ABSTRACT: In a first letter addressed to M. Rabah Hadid, President of the United Nations Fifth Commission, Olivier Dupuis explains the conditions and terms of his initiative and expresses the hope that the Commission will reach a satisfactory decision on the question of the budget of the Tribunal on ex-Yugoslavia by the conclusion of its coming meeting, on 25 March.

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To the attention of M. Rabah Hadid

President of the Fifth Commission

of the United Nations

c/o Mission Algérienne

United Nations Headquarters

New York

Rome, 17 March 1994

Mr. President

the following few lines are to express the attention and the hope with which we are following the work of the Commission you are presiden of, and, namely, the work relative to the approval of the budget of the International Tribunal on war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia.

The party I belong to, the Transnational Radical Party, a party whose members are parliamentarians and citizens from over forty countries, has gathered the signatures of dozens of thousands of personalities and citizens from all over the world on the question of the international tribunal for war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. Last November we have had the honour of presenting the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, with these signatures.

We believe that the establishment of the international tribunal on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and the creation of the permanent international tribunal could represent a first forum of international justice, a first piece of true international law instead of the increasing use in the world of the law of the stronger part on the weaker part, of force v. law.

However, there is the risk that despite the relatively short delays which have characterized the various stages of the procedure relative to its institution, the ad hoc tribunal on crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia will not become effectively operative and carry out the role it must fulfil, because the last question to be solved, that of its budget, remains unsolved.

For this reason, Mr. President, last Saturday 12 March I started a hunger strike. It is an action of hope and of dialogue with you and with the members of the Fifth Commission, so that the Fifth Commission may finally make a decision in its meeting next week (21-25 March). In the same spirit, other members of the Radical Party will join this non-violent action during the time in which the Commission will be at work.

Thanking you for your attention and hoping that the tribunal will be able to become operative,

Yours sincerely,

Olivier Dupuis

(President of the General Council of the Radical Party)

(*) DUPUIS OLIVIER. (1958). Belgian conscientious objector, surrendered himself to the Belgian justice system and served an 11-month sentence in the prison of Saint Gilles. Worked at the French-speaking edition of "Radical News". Organized and participated in nonviolent and antitotalitarian demonstrations in the countries of Eastern Europe, and was for this reason expelled from Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Currently coordinates the party's activities in Rumania and Hungary. He is now working on the the project on the "New Party".