New York, July 13, 2004 -- Leaders of several
non-governmental organizations will hold a press conference Thursday to call
on the United Nations to oppose efforts by dictatorial states to strip a
nongovernmental organization of its UN accreditation.
The Transnational Radical Party (TRP), an Italy-based NGO with consultative
status at the United Nations, is currently under attack by the government of
Vietnam, which is spearheading an effort to sanction the organization.
Additional information about the case is at the bottom of this advisory.
The press conference will take place 10:30 AM, Thursday, July 15 at the
Church Center for the United Nations, 777 UN Plaza (1st Ave. and 44th St.),
10th floor.
Representatives of Freedom House, the Democracy Coalition Project, and other
NGOs will join the TRP in issuing an urgent appeal to the United Nations
Economic and Social Council to vote against a recommendation by the UN
Committee on Nongovernmental Organizations to sanction the TRP.
The Government of Vietnam lodged a formal complaint against the TRP in May
after the organization included in its delegation to the UN Commission on
Human Rights in Geneva, Mr. Kok Ksor, an expert on ethnic Montagnards, a
persecuted minority group in Vietnam. Vietnam accused Mr. Ksor of
involvement in terrorist and secessionist activities in Vietnam's Central
Highlands. Vietnam charges that allowing Mr. Ksor's to participate in a UN
gathering violated the terms of the TRP's consultative status.
Mr. Ksor's organization, the Montagnard Foundation Inc., has been part of
the UN-accredited Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples since its inception
in the early 1990s.
"Mr. Ksor is a respected analyst and advocate of the repressive conditions
under which his group lives in Vietnam, and it was in his capacity as an
expert, and as a member of the TRPs General Council, that he attended the
60thsession of the UN Commission on Human Rights," said Sergio Stanzani,
President of the TRP. "This is nothing more than a blatant attempt on the
part of Vietnam and its repressive allies to silence a tireless defender of
human rights."
In recent years, a number of dictatorial governments have used the UN NGO
review and accreditation process to seek sanctions against accredited and
respected NGOs. These attempts create a chilling effect on the ability of
NGOs to criticize practices of governments that are in violation of the UN
Declaration on Human Rights and other key international rights standards.
The NGO representatives will also call on the United Nationsdemocratic
member states to uphold the principle of freedom of speech inside the UN
system, and to work together to counter the increasing influence of the
dictatorial bloc. Thousands of citizens and civil society representatives
worldwide, along with hundreds of members of the Italian parliament, have
already expressed their support for the TRP by signing a public appeal,
available online at www.radicalparty.org.
The Committee on NGOs decided to suspend the TRP on 21 May 2004 by a
roll-call vote in which nine members voted in favor: Sudan, Zimbabwe, China
Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, India, Iran, Pakistan and the Russian Federation; and
eight voted against: Turkey, the United States, Cameroon, Chile, France,
Germany, Peru and Romania. Two countries--Senegal and Colombia--abstained.
The final vote by the ECOSOC is scheduled to take place on July 21 at the UN
Headquarters in NY.
