The European, 26 October - 1 November 1995, page 6

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNITED NATIONS - OCTOBER 1995

The demand for a Permanent War Crimes Tribunal is nearly as old as the United Nations itself. Soon after it was founded the UN began to draft principles of international laws, to help prevent and punish crimes against humanity of the kind which the world had so recently witnessed under the Nazi regime - to try to establish a permanent international court. Only in the last few years has any progress been made.

Not only Governments, but also the voices of the people must be heard. As we mark tne fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations the undersigned and many thousands more supporters present to you the following Appeal.

Over the next months the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) will be gathering support across Europe and around the world. As the UN finally moves forward towards the creation of a Permanent War Crimes Tribunal, we speak in solidarity with the voices of victims everywhere, a demand for justice.

The Hague Appeal

International Petition for the Establishment

of a Permanent War Crimes Tribunal

"No justice no reconciliation

no reconciliation no peace"

Perpetrators of horrible war crimes will be brought to justice before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, but in many other cases the perpetrators of criminal acts have escaped without punishment - the killing fields of Cambodia, the acts of genocide in Iraq, Ethiopia, Uganda...- the list is too long. The establishment of a second Tribunal for those behind the Rwanda massacres is a welcome developement. However, this principle must be entrenched by the establishment of a Permanent War Crimes Tribunal, so that those guilty of horrible war crimes and violations of human rights will be held accountable and there will be no impunity.

Such a certainty of arrest, judgement, and punishment is a means to find international justice. Justice that can lead to reconciliation and peace. Furthermore, a Permanent War Crimes Tribunal will certainly act as a deterrent against future perpetrators of genocide and terror.

You can help by undersigning the following appeal for the establishment of a Permanent War Crimes Tribunal. The ISHR will present this Appeal to the United Nations.

To: UN Secretary-General

His Excellency Boutros Boutros Ghali

"We, the undersigned, urgently appeal to the United Nations for the establishment of a Permanent War Crimes Tribunal to which all cases of war crimes and/or violations of human rights can be referred so all responsible persons will face the risk of being brought to trial."

Pedro Paolo AGUILAR, secretario General-Organizacion democrata Cristiana de Americas, Peter ALTEMAIER MP, Bonn, Javier ANSO, Executive Director-Commision Justicia Y Paz, Madrid, Jevgenij BELATION, Odessa Ukraine, Dr. Ricardo BOFILL, President, Cuban Committee for Human Rignts, Miami, USA, Selma BRACKMAN (Executive Director War & Peace Foundation and 160 member organisations) New York, Onesta CARPENE, Phnom Penh Cambodia, Jedranka CIGELJ, Secretary general ISHR-Croatia, Kristof CZYZEWSKI, President, Borderland Foundation, Poland, Werner DORFLINGER MP, Dr Tamasa FÖLDI, Director Public Policy Institute, Budapest Hungary, Katrin FUCHS MP, Bonn, Dr Ugo GENESIO, Secretary General, Int. Inst. for Humanitarian Law, San Remo, Italy, Mrs K. GRIEB, ISHR-Austria, Hans-Joachim HACKER MP, Bonn, Helmut JAWUREK MP, Anna Maria KNOTHE, President, Centre for the Advencement of Women, Warsaw, Prof. Dr. Hans KOECHLER, Pres. Int. Progress Organisation, Vienna, David KRIEGER, President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, California, De

tlev LARCHER MP, Bonn, M LENTZ-CORNETTE MP, Luxembourg, Eduard LINTNER, Parf. State Sec. Bonn, Fancois LOEB MP, Bern, Dr. Mladen LONCAR, Medical Centre for Human Rights, Bosnia-Herzegovina, V. LULING, Survival Int. Peter MAARSEN, ISHR The Netherlands, Prof. John MORRIS, Canada, Aadu OLL, Estonian Inst. For Human Rights, Halidou OUEDREOGO, Burkina Faso, Maria PINIU-KALLI, Medical Reabilitation Centre for Toture Victimes, Athens, P. RAMAKRISHNAN, President ALIRAN, Malaysia, Heimo RANTALA, President Finnish Helsinki Group, Ginetta SAGAN, Executive Director, Aurora Foundation, California, Enn SARU, Estonia League of Former Political Prisoners, Dieter SCHANZ MP, Monique SCHLEGEL, ISHR-Switzerland, Dr Werner SCHUSTER MP, W. SORGE MP, Antje-Maria STEEN MP, Uta TITZE-STECHER MP, Rev. P.T. TSHIAKATUMBA ISHR-Zaire, Nanda P. WANASUNDERA, Centre for the Study of Human Rights, Colombo, Sri Lanka, Gert WELSSKIRCHEN MP, Verena WHOLEBEN MP, Virgilius ZEPAJTIS, Vilnius, Lithuania, Demir ZORIC MP, Zagreb, Croatia.

Name _______________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________

Signature ______________________ Date _____________

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - ISHR

Please return the form to support this Appeal to ISHR, Kaiserstrasse 72, D-60329 Frankfurt/M. Germany. Or by fax ++49(0)69.234.100

Grant aided by the European Commission