Motion for a resolution on the request by the Russian Federation to expel an NGO from the United Nations

Tabled by Emma Bonino, Marco Pannella, Marco Cappato, Olivier Dupuis, Maurizio Turco, Gianfranco Dell'Alba and Benedetto Della Vedova

a) considering that the Russian Federation has asked the UN Committee on NGOs to withdraw the status of first category consultative NGO at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations from the Transnational Radical Party for having violated the procedural rules and the principles of the United Nations;

b) considering that the Russian Federation charges the Transnational Radical Party with the following two offences: - of having given the floor, during the 56th session of the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, to Mr. Akhiad Idigov, Special Representative of the Chechen President Maskhadov and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chechen Parliament, a legitimate institution of the Russian Federation, believed by the Russian authorities to belong to a terrorist organisation; - of campaigning for the legalisation of drugs, also through actions of civil disobedience of current laws;

c) considering that Mr. Idigov not only has not been not subject to any criminal charges or international warrants of arrest on the part of the Russian authorities, but has also already spoken before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to report on the situation in Chechnya, obtaining entrance visas to several member countries of the European Union as well as to Switzerland and the United States;

d) considering that on the issue of drugs policy, the Transnational Radical Party does not contest the objective of the United Nations endash the fight against illegal trafficking and against the international criminal organisations - but, with a position that has been consolidated and known in the international institutions for over ten years, the current strategy pursued by the United Nations to achieve this objective through prohibitionist International Conventions;

e) considering that the Transnational Radical Party has, in the context of its regular participation in the proceedings of the Vienna Drugs Commission and in the Special Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, repeatedly expressed its position publicly without ever provoking negative reaction on the part of the participating states and without ever being accused of having violated the procedural rules of the United Nations;

f) considering that the opinions expressed both with regard to the situation in Chechnya and with regard to international drugs policy are part of the normal enjoyment of civil and political rights and of the principle of freedom of speech upheld by the Universal Charter of the Rights of Man;

g) considering that approval of the request made by the Russian Federation would constitute an extremely serious precedent;

h) considering that the UN Committee for NGOs will meet from 12 to 23 June to discuss, among other things, the request by the Russian Federation for the withdrawal of consultative status from the Transnational Radical Party;

i)considering therefore the urgent need to decide on the question, whether the objectives and proposals of the Transnational Radical Party are shared or not;

j) considering that two member states form part, with full voting rights, of the United Nations Committee on NGOs;

1. asks the member states of the European Union, and the Commission, each in their own sphere of competency, to take firm action to ensure, in line with the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that the request made by the Russian Federation is rejected;

2. considers freedom of speech to be a fundamental human right, all the more so with respect to opinions expressed in the ambit of international institutions called on to debate possible violations of the rights of individuals or of whole peoples;

3. charges its President to convey the present resolution to the governments of the member states, the Commission, the Secretary General of the United Nations and the Chairman of the UN Committee on NGOs.