DOCUMENT: ANTIGNCD.TXT D E C L A R A T I O N A G A I N S T G E N O C I D E GENEVA, JULY 29, 1993 We, the undersigned Representatives of Indigenous Peoples, First Nations, Minorities and Non-Governmental Organizations, on the occasion of the 11th session of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, held in Geneva July 19-30, 1993, APPALLED by the genocidal practices which are allowed to continue to visit havoc on the civilian populations of some UN Member States, notably in the former Yugoslavia, in Iraq and in Indonesia, and particularly in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the northern and the southern parts of Iraq and in East Timor, sometimes even in the presence of commendable and individually courageous, yet hapless, ill-equipped, inadequately backed- up and thus easily abused UN troops, EC Monitors, ICRC Delegates and humanitarian aid personnel; DISMAYED by the manifest facility and impunity with which officers, soldiers and militia continue to maraud particularly in Bosnia- Herzegovina, whereby they knowingly and crassly violate fundamental and universally subscribed conventions of humanitarian law and human rights, notably the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, the UN Genocide Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; ALARMED by the apparent unwillingness of most of today's decision-makers, and by the growing incapacity of those international institutions which were set up to preserve international peace and security, to effectively stop and prevent at least the deliberate massacre of unarmed civilian populations of UN Member States; APPALLED by the apparent incapacity of the UN Security Council to act in line with its own mandate with regard to its own resolutions if it turns out that they are no longer part of the solution but have themselves become part of the problem they are intended to address, as is the case with some embargo resolutions which produce such perverse effects as to help the aggressors, to violate the fundamental principles of self- defense and self-help, and to victimize further the civilian victims of aggression, all of which cannot fail to undercut the indispensable respect for the Rule of Law as well as for the international institutions which were set up to serve this corner stone of civilization; and CONCERNED that Bosnia-Herzegovina in particular might become for the United Nations, for the European Community and even for NATO what Ethiopia was for the League of Nations, namely the fumbled opportunity to promptly and duly defend the family of nations' fundamental principles, thus setting the stage for later large-scale armed conflicts: 1. DECLARE our solidarity with the victims of aggression, human rights violations and lack of respectful and disciplined leadership anywhere on Mother Earth, notably with the Albanian, Bosnian and Hungarian minorities in the Serbian Republic, with the Bogomin, Patarem and other non-Serb and non-Croat ethnies in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the Assyrians, Kurds and Turkomans in the Mosul Vilayet, with the Marsh Arabs in the South of Iraq, and with the indigenous peoples of East Timor, Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia, Africa and the Americas; 2. CALL FOR THE PROMPT AND EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT of all corresponding UN Security Council Resolutions providing for the protection of the civilian populations, humanitarian aid and reconstruction and development, with all necessary means, including air strikes against hostile ground forces, lest "ethnic cleansing" and international border changes by force, helped by political pseudo-leadership and diplomatic ineptitude, become the model for the New World Disorder; 3. REGISTER WITH DISMAY AND CONDEMN the blockage of all effective relief measures, notably in the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the UN Security Council by one of its European members; 4. THEREFORE CALL ON the Members of the United Nations General Assembly to provide for a more effective protection of indigenous peoples and minorities particularly against genocide and ethnocide, as well as for a more reliable application and enforcement of INTERNATIONAL MINORITY PROTECTION GUARANTEES, in particular through the mechanisms specified in the UN General Assembly Resolution 24 (I) of February 12, 1946, through the establishment of UN Trust Territories and genuine UN Protectorates in areas where indigenous peoples and minorities are threatened by genocide, and with the help of duly elected Special Representatives which are to advise all relevant UN bodies on related matters; 5. CALL ON all men of good will and non-governmental organizations in a position to do so, to support and participate in the development of a Universal League of First Nations and Indigenous Peoples; and 6. INVITE the Secretary-General of the United Nations, by way of the good offices of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, to lend his support to the objectives set out in this Declaration, and to communicate same to the Member States of the United Nations. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: -= THE FOURTH WORLD DOCUMENTATION PROJECT =- :: :: A service provided by :: :: The Center For World Indigenous Studies :: :: www.cwis.org :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Originating at the Center for World Indigenous Studies, Olympia, Washington USA www.cwis.org © 1999 Center for World Indigenous Studies (All Rights Reserved. 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