MOTION FOR MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS PRESENTED TO OBTAIN U.N. DECISION

The motion for the moratorium on capital punishment, published in the first issue of "Transnational", was tabled in the Italian Parliament, both in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. This was possible not only thanks to the commitment made by parliamentarians who are members of the transnational, trans-divisional Radical Party, but also to that undertaken by the international Association "Hands Off Cain" - Citizens' and Parliamentarians' Campaign for the Abolition of the Death Penalty Worldwide by 2000.

The Senate motion had 110 signatories, including many leaders of parliamentary groups. Given the large number of signatures, the Senate is required by law to discuss the text at a Plenary Assembly within one month, that is, before 23 July.

The motion presented in the Chamber, which has Secretary of the Radical Party Emma Bonino as its first signatory, was signed by over 120 deputies from all political groups. For the first time Italian parliamentarians of the Right and Left were able to agree on the specific objectives of a political campaign.

In Belgium, Green MP Henri Simons, member of "Hands Off Cain", presented an interpellation signed by representatives of all political parties, in which he requested the Foreign Minister to present a parallel resolution to the United Nations. In Spain, Socialist MP Luis Yanez Barnuevo promoted a similar initiative. In Romania Vasile Diacon, General Councillor of the Radical Party, met with the Foreign Minister who undertook to submit the motion for the moratorium to the UN, together with another State.

The motion engages governments on three counts: to take the necessary action for the U.N. Security Council to impose a moratorium on executions in the case of "coups d'état" and civil war; to include on the agenda of the next U.N. General Assembly a resolution on a universal moratorium on executions; to support and promote the institution by the U.N. General Assembly of the Permanent International Court for crimes against humanity.

We have to move fast in order to successfully carry out this parliamentary action. Governments must submit a draft resolution on the moratorium on executions before 20 August, if it is to be put on the agenda of the General Assembly that will be meeting in New York from September thru December 1994. The moratorium on all executions is the most appropriate instrument for making sure that the right of an individual not to be killed following a legal sentence or judicial measure - a right that has already been upheld in a Resolution passed by the European Parliament and sanctioned by the Statute of the U.N. Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia - is rapidly affirmed at a political level rather than via a process of evolution, in all legal systems, whether they be national or international.

A PERMANENT INTERNATIONAL COURT TO PROSECUTE GENOCIDE

CAMPAIGN BY FAX TO ++39-6-68979213

Rome, 1 July - A statement by Emma Bonino.

We cannot continue to chase after crimes of genocide. The U.N. should institute the Permanent International Court immediately. To this end we are continuing our strategy of exerting pressure at an international level and we have set up the above fax with the intention of sending all the messages of support we receive to the United Nations.

The report written up by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights states that genocide is being perpetrated in Rwanda and that those responsible must be punished by an international tribunal.

As a permanent international court for war crimes does not yet exist, the U.N. should - according to a statement issued in Geneva yesterday - either temporarily arrogate to itself jurisdiction over such crimes, in order to bring the accused to trial, or extend to Rwanda the jurisdiction of the Tribunal created for the former Yugoslavia.

"In principal, this is an important statement because it afforms that the 'legal road to peace' is not only the path of legality that we must take, but also the only suitable way of building a new world order that is humanly sustainable. It is however important to understand that we can no longer chase after justice and desperately try to uphold the law with regard to the genocide presently underway. In other words, it is unthinkable that we should consider setting up an international tribunal every time situations occur in which international humanitarian law is gravely violated. In Geneva, the International Law Commission is drafting the Statute of the permanent International Court. It is up to the U.N. General Assembly to approve this Statute during its next session in September, and to give the go ahead for the institution of the body that will have international jurisdiction over acts of genocide and aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Meanwhile, we are launching a first initiative to mobilize public opinion and, starting today, we are asking you to send supportive messages to make sure the United Nations and governments do not lose any more time in opening up the road to international legality. It requires the same amount of time to create a Permanent International Court as it does to institute any other organ. Extending the mandate of the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to Rwanda, on the other hand, has no practical credibility: enough to say that a Public Prosecutor has still not been appointed for this Tribunal.

GENEVA: DELEGATION OF PARLIAMENTARIANS, INCLUDING EMMA BONINO, WILL MEET WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION BEFORE END OF ANNUAL SESSION

On 11 July, at the U.N. Headquarters in Geneva, a second meeting will take place between parliamentarians from different countries and various members of the International Law Commission, the subsidiary organ of the U.N. General Assembly charged with drafting the Statute of the Permanent International Court. On 16 May, the first meeting was held during which the delegation emphasized the urgent need to conclude the first draft of the Statute this year and to submit it to the General Assembly, which will begin its work on 20 September.

