ABSTRACT: We have to go back to the end of the Second World World to find such a tragic situation in Europe: in the ex-Yugoslavia 40,000 people had already died by July 1992, and tens of thousands had been injured or had gone missing. There were more than 2 million refugees, including 500,000 who had been forced to flee to neighbouring countries. Massacres, entire populations forced to leave their homes, hostages, civilians gathered together in concentration camps, tens of thousands of women raped and then segregated to prevent them from turning to abortion: the concrete signs of a terrifying policy of "ethnic cleansing" in the heart of a Europe that has been reduced to the role of a powerless bystander.

After the recognition of the independence of Bosnia-Hercegovina, Europe and the UN have been incapable of protecting the region against the attack launched in response. The European Community has allowed the conflict to develop until it has reached unthinkable proportions.

Resolution 808 of the UN Security Council emphasized the "widespread violations of international humanitarian rights in the territory of the ex-Yugoslavia, with reference to the mass executions and the practice of ethnic cleansing", and decided on the institution of an international tribunal to sit judgement on those suspected of being responsible for the serious violations of the international humanitarian rights committed in the territory of the ex-Yugoslavia. The Radical Party invites parliamentarians and citizens all over the democratic world to sign the appeal enclosed with this newspaper, urging the Secretary General of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to set this new international court to work immediately.

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A transnational political initiative to urge the UN to set to work the international tribunal instituted by Resolution 808, against the violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the ex-Yugoslavia.

The internment of civilians in concentration camps, the bombing of hospitals and health operations, the murders, the cruel and degrading treatment of people, the collective punishments, and the taking of hostages are all extremely serious violations of the international Conventions.

(THE NEW PARTY, MARCH 1993)

On 22 February of this year, the Security Council of the United Nations decided, through Resolution 808, on "the institution of an international Tribunal to try those responsible for the serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the ex-Yugoslavia since 1991." From that time, the Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has two months to formulate a proposal on how to proceed to the creation of the tribunal.

The Siracusa Conference

We may justifiably believe that the Secretary General of the UN will make use of the conclusions of the conference held from 2nd to the 5th December in Siracusa, jointly organized by "Parliamentarians for Global Action" and by the ISISC (International Higher Institute of Criminology). The conference, chaired by Prof. Cherif Bassiouni, an expert in criminology and a member of the Radical Party, and attended by jurists and parliamentarians from all over the world, was devoted to the subject of the creation of a new international criminal Court, provided for by a Convention drawn up in 1945.

The idea of setting up an international penal court has existed since as long ago as 1899. After the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles (1919) bound the international community to try Kaiser Wilhelm II "for a supreme crime against international morality and the sanctity of treaties." The political will to proceed with the trial was, however, lacking.

At the end of the Second World War, on the other hand, the international community demanded the trial of those responsible for the war, for war crimes and for the consequent crimes against humanity. The experiences of Nuremberg and Tokyo, however, were not to be repeated.

Since then the number of victims of the various wars has continued to increase, and there has been a considerable rise in the number of serious violations of human rights. The loss of human life and economic resources caused by the serious violations of human rights has continued over the years, and is still continuing in many parts of the world.

In the heart of Europe, in the ex-Yugoslavia, massacres and acts of destruction are taking place as the world, and Europe itself, look on without taking action.

An international penal court

For cases as tragic as this, and also against international organized crime, for example against the traffic of drugs, against the international traffic of minors, against the sexual abuse of women and children, and against international terrorism, a penal court could serve as a deterrent, or at least as an instrument of punishment, for criminals who seem to fear nothing and no-one. These are some of the assumptions of the Siracusa Congress which the Radical Party, through its President Emma Bonino, asked the Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato to co-promote. In the following weeks Amato set up a commission on the subject. On the basis of the conclusions of the commission, which was chaired by the current Minister of Justice, Giovanni Conso, and included amongst its members Antonio Papisca, professor of International Law at the University of Padua, on 17 February the Italian government presented a proposal to the United Nations - a proposal which consisted in a draft statute for the creation of an internat

ional tribunal to sit judgement on the crimes committed in the ex-Yugoslavia. Similar proposals were also made by the governments of France and Sweden. This was followed by the UN debate and the resolution for the institution of a tribunal. Where will the tribunal have its seat? What legal procedures will it follow? Who will play the vital role of public prosecutor? What crimes will it be authorized to try? Once sentences are pronounced, in which prison should those found guilty be kept? These questions will be answered on 22 April in the report of the Secretary General of the UN.

The Radical appeal

The UN decision - following Resolution 780 of October 1992, which instituted a commission on war crimes to gather and examine all the available information - represents a judicial solution to the Yugoslavian situation rather than the creation of an international court for the trial of all international crimes. The Radical Party wants to act at transnational level in order to ensure that the court is set up immediately, and also to propose that it be transformed into a permanent institution for all territories involved in military conflict. This would be a fundamental contribution to the necessary reform of international law.

There is no doubt that the UN decision is the first step towards a more vigorous position with regard to events in the Balkans. It is now necessary to strengthen this decision, to put an end to the barbaric acts which are taking place, to the massacre of civilian populations, the concentration camps, the continuing rape of Bosnian women, the cruel practice of "ethnic cleansing", and the war of aggression. For this reason we ask all our readers, parliamentarians and citizens, to sign the appeal enclosed with this newspaper, addressed to the Secretary General of the UN. The appeal urges the Secretary General, the first representative of the international community, to take the first decisive step towards halting and punishing, according to international laws, those who have committed savage and inhuman crimes and massacres.