannot ignore those parliamentarians in Zimbabwe who have serious, serious human rights violations against them," she added.  "And, when we have a report of a parliamentarian literally beaten up in an airport parking lot and then we are told by the government of Zimbabwe 'well, he did not report this violation⁹, so therefore, we are under no compunction to investigate.'  We have to point out that that is contrary to the rule of law." 

Despite allegations of brutal¹¹ behavior by the authorities, the Canadian senator says parliament members in Zimbabwe fare better than they do in Eritrea.  Unlike Eritrea where the MPs simply disappear, in Zimbabwe they are held for varying lengths of time.

She says they may be detained for a few hours or weeks or a month.  But, then, as far as she knows, they tend to be released.

1 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

2 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

3 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 languishing   

a. 衰弱下去的

参考例句：

• He is languishing for home. 他苦思家乡。
• How long will she go on languishing for her red-haired boy? 为想见到她的红头发的儿子，她还将为此烦恼多久呢？

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

9 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

10 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

11 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。