PRESS ADVISORY

An international delegation uniting Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian Members of Parliament and led by the Honourable Emma Bonino, Deputy Speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Secretary of the Transnational Radical Party will meet UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on 2 November to deliver over 25,000 international signatures urging the immediate and effective establishment of the International Tribunal for War Crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. Their meeting with the Secretary-General will be preceded on 1 November by similar meetings with the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Jose Luis Jesus, and the President of the General Assembly, Ambassador Samuel R. Insanally.

A press conference,will be held at the UN Press Room on 2 November at 13.00 hours.

The signatures were collected world-wide by the Transnational Radical Party from Members of Governments, Parliamentarians, Nobel Laureates and other eminent personalities from the political, business, scientific, and cultural fields.

The Parliamentarians in the delegation are: Izet Muhamedagic, Member of the Bosnian Parliament, Party for Democratic Action and member of the General Council of the Transnational Radical Party; Zdravko Tomac, Member of the Croatian Chamber of Counties, President of the Democratic Reform Party, and Vice-President of the Transnational Radical Party Parliamentary Assembly; Slavko Perovic, Member of the Parliament of Montenegro, President of the Liberal Alliance and member of the Transnational Party. The delegation will also include Mona Makram-Ebeid, Member of Parliament from Egypt and Walter McLean, former Canadian Minister of Immigration and Member of Parliament.

Further signatories of the Appeal also in the delegation are: Arieh Neier, President of the Open Society Fund and former Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch; Kemal Kurspahic, Editor of the Sarajevo daily newspaper, "Oslobodjenje"; William Kunstler, international lawyer, New York; Yuri Orlov, nuclear physicist and founder of the Helsinki Movement, Hans Janitschek, former Secretary-General of the Socialist International and member of the Transnational Party; and Vincent McGee,former Chairman of Amnesty International, USA and currently a Foundation Executive.

These meetings will take place 2 weeks before the first convening of the 11 judges elected in September by the General Assembly to serve on the International Tribunal. The judges will convene in the Hague on 17 November. The overriding concern of the Transnational Radical Party is that the Tribunal be given adequate resources soon--both financial and political--to push this process forward as quickly as possible to avoid further human rights violations and halt the unspeakable atrocities now occuring in the former Yugoslavia. A scant $500,000 have been allocated to date for this Court. A further $31 million proposed by the Secretary-General is awaiting a positive vote from the General Assembly. Uncertainty remains regarding the source of these funds.

The Transnational Radical Party, founded in 1989 and committed to resolving transnational issues and to the establishment of legal authorities and institutions to safeguard international Law and civil rights , currently has more than 40,000 members from 45 countries, among these over 500 Parliamentarians from over 70 diverse national political parties.

For further information, please contact Filippo di Robilant at 867.4792 or fax 818.9249.