Information bulletin on the campaigns of the Transnational Radical Party
Issue #19 - 9 July, 1998
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* Published in English, Italian, French and Spanish.
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NO EXCUSES NO ALIBIS, TO ACHIEVE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT THERE IS ONLY ONE THING NEEDED: POLITICAL WILL!
8 DAYS BEFORE THE END OF THE DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY PUBLISHES AN ADVERTISEMENT IN ITALY'S CORRIERE DELLA SERA AND IN THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE TO URGE THE CREATION OF THE COURT BY THE END OF THE ROME DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE ON JULY 17.
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In this issue:
- TRP launches and appeal to the government at Rome;
- A torch-light march for the immediate establishment of the ICC;
- I care, because I have dream: fasting for dialogue with 162 delegations;
- Emma Bonino in the International Herald Tribune.
On Wednesday July 8, the Diplomatic Conference has reached a turning point, the bureau of the Committee of the Whole presented a discussion paper on Part 2 of the Statute (jurisdiction, the powers of the Prosecutor and applicable law) of the proposed Court to speed up the works.
The document will be the basis of the discussion of the Committee and will be considered until Friday. Over the weekend delegations will be able to report back to capitals to be ready on Monday July 13, to make up their minds. After three and half weeks, the time has come for political decision making. We have undertaken several initiatives that aim at the finalization of the statute by the end of the Diplomatic Conference.
On Thursday 9, in the Corriere della Sera and on Friday 10 in the International Herald Tribune we have placed and advertisement to publicize an appeal to the plenipotentiaries present at the treaty conference.
What follows is the text of the petition:
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NO EXCUSES NO ALIBIS!:
THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT MUST BE ESTABLISHED ON JULY 17, 1998!
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Only 8 days remain before the end of the Diplomatic Conference that started in Rome on June 15. Only 192 hours to achieve the establishment of an International Criminal Court to try War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes against Humanity. While key issues still remain unresolved, solutions are possible. It is only a question of political will.
50 years have passed since the Nuremberg Trial; in these 50 years the world has witnessed 250 conflicts with over 200 million deaths. Now, after years of preparation, it is clearly time to decide. We can no longer avoid or postpone decision making.
Objections and reservations can and must be overcome. On the most important and controversial issues - from the relationship between the Court and the UN Security Council to the powers of the Prosecutor, from the relationship between national and international jurisdictions to the financing of the Court - there are solutions that can be quickly refined. On these issues, which take into consideration several countries' positions and which do not hinder the establishment nor the effectiveness of the Court, it is possible to gather a wide consensus.
Today, it is not only necessary, but also possible to finally equip the international community with an essential tool to establish a universal criminal jurisdiction, to create a Tribunal able to act in an independent way to prosecute the most egregious crimes and put an end to impunity insuring, at the same time, the appropriate safeguards for the accused, beginning with the exclusion of the death penalty.
At this juncture the world public opinion, men and women of goodwill will not understand any further delays or boycotting.
We ask you to keep your word:
Bill Clinton at the 1997 UN General Assembly
New York, September 22, 1997
"... And to punish those responsible for crimes against humanity -- and to promote justice so that peace endures - we must maintain our strong support for the U.N.'s war crime tribunals and truth commissions. Before the century ends, we should establish a permanent international court to prosecute the most serious violations of humanitarian law..."
if you want to add your name to the list of supporters or want to pledge a donation for the ad, please email to radical.party@agora.stm.it, or call +39-6-689.791
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TORCH-LIGHT MARCH FOR THE IMMEDIATE ESTABLISHEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT.
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Tuesday July 14, 1998 6:30 p.m. at the Piazza del Campidoglio, there will be a demonstration in support of the prompt establishment of the ICC.
European Commissioner Emma Bonino, Francesco Rutelli, Mayor of Rome, Alfredo Biondi Vice-Presidente of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Achille Occhetto, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Olivier Dupuis, MEP and Secretary of the Radical Party and Sergio Stanzani, President of No Peace Without Justice will open the demonstration.
