Subject: POLITICAL INITIATIVES OF THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY
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(8) POLITICAL INITIATIVES OF THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY
by Emma Bonino, Secretary of the Radical Party
Sofia, 15-18 July 1993, Radical Party General Council
(8) EX-YUGOSLAVIA
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SUMMARY: While we still condemn the ethnic partition of Bosnia, recent
developments which tend towards the splitting of this country into three
autonomous regions leaves no room for an initiative aimed at
re-establishing the original borders.
There are in fact two possible scenarios, which are not antithetical. The
first considers the fall of the Belgrade regime to be absolutely essential,
also for a democratic settlement of the Bosnian question; the second
consists in convincing the international community to establish new rules
for peaceful coexistence, which would discourage a country from using
violence to further its own causes.
The following are a number of possible options for Radical Party action
within the sphere of the above scenarios::
1) Refusing to "recognize" the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(Serbia-Montenegro) by exploring the juridical aspects of the thesis of
legal severance between the Federative Socialist Republic of Jugoslavia and
the Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia-Montenegro); and by launching a campaign
to secure an official refusal to "recognize" the Yugoslav Republic
(Serbia-Montenegro).
2) Furthering the proposal to place Kosovo directly under the protection
of the UN., starting with the Molinari Amendment approved by the US
Congress, and in accordance with the requests made by both the Presidents
of Kosovo and Albania.
3) Macedonian issue. Undertaking campaigns in the various parliaments for
the official recognition of the Republic of Macedonia.
4) Utilizing the motion presented to the Italian Parliament by Radical
Deputies, which criticizes UN Resolution no. 838 that recognizes de facto
(with a view to de jure recognition) the ethnic partition of the Republic
of Bosnia according to criteria of racism and violence.
5) The long period of totalitarian and communist government in Yugoslavia
and in Russia has resulted in a loathing for the federative model as a
valid form of government. The type of federalism practised in Russia and
Yugoslavia was always sustained by the violence of the State. One must,
therefore, propose a federative type of constitutional government on the
lines of the democratic model that has been adopted in the US for
centuries: this is perhaps the only one that will allow different peoples,
ethnic minorities, languages, religions and cultures to coexist in a
civilized and productive way.
The rapid escalation of the situation in Bosnia, with the international
community having generally accepted the territorial gains effected by Serbs
and Croats, does not leave a lot of room for an initiative aimed at
re-establishing the legal situation that existed in Bosnia, and also on an
international front, before the war, as the country will most likely be
split into three autonomous regions.
For this reason, there are two possible lines of action regarding the
Ex-Yugoslavia issue. The first aims at bringing down the racist and
antidemocratic regime in Belgrade, as an indispensable condition for the
democratic settlement of the Bosnia question. The second is to bring
pressure to bear on the international communicty to establish new rules for
peaceful coexistence, which aim at making the use of violence to further
one's own cause completely unprofitable We continue to resolutely condemn
the ethnic partition of Bosnia.
The following are the possible options for taking action in the ambit of
the above scenarios.
1. Refusing to "recognize" the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(Serbia-Montenegro)
As well as examining the giuridical aspects of the supposed legal severance
between the Federative Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of
Yugoslavia (Serbia-Montenegro), we must undertake a campaign to obtain an
official refusal to "recognize" the Republic of Yugoslavia
(Serbia-Montenegro), with the consequent recalling of ambassadors -
something that many countries have already done - and the closure of
"Serbian" diplomatic seats, which are still operative at the present time.
2. UN protection for Kosovo
It is necessary to develop, at a political and giurdical level, the
proposal of placing Kosovo - former autonomous province of the
Ex-Yugoslavia, as laid down in the Yugoslavian Constitution of 1974 -
directly under the protection of the UN.To this end, the US Congress
having approved the "Molinari" Amendment (which contains our requests) and
requests already made by the Presidents of Kosovo and of Albania, could be
two good starting points.
(On June 16 1993,the US Congress approved two Amendments presented by
Deputy Molinari: one asking President Clinton to bring pressure to bear on
the Security Council for the deployment of UN troops in Kosovo; and a
second requesting that the Security Council decide to increase the number
of CSCE inspectors and observers in Kosovo.
The "protectorate" request was made by President Rugova of Kosovo. (It was
one of ten points in the Plan presented by Rugova to mediators Owen and
Stoltenberg.)
