From: R.Cicciomessere@agora.stm.it

To: transago@agora.stm.it

Subject: GENERAL RESOLUTION

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General resolution adopted by the General Council of the Radical party -

Sofia, 18 july 1993 -

ABSTRACT: The conclusive resolution of the General Council underlines the

importance of the message sent by the U.N. Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali,

as well as the of the documents in which the United Nations and the

international community have taken a stance on the grave problems of the

world which is threatened not only by military events but also by the new

sources of instability "in the humanitarian and environmental fields".

These lines of address, the resolution underlines, are not matched by

initiatives that endow the U.N. with the necessary means and instruments

for their application. In order for this to take place, a "subject, a

political force" is needed to operate exclusively in the transnational

field to support the U.N. Such new subject seems to be the transnational

radical party, if this assumes responsibility of taking initiatives on the

points listed below as unquestionable priorities.

The same discrepancy between the intentions and enunciations and the means

to achieve them applies also to the major environmental projects. The

radical party will need to operate in the environmental issue launching

specific campaigns starting from the area of central and eastern Europe.

There follow the themes relative to the "rights of the individual" and the

problem of AIDS, examined specifically from the point of view of the needs

of the African continent.

The resolution, therefore, to avert a new financial crisis for the party,

invites parliamentarians in particular to assume direct responsibilities to

make the offices and initiatives assumed in the various countries

progressively autonomous, and to produce the "parliamentary newsletter"

envisioned by the party without further depending on the resources of the

central headquarters.

--------------------------

At its meeting in Sofia held on 17th and 18th of July 1993, the General

Council of the Transnational Radical Party

Welcomes the message sent by the U.N. Secretary-General Boutros

Boutros-Ghali, emphasizing in particular the part which reads that "the

imperative of peace should become instiled in the consciousness of

individuals; the imperative of development is by now perceived as a right

of man; democracy is our new imperative".

The General Council also accepts and endorses the U.N. Security Council

"Declaration" passed at the Meeting of the Heads of State and Government

held on 31 January 1992 as well as the Declaration of Rio de Janeiro and

"Agenda 21" on environmental protection and sustainable development, which

warn that the major threats to peace and security are no longer only

military, but come also from the growing instability in the humanitarian

and environmental spheres.

The General Council points out, however, that these relevant statements of

principle are not, as yet, matched by appropriate instruments for specific

day-to-day implementation. At the transnational and supranational levels,

there are still no positive and explicit legal provisions recognized by

nations and individuals. Efficient structures and instruments for their

enforcement, for prevention of violations and imposition of relevant

sanctions are not available either. The most important institution with

such tasks, the system of the United Nations and the Security Council in

particular, lacks the requisite means and resources as well as full

democratic legitimacy; therefore, its action fails to acquire the necessary

authority, generating frustration and distrust among peoples.

There hardly exists a region in the world where peace and security are not

threatened. The borders between the new states on the territory of the

former Soviet Union are the object of dispute: human rights are being

suppressed from Nagorno Karabakh to Moldavia, and even the most outstanding

historic and cultural monuments are subjected to irrational and outrageous

destruction. Particularly dangerous are the devastating conflicts in former

Yugoslavia, taking into account the possible consequences for the

all-European equilibrium. It is necessary to put an end to the military

actions of the Yugoslav Federation (Serbia and Montenegro) with its

unacceptable claims for territorial expansion through ethnic cleansing and

genocide; but it is also necessary to halt the high-handedness and violence

over the cultural, ethnic and territorial groups. Likewise, in Somalia it

is necessary to undertake and complete a rapid and unswerving process of

disarmament of the warring parties and create conditions for democratic

state life in response to the aspirations of the majority of the people.

Regrettably, both in former Yugoslavia and in Somalia, where it has

received a mandate, the United Nations cannot fulfil the role which the

conscience and hopes of all peoples in the world ask of this organization.

***

In order to formulate and attain objectives such as the ones contained in

the message of the U.N. Secretary-General, the U.N. Security Council

statements, "Agenda 21" and all other documents discussed on supranational

level, urgent and resolute efforts are necessary to promote the initiative

for unification and mobilization of individuals and nations. A political

subject or force is needed to operate firmly and decisively on a

transnational level to that end. In the course of the discussion of the

General Council of the Transnational Radical Party this need was spelled

out and emphasized, and this task was assigned to the statutory organs.