The most crucial meeting of 11 July will be that with the Australian jurist Crawford, the rapporteur. The delegation will include members of PGA - Parliamentarians for Global Action - and EuroMPs, as well as Emma Bonino. We would like to remind you that, according to a statement issued by the ILC, the draft Statute will provide for the Court's having jurisdiction mainly over acts of genocide and aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

PERMANENT INTERNATIONAL COURT: RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANDREJ KOZYREV SUPPORTS DUMA INITIATIVE

The initiative to institute the International Permanent Court has been taken up in the Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament.

The proposer of the action is Julij Rybakov, deputy elected to the Duma on the "Russia's Choice" Parliamentary Group list. A member of the Radical Party since 1992, he recently joined the "Hands Off Cain" and "There's No Peace Without Justice" Campaigns. Rybakov, together with Mamuka Tsagareli and Nikolaj Khramov, both of whom are members of the General Council of the Radical Party, tabled the motion addressed to the Russian Government in order that it might undertake all necessary initiatives to bring about the institution of the Permanent International Court on the part of the U.N. General Assembly during its Autumn session.On 15 June Rybakov met with Russian Foreign Minister Andrej Kozyrev, as well as Vladimir Lukin, former Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Chairman of the Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs and member of the Javlinsky-Boldyrev-Lukin Parliamentary Group, and Viktor Iliukhin, former Attorney General of the Soviet Union, Chairman of the Duma Security Committee, and member of the Communist P

arliamentary Group. The three political exponents assured Rybakov that they would do everything they could to progress the initiative in the Duma.

During a meeting of the "Russia's Choice" Parliamentary Group that took place the next day, it was decided to formally present the motion to the Russian Foreign Minister for official examination.

ABOUT THE PERMANENT COURT

Daniel Picotin, French MP and President of the France-Bosnia Herzegovina Friendship Group in the National Assembly, sent the following letter to Olivier Dupuis, President of the General Council of the Radical Party:

Paris, 15 June 1994

Dear Mr. Dupuis,

I have received your various letters and I support the motion for the institution of the International Court by the U.N. General Assembly. It deals with an old issue that has been under discussion since the Treaty of Versailles that was drawn up soon after the '14-18 War.

I shall examine the best ways for taking up this matter with the Government, and will certainly keep you informed of any developments.

Yours faithfully,

Daniel Picotin

RADICAL PARTY SPONSORS BOOK BY AL GORE PRESENTED IN PRAGUE

Al Gore's book "EARTH IN THE BALANCE" has been translated into Czech and was officially presented to the press on 21 June.

The publication of the U.S. Vice President's authoritative, and already famous volume in Czech was made possible by contributions from the American Embassy in Prague and by the Radical Party, which has one of its many offices in the capital.

The press conference and reception were held at the American Cultural Center and attended by the U.S. Ambassador and cultural attaché, the Minister for the Environment of the Czech Republic and two of his predecessors, and Paolo Pietrosanti, member of the Radical Party Secretariat, who was present as Radical Party Secretary Emma Bonino's official representative.

The book, which has only just gone on sale, carries three quotations on the cover: one by Scott Pecks, taken from the American edition; the second by Emma Bonino, and the third by Reymond Rehnitzer, an urbanist and ecologist of international fame from Sarajevo, exiled in Prague, who is the author of one of the most important books published in France on the Bosnian tragedy and, last but not least, a great friend and supporter of that transnational, trans-divisional party known as the Radical Party.

DOCTOR INTERROGATED FOR TWO DAYS IN KOSOVO FOR RECEIVING LETTER FROM RADICAL PARTY

Pristina, 27 June - The Serb police summoned Dr. Asllan Bajrami, President of the Kosovo Red Cross branch in his city, to Ferizaj for interrogation on 23 and 24 June.

He was interrogated on the pretext of having received a letter regarding the ad hoc Tribunal for war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia from the Radical Party's Sofia office.

The news was given out by the Kosovo Information Center.

LETTER SENT TO RADICAL PARTY'S MOSCOW OFFICE BY VADIM BULAVINOV, MEMBER OF THE RUSSIAN DUMA REPRESENTING THE "12 DECEMBER LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC UNION"

Dear Friends,

I was very glad to receive the information concerning the institution of the Permanent International Court for crimes against humanity.

In my capacity as a member of the International Affairs Committee of the Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, and also as a jurist, I have examined in depth the Radical Party initiative to set up an international Committee "There's No Peace Without Justice", which I wholeheartedly support.

Russian parliamentarians are interested in actively participating in the work of this Committee to achieve results, and we hope to further the interests of our country by affirming justice throughout the world.

