UN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS: TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY STRESSES THAT THERE IS NO FREEDOM WITHOUT A FREE MARKET AND NO FREE MARKET ECONOMY WITHOUT THE RULE OF LAW.

Geneva, 9 April 1999. Speaking in the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva during the discussion on economic, social and cultural rights, the Transnational Radical Party have stressed that there is no freedom without a free market and no free market economy without the Rule of Law. The TRP have focused in its statement on the acivities of transnational corporations and its impact on the situation and the life of indigenous peoples, notably in West Papua.

Olga Cechurova of the TRP undelined that a free market economy based on the Rule of Law, on the laws and standards for the market, is a fundamental condition for the existence and enjoyment of economic, social and cultural well-being of every individual. There is a fundamental difference between the Rule of Law and the rules of the free market. The first is created according to a fixed legal iter and has to respond to certain basic values that the UN Charter seeks to protect. The second is flexible and although it has proven to be the most effective means to protect individual liberty, it has to respond and act according to the first. And this is precisely what is not happening in some parts of the world where transnational corporations are active.

The Transnational Radical Party is convinced that there is no freedom without a free market and no free market economy without the Rule of Law. States should be helped and encouraged to ensure and improve the law-based well-being of all its citizens, including the indigenous populations. The TRP asked the Commission to pay due attention to the activities of the transnational corporations and its impact on the life of indigenous peoples.

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