Subject: SIGN NOW AND COLLECT OTHER SIGNATURES IN FAVOUR OF THE INTERNATIONAL APPEAL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT O
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F A PERMANENT PENAL COURT
Dear friend,
From Iraq to Somalia, from the former Yugoslavia to Yemen, from
Haiti to Rwanda, the international community has witnessed an explosion of
massacres, destruction, and repeated, large-scale violations of
international law, and has generally been impotent in the face of these
events.
In order to oppose the new warlords responsible for these
tragedies of humanity and of civilization, the international community must
furnish itself with new instruments to punish the guilty parties and deter
any others around the world who might be tempted to follow their "example".
It is therefore necessary, as soon as possible, to create an
international penal jurisdiction and an instrument capable of ensuring the
respect of international law. It is necessary to institute a permanent
international penal Tribunal under the aegis of the United Nations.
Thanks to the recent adoption by the International Law Committee
(ILC) of the United Nations of the draft statute of the international
Tribunal, this project, whose need is felt by the vast majority of
international opinion, could very soon become reality.
It is therefore necessary to promote widespread international
mobilization to persuade the General Assembly to approve the statute during
its current plenary session. In this way it will be possible to convene an
inter-governmental Conference by the end of next year in order to submit
the Treaty for the institution of the Tribunal to the approval of the
member states. What decision could honour the fiftieth anniversary of the
foundation of the United Nations in a more concrete, effective manner?
It is for these reasons that we ask you to give your immediate
support to the enclosed appeal, addressed to the Secretary General of the
United Nations and to the governments of the world, which we will be
publishing in the international press at the beginning of October.
Emma Bonino (Secretary of the Radical Party, MP)
Olivier Dupuis (Chairman of the General Council of the Radical Party)
Please address your reply to Fax ++39.6-68805396 *
Tel ++39.6-689791 * E-MAIL: radical.party@agora.stm.it
FOLLOWING THE TEXT OF THE APPEAL:
TO THE GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE UNITED NATIONS
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE VI COMMISSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MEMBER STATES
We the undersigned,
Parliamentarians, members of government, and citizens of the member states
of the UNO:
In consideration of the fact
- that all over the world, from Iraq to Somalia, from the former Yugoslavia
to Rwanda, dramatic conflicts persist and continue to flare up in the name
of ancient nationalistic and ethnic sentiments or of absurd and
unacceptable religious incomprehension, and that these conflicts are marked
by atrocities that seem to bring back the violence and the horror of the
totalitarian regimes;
- that it is therefore now necessary to create a valid body of
international law and jurisdiction which, by expressing and giving concrete
force to the desire for justice felt by men and women of good will, can
manage in an effective and credible manner to identify and punish those
responsible for crimes condemned by the common conscience;
- that it is up to the international community - and thus to the United
Nations, the expression of the will of free peoples and governments - to
create and support, as soon as possible, this form of new law and
jurisdiction through the institution of a permanent Tribunal on crimes
against humanity, which can effectively take up at a global level the work
begun by the ad hoc Tribunal on the crimes committed in the former
Yugoslavia;
- that the International Law Commission has been working since 1947 on the
drafting of a Code of crimes against the peace and security of humanity, a
Code which the UN adopted at first reading in 1991;
- that the 48th General Assembly (1993) conferred on the same Commission a
priority mandate to draw up the Statute of an International Penal Tribunal,
in time for adoption by the 49th General Assembly (1994);
- that the International Law Commission finally completed a draft Statute
in its 46th session (May-July 1994);
we appeal to the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of
the General Assembly, the President of the VI Commission of the General
Assembly, and the representatives of the member states to assume a
determined and urgent procedural initiative to ensure that the General
Assembly, on the occasion of its 49th session (September-December 1994)
- discusses the draft Statute drawn up by the Commission and convenes a
United Nations Conference in 1995 for the approval of the Treaty relative
to the institution and operation of the International Penal Tribunal.
------------------YOUR NAME, YOUR ADDRESS--------------
Thank you for your attention. In the hope that you will give your immediate
support, please accept our best regards.
Emma Bonino (Secretary of the Radical Party, member of parliament)
Olivier Dupuis (President of the General Council of the Radical Party)
PLEASE ADDRESS YOUR REPLAY TO:
Fax ++39.6-68805396 * Tel ++39.6-689791
E-MAIL radical.party@agora.stm.it
