Parliamentary diplomacy key to supporting Rohingya

SAINT PETERSBURG: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanem has called for the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to be turned into an “ethical authority” that can practice direct criticism, warning, admonition and freezing against members that do not commit themselves to the IPU’s principles. Addressing the IPU’s 137th Session in Saint Petersburg, Russia yesterday, Ghanem added that he could understand the belief and the desire not to turn the IPU into a “tribunal.”

“However, in turn, pardon me, I find it hard to grasp how the alternative is turning (the IPU) into a chatting and theorizing forum. Is not there a third way?” he said. The Kuwaiti chief parliamentarian underlined the necessity of having an IPU with an ethical authority that can take the necessary measures against any member legislature that do not abide by the principles of the union’s statute. Ghanem cited the Israeli violations against Palestinians over seven decades; occupying others’ lands and building settlements in their cities and villages; killing unarmed people, and denying followers of other faiths to practice their rituals. These are neither ambiguous nor controversial matters, but they are as obvious as ever, with a huge deal of brutality, he said.

Perpetual violations

Ghanem noted that he was not asking for emotional measures to be taken, but demanding “practicing of our (IPU’s) ethical authority toward Israel’s old, flagrant and perpetual violations, that are considered by all the resolutions of the international legitimacy “obvious violations of their collective principles.”

He also referred to the Israel’s concrete separation wall, built at the era of open spaces. “How crazy it is?” he proclaimed. He called for practicing all forms of pressure on the Knesset, and activating the IPU’s authority, as an entity that brings together representatives of the world people – looking forward to freedom, dignity and justice – to take the necessary measures to maintain the union’s prestige and reputation and principles.

Referring to the “disaster” of the Rohingya Muslims, Ghanem said it offered the “most flagrant model of rejecting the other on ethnical, religious and cultural basis.” Despite the repeated appeals and denunciations by the UN and the international community, the disaster is accelerating as the world is “merely watching,” he said. He highly appreciated the IPU’s members for their overwhelming vote in favor of comprising the Rohingyas’ tragedy as an urgent item on the IPU conference agenda.

Diplomacy succeeded

Ghanem had stated that the “parliamentary diplomacy” succeeded in adding the ordeal of the Rohingya Muslim minority to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference’s agenda. The National Assembly of Kuwait co-proposed the addition of the Rohingya issue to the IPU conference’s agenda, which was supported by 1,027 MPs. Winning this wide support “is not an easy task,” said Al-Ghanem said in a press statement following the addition of the item. “It needs coordination and relations, as well as parliaments that are highly respected by the others in order to get this support,” he added.

Ghanem thanked all those who supported the Rohingya issue, including parliaments of Britain, Germany and France “who, despite the fact they are not Muslims, supported the just causes.” The suppression of the Rohingya required a firm stance by the parliaments of the world, he said. – KUNA