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IPU report: 71% of surveyed parliamentarians report public‑led intimidation; women disproportionately affected
Summary
The Inter‑Parliamentary Union launched a report, When the Public Turns Hostile, finding that 71% of surveyed lawmakers reported intimidation by members of the public, with online abuse concentrated and women disproportionately targeted; the IPU urged parliaments to adopt security, reporting and AI‑policy measures.
The Inter‑Parliamentary Union on Thursday released a global study, When the Public Turns Hostile, finding widespread online and offline intimidation of parliamentarians and warning that sustained harassment threatens representative democracy.
"When the public turns hostile" is based on a global survey and five in‑depth country case studies, the IPU's secretary general said at a New York briefing. "Seventy‑one percent of those we surveyed both globally and in the five countries reported having experienced violence from the public," he said, adding that online abuse accounts for the bulk of incidents in the case studies.
The report, the IPU said, sampled MPs across roughly 80–85 countries and includes five national case studies—Argentina, Benin, Italy, Malaysia and The Netherlands—chosen to provide regional and political diversity. In its presentation, the IPU said the study combines a broad survey of lawmakers with interviews and country‑level analysis.
The secretary general and the IPU human‑rights director highlighted several headline findings:…
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