SUMMARY: New York. Radical Party member Emma Bonino is preparing to discuss in front of the U.N. a plan to establish a Permanent Penal Tribunal capable of judging crimes against humanity.

(AMERICA OGGI, October 17, 19940)

Emma Bonino, Secretary of the Radical Party, will be representing the Italian government in the debate held from next October 24 to November 3 at the VI Committee of the U.N. on the issue of instituting an International Penal Court.

This is the decisive moment for all those who in these years have become involved in pursuit of a new international jurisdiction, i.e. a Permanent Penal Tribunal capable of judging crimes against humanity, anywhere they are committed, and capable of punishing those who are responsible for them. The importance of this type of court is clearly demonstrated. At this point in time there is no instrument of international law that can punish those who are responsible for "the biggest genocide in this century", i.e., the one that just took place in Rwanda, or that can be a deterrent to prevent similar cases. The way it is, it was possible for almost two million people to be executed, without their crimes being proven and without punishment for the guilty parties. But this is not the case for crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to today. Those who are responsible for mass rapes, and for acts of violence of any type and of acts against humanity, will soon be judged, no matter what nationality th

ey are. The creation of an 'ad hoc' tribunal (for which the Radical Party waged a serious battle) has certainly marked a different attitude of the International Community vis a vis the concept of justice itself and of international law capable of providing a new potential for peace. Now it is time to make a qualitative leap and create a permanent organ responsible for international justice. Many governments have understood its importance. Others, like that of the U.S. for example, seem to want to delay the institution of this Court. To reach this goal, it will be necessary to mount a great pressure on the part of international public opinion. It is mainly necessary to create this pressure here, in the United States. To this end, there will be a very important event featuring Emma Bonino which will be held the coming October 26 at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, and we announce it in advance to readers of "America Oggi". Her talk will be on the topic of "Human rights violations and the

International Penal Court".

There are by now hundreds of Parliament members, cultural, art and science figures, as well as simple citizens who have signed the Appeal circulated by the Radical party calling on this Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations to approve a resolution setting up an International Conference to institute the International Penal Court. All the Radical Party branches, from Moscow to Rome, from Warsaw to Brussels, from Zagreb to New York (866 United Nations Plaza, tel. 212-980-1031, or 212-421-4736), from Ouagadougou (in Burkina Faso) to Prague, and about ten different cities, have been mobilized to gather signatures for the appeal as well as to enroll new members of the Radical Party and take contributions for this initiative.

The Radical Party, a transnational and transparty organization, which does not compete with any other party in any other country, which does not demand a permanent affiliation, but, rather, a temporary one - on a yearly basis- even to pursue a single issue, affords people the opportunity to be engaged in something concrete, and just, in a world which seems to have lost the reasons for a shared sense of community and democratic living along the way.

Danilo Quinto

Member of the Radical Party Secretariat