Subject: From TRANSNATIONAL - Satyagraha - 6 June 1994 - No. 3
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X-Comment: The Transnational Radical Party List
Fortnightly Newsletter of the Radical Party
RWANDA: THE NEED FOR BINDING INTERNATIONAL LAW
Thanks to the initiative of many parliamentarians from all the Italian
political groups, the Chamber of Deputies unanimously approved a Resolution
on the tragic situation in Rwanda. The Resolution, which was submitted by
Secretary of the Radical Party Emma Bonino and others, was approved on 1
June by the Foreign Affairs Committee. We are publishing the text here, as
it could be a useful point of reference for similar parliamentary
initiatives.
The Third Committee of the Chamber of Deputies,
- considering that what has taken place in Rwanda goes way beyond the
bounds of cruelty;
- taking into account that genocide - one of the worst evils to afflict
this century - is being perpetrated; genocide which does not even spare
women and children who are massacred indiscriminately, bringing the number
of victims to an estimated total of hundreds of thousands;
- deploring the fact that insufficient attention was paid to the warning
signals that preceded this particular crisis, which indicates a particular
weakness in national and international information structures;
- denouncing the political responsibilities assumed repeatedly in the name
of "international tolerance" and the lack of coordination in the control of
arms trafficking, also on the part of Italy;
- considering extremely serious the fact that only a few African countries
responded positively to the appeal made by UN Secretary General
Boutros-Ghali and to UN contacts with the forty-two Member States,
regarding the formation of a peace-keeping force of at least 5,500 men to
bring hostilities to an end;
- engages the Government
a) to ask the Council of Europe to urgently decide upon a joint action
within the framework of the PESC (Common Foreign and Security Policy) to
combat the humanitarian disaster in Rwanda and to urge the UN Security
Council to include the issue on its agenda, also by applying Article 34 of
the UN Charter, while at the same time officially declaring that our
country is actively - and not merely verbally - disposed to participating
in a peace-keeping force to put an end to the genocide, thus making good
the shameful delay and allowing these institutions to assume their proper
role;
b) to guarantee respect of the arms and munitions embargo and to prosecute
any Italian company responsible for violating it in any way whatsoever;
c) to prepare, within the context of the UN peace plan, a comprehensive
emergency and human development aid plan for the peoples still in Rwanda
and for those in flight, also by supporting Italian initiatives, including
nongovernmental and voluntary ones;
d) to check regularly that these plans are being implemented and to submit
periodic reports to Parliament;
e) to support and promote at the 49th Session of the UN General Assembly
the institution of the Permanent International Tribunal for crimes against
humanity;
f) to consult with European partners, in order to decide upon the attitude
to be adopted by the European Union, also calling for an Extraordinary
Meeting of the UN Security Council.