Best regards,

Vadim Bulavinov

MACEDONIA: LESSONS IN DEMOCRACY

The Radical Party coordinator for Macedonia and Bulgaria has verified that Serbs have in fact violated the frontier near the Macedonian town of Luke. He has also learned that a similar violation has been carried out by a Greek navy vessel on Lake Prepansko. These simultaneous provocations point to a coordinated action on the part of Athens and Belgrade, which make no secret about wanting to be neighbours.

Radical Party activists predict these two acts of aggression are a sign of many more to come.

ON THE LAST PAGE YOU'LL FIND A QUESTIONNAIRE, A USEFUL INSTRUMENT FOR WEIGHING THE FIRST RESULTS OF OUR EFFORTS IN THE BALANCE.

WE ARE ASKING YOU, THEREFORE, TO COMPLETE THE FORM AND TO SEND IT TO YOUR NEAREST RADICAL PARTY OFFICE.

MOTION FOR THE PERMANENT INTERNATIONAL COURT

In addition to the 82 Romanian parliamentarians and the 70 signatories from Albania, the following people have signed the motion promoted by the Radical Party for the institution of the Permanent International Court.

AUSTRIA

People's Party: Hildegard SCHORN;

AZERBAIJAN

Abbas Abbasov, Aslan ABASSOV, Fizuli Akhundov, Jashar Aliev, Kherula Aliev, Murvet Aliev, Shaitdin Aliev, Telman Aliev, Salvar Aslanov, Gaji-Baba Azimov, Tofik Aziziov, Mir-Gamza Efendiev, Ramiz Fataliev, Shirin Gajikelimov, Gusein Ganiev, Mariam Gasanova, Vagif Gasimov, Gudrat Guliev, Gulnara Gurbanova, Galib Gurbanov, Shadman Guseinov, Firidun Jalilov, Taptig Kamalov, Khidjran Kerimly, Khanlar Mamedov, Murshud Mamedov, Sultan Mamedov, Asja Manafova, Matlab Mutallimov, Ingilab Nadirov, Samur Novruzov, Jumshut Nuriev, Ali Omarov, Kamran Ragimov, Arif Ragim-Zade, Sabir Rustamkhanly, Vladimir Timoshenko, Farrukh Zeinalov;

BELGIO

Greens: Henri SIMONS;

BULGARIA

Civic Alliance for the Republic: Kolio PARAMOV;

Rights and Liberties Movement: Niusset HADZHIMET, Ilhan MUSTAFA;

New Union for Democracy: Gospodin ATANASSOV;

Christian-Republican Party: Konstantin ADZHAROV;

Socialist Party: Stoian IVANOV, Kostia KARAIVANOV, Elena POPTODOROVA;

Union of Democratic Forces: Georgi PETROV;

EIRE

Fine Gael Party: Nora OWEN;

FRANCIA

Socialist Party (PS): Didier MIGAUD;

Union for French Democracy and the Center (UDF): Georges MESMIN, Daniel PICOTIN;

KOSOV0

Democratic League: Adem BAJRI, Iner BALA, Skender BLAKAJ, Besim BOKSHI, Muhamet HAIRIZI, Eqrem KRYEZIU, Anton NOKA, Abdyl RAMAJ, Fatmir SEJDJU, Edi SHUKRIU, Kole STAKA, Edita TAHIRI, Melihate TERMKOLLI;

Albanian Christian-Democrat Party: Augustin BISAKU, Ndue MARKU;Farmworkers' Party: Hivzi ISLAMI;

Rifat BLAKU, Anton KOLAJ.

ITALY: BAN THE PRODUCTION AND EXPORTATION OF ANTI-PERSON MINES

We are publishing the text of one of the interpellations addressed to Italian Foreign Minister, Minister of Defence, and Minister of Industry and Commerce.

Faced with the various parliamentary initiatives that have been undertaken in recent weeks, the Italian Government, in the person of Minister of Defence Previti, has declared that no more anti-person mines will be produced or exported by Italy.

INTERPELLATION TO THE FOREIGN MINISTER, THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE AND THE MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

Considering that:

- anti-person mines, because of their widespread diffusion in the world, can cumulatively be defined as a weapon of mass destruction. Reliable research sources estimate that there are from 85 to 100 million scattered throughout 60 countries. Like other weapons of this kind - nuclear, chemical, bacteriological - these mines indiscrimately kill soldiers, children, peasants, and pregnant women; and they kill or maim many more civilians than servicemen, not only during conflicts but indefinitely, remaining active, ready to explode, after hostilities have ceased;