While aware of all the difficulties of this undertaking and of the limited

resources available, the TRP General Council believes that the following

priority objectives can attract numerous new members and promote powerful

initiatives and political struggles with non-violent Gandhian means:

1 - to obtain the respect of the commitments and time limits for the

establishment of an International tribunal to try war crimes in the former

Yugoslavia in accordance with the forms and ways established by the United

Nations, paying particular attention to the crimes related to the "ethnic

cleansing" and ongoing genocide in Bosnia;

2 - to make active efforts in various fora, especially in Parliaments, so

that the recognition of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and

Montenegro) is linked, as is the case with the other republics, to the

establishment or restoration of genuine constitutional and legislative

guarantees for the rights of individuals and people which are being

suppressed in Bosnia and seriously violated in Kosovo and Vojvodina;

3 - to take all possible steps within the framework of the campaign to

abolish the death penalty by the year 2000 so that in the near future the

right of every human being not to be killed by virtue of law may be

incorporated in the inviolable international law (jus cogens), also through

U.N. resolutions;

4 - to co-ordinate and promote initiatives and efforts to abrogate or amend

international conventions that bind the member states to a policy of drug

prohibition and to use the formation of anti-prohibitionist transnational

groups in various Parliaments for modification of national and regional

drug policies aimed at:

a) a new policy to combat crime in order to break the spiral "more police,

more drug trafficking";

b) a policy of harm-reduction on the model of the experience of the cities

that endorsed the Frankfurt resolution;

c) promoting the initiatives of the International Anti-Prohibitionist

League affiliated to the Radical party;

5 - to take active steps in Parliaments and international organizations to

support the diffusion and gradual formal adoption of the international

language Esperanto as a specific instrument to guarantee the right to

language, to protect the linguistic and cultural ecosystem on the planet,

to develop on a supranational level a common world identity belonging to a

single human family.

***

The innovative guidelines which the United Nations have endorsed in the

Declaration of Rio de Janeiro, "Agenda 21" and the other programmatic

documents, in spite of the shortcomings, introduce deep-going changes in

national and international policies with respect to environmental

protection and sustainable development both in industrial and less

developed regions: the environmental problem affects not only separate

sectors, but it becomes an essential element of the international system of

security, development and democracy which constitutes the major challenge

of our time. But on these issues too, there is a discrepancy between

declarations in principle and specific goals, resources, instruments and

obligations. Also, the definition of a legal system consistent with the

scope of the problem is either lacking or insufficient. Therefore, it is

also in this field that the Party has to undertake initiatives with

specified time limits in the Parliaments where it has representatives. The

Secretary and the Treasurer of the Party will then make the necessary

operational decisions on the priority goals specified for Central and

Eastern Europe: the establishment of a pan-European community of major

rivers and waterways; the right to information; campaigns for closing down

particularly dangerous nuclear power plants and efficiency of power

generation.

***

So far, human rights have been insufficiently protected by weak, sectional

and poorly coordinated institutions and actions. The General Council

instructs its statutory organs and members, and Parliamentarians in

particular, to promote the most favourable conditions for undertaking

initiatives and strengthening national and supranational institutions for

protection of human rights, including the right to ethnic, cultural,

linguistic and religious self-determination. Only the establishment of a

system such as the European Convention of Human Rights in Strasbourg can

legitimate individual actions in support of the right to belonging to a

certain minority. Likweise, the struggle against the spread of AIDS,

especially in the African continent, should be enhanced on all levels.

On the basis of the preliminary budget and of the report of the Treasurer

The General Council notes that only a radical change of the structure of

outlays through the establishment of self-financed offices in the various

countries can avert that same shortage of financial resources which has in

the recent past jeopardized the very existence of the party, and which

remains the main obstacle to the realization of the Radical political

transnational project;

it instructs its statutory organs to undertake all the necessary measures

to settle the problem.

The General Council acknowledges the commitment assumed by the Assembly of

Parliamentarians of the Radical Party and decides to follow the

instructions of the Treasurer with respect to the preparation of a

parliamentary newsletter and the establishment of the relative facilities

at the various Parliaments.

Finally, the General Council instructs the statutory bodies to explore the

possibility of creating a planning and research unit to assist party

activities, in accordance with the instructions of the Treasurer.