Iran and seven other member countries of the Inter-Parliamentary Union are opposing Canada's request to host an assembly slated for next spring in Quebec City.

The debate, which took place at the most recent gathering of the world's oldest and largest interparliamentary organization in Cape Town, South Africa, developed after Canada sought the right to reject participants on the basis of terrorism charges or communicable diseases such as SARS.

"Canada was trying to get the rules changed not only for ourselves, but for other countries," said Liberal Senator Sharon Carstairs, one of eight Canadians who attended the 118th assembly. "It might mean that we're not hosting."

The opposing nations supported an article of the group's constitution that stated that a participant should be allowed into the host country, whatever historical or medical baggage they might be bringing in.

The president of the IPU committee on the human rights of parliamentarians, Ms. Carstairs said that even if the membership did agree on changing the rules, it might be too late anyway.

Much preparation is involved in hosting the assembly, which would cost Canadian taxpayers around $5-6 million.

To accommodate the IPU's 1,500 delegates, the Canadian chapter of the organization would have to put down deposits for hundreds of hotel rooms to guarantee them.

It would be the first IPU assembly in Canada in almost 25 years.

But supported by Syria, North Korea, Sudan, Algeria, Venezuela, the Philippines and Peru, Iran won a deferral of the debate until October, which is when the IPU will meet in Geneva, where the 150-nation group has its headquarters.

"As a democratic institution, the IPU requires the host country to grant visas to any country in the world associated with the Inter-Parliamentary Union without any discrimination," Seyyed Mohsen Yahyavi, Secretary-General of Iran's Inter-Parliamentary Group, told Fars News Agency after the assembly, which ended on April 18.

The Canadian stance is a tricky proposition, Ms. Carstairs suggests. "If we applied the rules we're suggesting, then Nelson Mandela would not have been allowed into the country," she said.

"One nation's terrorist is another nation's freedom fighter."

Not unlike the Francophonie, the IPU is an international organization comprised of a wide variety of countries with varied political systems.

In this case, however, they are not grouped by any particular affiliation.

Apart from Canada, EU countries and Russia, it also counts countries that range

from demagogic (Belarus) to chaotic (Yemen) to emerging-democratic (Turkey).

Its annual budget is just under $20-million. The rest of its funding comes from the participant countries.

According to its Web site, the union "is the focal point for worldwide parliamentary dialogue and works for peace and co-operation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy."

Often defended as a forum for off-the-radar peace-building and post-conflict rebuilding, it is also derided as an expensive junket for politicians that has no tangible accomplishments.

Perhaps the most notable absence from the world body is the United States, which Mr. Yahyavi of Iran referred to as the biggest threat to world peace.

When asked if fraternizing with some countries whose human rights records are questionable was in Canada's best interests, Ms. Carstairs cited her own experience: She said she spends the better part of the days condemning countries for their abuses.

Addressing the fact that many of the parliamentarians she talks to are not actually elected, the Canadian Senator averred that "they could say the same thing about me."

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