President Berisha of Albania also presented to these same mediators a
six-point plan to resolve the Kosovo problem: one of the points concerns
the "Protectorate" request to the Security Council. A second point that
the two plans (Rugova-Berisha) have in common is a request that the
Security Council only lift the embargo on Serbia on condition that the
Kosovo problem is resolved.)
3. Macedonia
We intend to relaunch the parliamentary campaign for the official
recognition of the Republic of Macedonia, which has been recognized by very
few European countries to date.
4. Balkan Federation
After having been subjected for so long to totalitarian regimes, Eastern
Euyrpean countries have lost all faith in a federative system of
government. The so-called "federalism" of the communist regimes had
nothing to do with the great theory - and practice - of democracy and
liberty which was developed, above all, in the United States of America,
where federalism has provided the institutional structure that makes the
freedom of individuals and of peoples possible. A distrust of totalitarian
federalism has plunged the interested parties into a series of civil wars
and conflicts between States that no form of "ethnic cleansing" - or racial
or religious cleansing, for that matter - effected by terrorizing the
peoples in question, will ever be able to resolve: no country can
guarantee the exclusion of national, cultural or religious minorities from
its territory; no country can apply laws, or regulations, that can
guarantee equality to the "residual" minorities. This prepares the ground
for civil war and acts of terrorism which can neither be resolved nor
stopped.
The only solution, as far as this is possible within the international laws
that have been drawn up and enforced to deal with this problem, is to
eliminate the negative meaning associated with the word "minority".
We have, in factm to take the opposite approach, and recognize and
appreciate the true wealth of all forms of cultural and linguistic
pluralism (we are thinking particularly of the pluralistic culture of the
Balkan States). And so having learned from the negative experience
regarding the Ex-Yugoslavia, we must think about building a "Balkan
Confederation" - which is a long and difficult, but necessary job - in
which those civilizations and traditions which were formed in the past
while the Balkan peoples were being attacked, excluded and killed en masse
by others, will be able to merge and grow together. By taking this road,
the Balkans will be able to make an extraordinary contribution to the
civilization, culture and life of the whole of Europe.
We have no initiatives underway at present, but we hope to form a study
group to formulate proposals which will form the basis of our first
undertakings.
Lastly, I think it is useful to reprint here a motion presented by Deputies
who are members of the Radical Party in Italy, which lists a number of
objectives which could be achieved in other parliaments. This motion
criticizes UN Resolution no. 836 which "recognizes de facto, and aims at
recognizing de jure, the ethnic partition of the Republic of Bosnia on the
part of Serbia and also Croatia, according to the criterion of 'ethnic
cleansing', that is, by resorting to racism and violence." It requests the
Italian Government to solicit an information offensive from the UN,
directed at Serbian and Montenegrin citizens; and to break off diplomatic
relations with the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and
Montenegro)".
MOTION
- Considering that the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and
Montenegro)" is responsible for serious international crimes, such as,
acts of aggression against Bosnia, genocide of Moslims and gross and
systematic violations of human rights in wartime; considering that it
appears evident that the actions of Serbian paramilitary units in Croatia
and in Bosnia can be attributed to the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(Serbia and Montenegro)";
- Considering that the agreement on Bosnia-Hercegovina reached in
Washington on 22 May 1992, which the Security Council has in part made its
own with Resolution no. 836, recognizes de facto, with an aim to
recognizing de jure, the ethnic partition of this Republic on the part of
the Serbs and also the Croats, according to the criterion of "ethnic
cleansing", that is, by resorting to racism and violence;
- Considering that said agreement has once again resulted in an
intensifying of military action, particularly on the part of the Serbs,
such as, driving the Muslim population out of the territory they inhabit;
- Considering that the Belgrade regime continues to suppress civil rights
and repress all forms of political opposition, also within its own
boundaries; that the leader of the Party for Serbian renewal, Vuk
Draskovic, was arrested and badly assaulted;
- Considering that Serbia is using more and more brutal means of repression
against the Albanian citizens of Kosovo; that the disappearance of the
Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia necessitates the redefinition of
guarantees of self-government made to Kosovo and Vojvodina;
- Considering that UN Resolution no. 713 of 25 September 1991 affirms that
"the territorial transformations obtained with violence in Yugoslavia are
not acceptable" (no. 8 of the Introduction);
- Considering that Serbs are in the process of aggregating in Croatia and
Bosnia, and this process will be continued in "Greater Serbia";
- Considering that UN Resolution no. 757 of 30 May 1992, obliges Member
States to reduce the staffs of diplomatic and consular missions in the
"Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)", with the Member
States obviously being free to abolish these missions if they so desire;
- Considering that UN Resolution no. 777 of 19 September 1992 stated that
"the State previously known as the Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia
has ceased to exist" and turned down the request of the "Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)" to automatically acquire member
status at the UN;
- Considering that Opinions no. 1 and 10 of the Badinter Arbitration
Committee of the Peace Conference on Yugoslavia state that the principles
of international law consider the existence and the disappearance of a
State a de facto issue and that the new "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(Serbia and Montenegro)" is to be considered as a "new State";
- Considering that said Opinion no. 10 of the Arbitration Committee, after
having stated that recognition, even though of a declarative nature, is an
act of discretion that third-party States can adopt on condition that the
State heing recognized respects: the indispensable principles of the ban on
the use of force, and the fundamental rights of man and of ethnic
minorities;
- Considering that the de facto recognition and the continued diplomatic
relations between Italy and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and
Montenegro)" would constitute, according to the tradition and the doctrine
of international law, recognition in every respect;
- Considering that our Government continues to keep a diplomatic mission
open in Belgrade and accepts that representatives of the "Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)" continue to occupy the premises of
the Embassy of the Former Yugoslavian Republic;
- Considering that our Government concedes jurisdictional immunity to the
diplomats of that State, on condition that this is reciprocal; that various
forms of communication, the contnent of which is similar to that typical of
diplomatic relations, are exchanged between our Government and said State;
that recently, the personnel of the diplomatic seat of the "Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)" in Rome, requested on
behalf of the latter, the extradition of a Slovenian citizen arrested in
Italy for arms trafficking, according to the Italo-Yugoslav Bilateral
Treaty on Extradition;
- Considering that the UN Security Council, in constituting the Court for
the Ex-Yugoslavia on the basis of Chapter VII of the Charter, indicated
that the serious violations of human rights committed in the Ex-Yugoslavia
constitute a threat to security and peace;
- Considering, therefore, that the conditions for the recognition of the
new State called the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and
Montenegro)" established by Opinion no. 10 of the Badinter Committee of
Arbitration are in no way fulfilled by that State;
- Considering that the breaking-off of diplomatic relations is one of the
measures considered in Art. 41 of the UN Charter, and that it can represent
a legitimate counter-measure for the unlawful actions of a State;
- Considering that regular military actions without the support of
nonviolent actions and information offensives, of the widespread
communication of truth and reality to the peoples and individuals in
question, can be thwarted, impeded or even produce the opposite effect,
either or in the mid- or long-term
commits the Government
1. to solicit from the UN an appeal and a statement - and their formal
cognizance - addressed to the Serbian population and all the citizens of
the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)" in order to
inform them precisely, and in every way possible, of the fact that the
international community will defend its own rights and its own future
against years of internal and international conflict, of criminal actions
and designs, and all the consequences and international measures that could
actually weigh heavily on it in the future;
2. to urge individual member States to move in this direction and take this
action, and also the European Union and the CSCE; organizations recognized
by the UN, and NGOs (nongovernmental organizations);3. to operate, in any
case, where it is directly involved, along the following lines and
according to the following objectives;
4. to not endorse, in any place or in any way - even by ommission - the
Washington agreement and to formally request the modification of Resolution
no. 836;
5. to solicit the UN Security Council to confer a more extensive mandate on
UN forces and to adequately strengthen their presence, with the aim of
forcing the Serbian and Croatian paramilitary units in action in Bosnia to
withdraw; of disarming all the irregular bands, and of stopping the flow of
arms and aid to such forces;
6. to solicit the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution, analogous to
what was previously decided for Iraqi Kurdistan, aimed at prohibiting
military operations from being carred out in Kosovo; and to place this
region under special UN military and administrative protection;
7. to urgently get talks underway at the European Political Cooperation
offices - following the lead of the European Council meeting in Copenhagen
from 21 - 22 June - in order that the 12 might take a decision to impose
harsher political sanctions on the Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and
Montenegro) by breaking off diplomatic relations;
8. to break off, in any event, diplomatic relations between Italy and the
"Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ( Serbia and Montenegro)."
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