- this situation has been created both by the wide availability of production technology (at least 48 countries manufacture anti-person mines) and the extremely low cost of these explosive devices (up to three US dollars each). These two conditions have caused a vast quantity of anti-person mines to become available not only to the regular armies of States, but also to movements participating in civil wars and to factions and clans engaged in armed conflict. In such cases mines have been planted, and are still being planted at random, according to the tactical needs of the moment, without anyone bothering to document the sites and the distribution of the explosive devices to facilitate an eventual mine-clearing;

- mine-clearing becomes a real nightmare, particularly in the above cases, when hundreds of square kilometres have to be searched metre by metre. The result is that between 300 and 1000 US dollars have to be spent to remove a mine that is only worth a few thousand lire. For this reason in Cambodia, where there are between 4 and 7 million unexploded mines to 9 million persons, removing a mine costs from one to four times as much as the average annual per capita income. Merely to remove the mines left by the Iraqis, Kuwait had to spend 800 million US dollars and sacrifice 84 lives - almost as many as the number of American dead during the Gulf War. The land rendered uncultivable by the planting of mines in Angola will cost the world 32 million US dollars in food aid. The civil war in Mozambique has rendered all the principal overland routes unfit for use, making it necessary to have recourse to air transport wherever possible - which cost 25 times as much per ton of cargo;

- the effects on health are quite dramatic. Anti-person mines, especially those filled with shrapnel, cause terrible wounds that are difficult to tend. They go gangrenous and require multiple operations and amputations, which overburden health systems that are virtually always rudimentary: it is estimated that the medical resources absorbed by each mine victim makes him or her indirectly responsible for one more death in the poorest countries. It does not take much to understand what living as a disabled person means in an agricultural economy where artificial limbs are a luxury that no one can afford. Today, one person out of 236, 470, 1000 and 2,500 in Cambodia, Angola, the north of Somalia, and Vietnam respectively, has been disabled by a mine explosion

- the international community is beginning to adopt countermeasures. On 16 December 1993 the U.N. General Assembly unanimously approved a non-binding Resolution in favour of a general ban on the exportation of mines. In 1992 the U.S. Congress had already approved, on the initiative of Senator Patrick Leahy, a unilateral moratorium of one year on the exportation of American mines. At the end of 1993, President Clinton extended this moratorium for another three years, and appealed to other producer countries to follow suit. Various countries, including France, Germany, Greece and South Africa, took up the American initiative;

- Italy, on the other hand, has not carried out such a responsible action. This is all the more serious and worrying for the simple fact that Italy is one of the major world manufacturers of anti-person mines. According to an official government report Italy exported 30,000 anti-person mines to the value of 264 million lire to an unidentified country last year. In addition, it should be noted that both Greece and South Africa manufacture mines under Italian licence;

- moreover, Italy has never ratified the Convention on Inhuman Weapons of 1981, which it did however sign. Said Convention includes a protocol on land mines that bans their use against civilians. It should be noted that the debate regarding the viability of strengthening this Convention is still very much alive, especially in the U.S.; in fact, the Clinton Administration proposes banning the manufacture of all mines that do not contain devices for their easy location and automatic destruction, while Senator Leahy is in favor of a total ban on the manufacture of anti-person mines and is attempting, in the meantime, to have a one-year moratorium on the American manufacture of these mines passed by Congress;

- in order to decide what position our country should, and ought to take, it must be pointed out that in spite of being one of the world's leading manufacturers of anti-person mines as stated above, Italy does not have a particularly important economic interest in the sector, either quantatively or qualitatively speaking. According to official government figures, Italy exported mines worth 300 million lire in 1990, 18.7 billion lire in 1991, 13.8 billion lire in 1992, and 1.8 billion lire in 1993. Data prepared by Giuseppe Catalano and Francesco Terrieri of the IRES (Institute of Economic and Social Research) in Tuscany reveals that in 1992 the people employed in this sector, which also includes anti-tank and sea mines, were approximately 150 in four industrial concerns (BPD, Tecnovar, Valsella and Whitehead) with a turnover of about 20 billion lire. An economy like the Italian one, with 25 million employed who yielded one million and a half billion lire in the same year of 1992, can permit itself to par

tially or totally convert men and equipment presently devoted to the manufacture of mines;

considering all of the foregoing, the interpellants would like to know:

1) if the Government intends to accept President Clinton's invitation by promoting and imposing a similar moratorium on the exportation of mines in Italy;

2) if the Government intends to submit to Parliament a bill for the ratification of the Convention on Inhuman Weapons and to solicit its urgent approval, possibly with restrictive amendments;

3) if the Government intends to undertake initiatives, and if so which, in a broader sense, in order that Italy - by acting unilaterally and taking suitable action with international institutions - can assume a major role in eliminating rather than aggravating the scourge known as the diffusion and use of anti-person mines.