ABSTRACT: Interviewed on his 26th day of hunger strike, Olivier Dupuis, president of the General Council of the Radical Party, explains the reasons for his non-violent initiative.

(IL MESSAGGERO, 7 April 1994)

Olivier Dupuis is tall and thin. His cheeks are as hollow as those of the Bosnian war prisoners "his" U.N. tribunal should defend. Olivier started a hunger strike 26 days ago. Between one question and the others he takes sips of water from a glass. He needs to take liquids, but he has decided to continue striking. "Whether I'm under medical control? Not quite, but maybe if I continue I will have to take medical examinations more often...".

Olivier is not a would-be martyr, but in the name of a cause he believes in he lets himself be arrested, stops eating and uses the weapons of non-violence. With him, the 36 year-old Belgian president of the Radical Party's General Council, there are other 340 people from 20 countries who have stopped eating.

Why did you start this hunger strike?

Because this tribunal that was sworn in on 17 November in The Hague must become operative, and the last pending question, concerning the budget, must be solved. It is the competence of the Fifth Commission of the United Nations, the Budget Commission...In February the Commission allocated an advance of $5 million, now it must authorize expenses for a total of $33 million. There are two ways: including it in the ordinary budget or in the extraordinary budget. Obviously we advocate the first solution.

Why?

An extraordinary budget is a budget formed by voluntary contributions. Obviously the United States would contribute more than any other country, and this would mean giving up on a fundamental characteristic: that it is in all respects a U.N. Tribunal, financed through a division of the expenses which is typical of the United Nations. In that case all countries would participate. This is important for the strength and the very legitimacy of the tribunal, and also for the second stage we are working at: the creation of a Penal and Permanent Court for crimes against humanity, no longer limited to Yugoslavia alone.

How far has this initiative been developed?

The next steps will be in May and June. The United Nations International Law Committee will meet, a commission of experts that should complete the statute of the tribunal. Then this report should be forwarded to the General Assembly, which is scheduled to meet in September. The statute should be approved during the autumn session, thus allowing the tribunal to be sworn in the following year. If this schedule is not respected, we would miss the opportunity of using the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, in 1995, to launch this revolutionary initiative that would give the U.N. the power to create justice and law for the first time.

Will the court secure criminals to the justice system?

I believe so, because it will have the faculty of issuing international arrest warrants. A cooperation from Bosnia and Croatia will be possible, but things being as they are today it will be hard to obtain it from Serbia. The defendants, however, will not be able to leave Serbia-Montenegro. And if they set foot in Hungary or in Italy they were be arrested and sent to the Court for trial.

What else will be Tribunal be able to do?

States, international organizations and citizens will be able to

bring an action.

Olivier pauses, then explains how to exert pressure on the U.N.: sending a fax to the United Nations Fifth Commission (001-12-963-3050) ot to its President (001-21-759-9538), with an appeal: "Approve the budget of the tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia in the context of the ordinary budget of the United Nations".

Tomorrow the decisive meeting at the U.N. headquarters. Olivier is optimistic and carries on with his hunger strike.