ABSTRACT: In a second letter addressed to the President of the United Nations Fifth Commission, Dupuis renews his hope that the Commission, during its 21-25 March session, can pass the budget of the tribunal and thus solve the last problem and make the tribunal on the former Yugoslavia fully operative.

----------------------------------

To the attention of Mr. M. Rabah Hadid

President of the Fifth Commission

of the United Nations

(Administration and Finance)

United Nations

United Nations' Plaza

New York

N.Y. 10017 U.S.A.

Rome, 21 March 1994

Mr. President,

as I had announced in my previous letter of last week, it is with great attention and hope that we are following the work of the Commission you have the honour of chairing.

After over two years of indecision on the part of the International community regarding the former Yugoslavia, the actual inauguration of the international tribunal on war crimes strikes as the only initiative capable of restoring the hope of people who, in Yugoslavia or elsewhere, have never accepted to see the law and human rights stifled.

As you know, everything is ready for the Tribunal to be able to function effectively. The judges have been nominated, the statute has been written. A major investigation work has already been provided.

All this work could be pointless if the fundamental question of the tribunal's budget is not solved once and for all. A question the answer to which is currently in your hands and in the hands of your colleagues, members of the Fifth United Nations Commission.

It is to express to you and to the members of the Commission our trust in your capacity of promoting the reasons of the law and of the justice that on 13 March I started a hunger strike and that more than one hundred more people have joined this initiative, which we will carry out throughout the work of the Commission.

Hoping to receive this long-awaited signal, on behalf of all those who are participating in this non-violent initiative, I remain

Yours sincerely,

Olivier Dupuis

(President of the Radical Party's General Council)

Translator's notes

(*) 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".