At 8:30 a torch-light march will move from the Campidoglio and, through the 'via sacra', passing by the Coliseum, will reach the FAO headquarters, seat of the Diplomatic Conference. At the FAO, participants will deliver the NO EXCUSE NO ALIBIS appeal to Prof. Giovanni Conso, President of the Treaty Conference.
If you are in Italy, or know someone who could be interested in participating in the event, please email radical.party@agora.stm.it or call +39-6-689.791 to confirm your presence.
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I CARE, BECAUSE I HAVE A DREAM. FASTING FOR DIALOGUE WITH DELEGATES TO THE DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE.
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Over 200 nonviolent radical militants have joined a fasting to open a dialogue with the 162 delegations at the Rome Conference. The fasting launched by Paolo Pietrosanti, member of the General Council of the Transnational Radical Party last week, has gained momentum over the weekend and 'fasters' are growing on a daily basis.
The fasting intends to ask Ambassadors to do what is in their plenipotentiary powers to realize the idea of an international institution capable of establishing a universal jurisdiction over the most heinous crimes of international concern.
To announce your availability to fast, email us or call our Rome number.
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EMMA BONINO, FORMER SECRETARY OF THE RADICAL PARTY AND CURRENT EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR HUMANITARIAN AID, IN THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE ON THE ICC AND ITS POSSIBLE DETERRENCE
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International Herald Tribune, Wednesday, July 8, 1998.
NO COURT TO DETER THE BARBARITY IN SIERRA LEONE
By EMMA BONINO
Brussels - If an International Criminal Court were already in existence, there would be plenty for it to do. Consider Sierra Leone.
At the current Rome conference to found a permanent Court, all agree that the institution is supposed to be a deterrent. Does that imply that it should wait until events become history before acting? I hope not. A strong and independent Court should also be empowered to act on crimes committed before any peace treaty is signed.
Unspeakable crimes against humanity are occurring in Sierra Leone today. The international Community seems largely unaware of wait is going on.
Hundreds of unarmed civilians are being brutally killed and mutilated by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and the Revolutionary United Front, which were forced from power when West African troops helped to restore the democratically elected president in Sierra Leone last February. [...]
Rebel forces have engaged in a horrific campaign to terrorize the population through indiscriminate killings, systematic laceration, mutilation or severing limbs. The victims are men, women and children of all age.
Hospitals in Sierra Leone and neighboring Guinea have registered hundreds of victims of these attacks. [...]
Often the inhabitants of entire villages are rounded up and forced to watch the torture and killing of relatives, be it through beating, shooting, eyes being burned out with acid, babies snatched and killed, slashes with machetes, or amputations of arms above the elbow or at the wrist. [...] Such atrocities are not part of traditional warfare in Africa. They are the result of an orchestrated strategy to terrorize civilians, carried out by troops trained in such barbarous technique.
The systematic pattern of these crimes, as well as the scale of the terror, do not support claims that the rebels are retreating, isolated and beyond control. Field reports indicate that rebel movements could not take place without communication, control and supplies from outside. Crimes on this scale are usually orchestrated.
The international community should rally to find ways of putting an immediate end to violence and abuses against civilians in Sierra Leone.
It is important to provide instruments capable of delivering justice and reconciliation in the country. For Sierra Leone, as in other countries where the functions of state, including justice system, have failed or collapsed, the setting up of an International Criminal Court could be an important step on the road to peace and long-term stability.
For the Court to be effective in such a crisis, it must be empowered, independent and resourced to take action. In other words, t must provide a credible and immediate deterrent.
If the Court's founding conference in Rome does not deliver the goods, perpetrators of large-scale crimes in Sierra Leone and elsewhere will see a green light to continue their foul deeds.
There is also the danger that this crisis, and perhaps others, will be eclipsed and forgotten as the international community tacitly learns to live with crimes of such magnitude.
Sierra Leone reminds us that impunity fuels criminal violence in armed conflicts and rebellions.
Informations on the International Criminal Court available on: www.radicalparty.org
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