HUMAN RIGHTS: Nobel Laureates Join Together in Secretariat

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Jan 19 1999 (IPS) - The activity of Nobel Prize-winners will be articulated through a permanent New York and London-based secretariat, to be set up over the next few weeks, former Costa Rican president Oscar Arias announced in Spain.

Arias, who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for the decisive role he played in putting an end to the war in Nicaragua and initiating Central America’s peace process, is visiting the Spanish capital in his capacity as vice-president of the ‘Fundacion Once de Solidaridad con los Ciegos de America Latina’ (Foundation Eleven of Solidarity with the Blind in Latin America).

The permanent secretariat will make the Nobel laureates’ commitment to human rights and peace “more effective and useful,” Arias told IPS. The first matter to be dealt with, he said, is the drafting, in a participative and pluralistic manner, of a code of ethics on arms trading.

Arias criticised President Bill Clinton for “giving in to pressure and increasing” the 270 billion dollar U.S. defence budget by 100 billion dollars, when “the Cold War has ended.”

The primary role of presidents should be to educate – which Clinton “falls far short” of doing, he said.

Arias is also an outspoken critic of Cuban President Fidel Castro and former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, under preventive arrest in London since October while authorities and the courts decide whether he is to be extradited to Spain.

“Castro’s clock stopped in 1959, and the Cuban people will not absolve him,” said Arias – an allusion to Castro’s famous statement made when he was put on trial for revolt against dictator Fulgencio Batista: “History will absolve me.”

After declaring himself in favour of Pinochet’s extradition to Spain, where the former de facto president of Chile (1973-90) would stand trial for crimes against humanity, Arias urged the installation of an International Criminal Court (ICC), whose statute was approved at a United Nations-sponsored global conference last year in Rome.

Europe should demonstrate its strength and face up to the United States in this matter, “because if there is no ICC, it is because the United States has not signed” the statute. The United States and China are among a handful of countries that have refused to sign the ICC statute.

Arias also warned that the greatest damage that could be caused the modern sstate was to allow dictators, “no matter their colour, religion or ideology,” to enjoy impunity.

For that reason, he said he had not lost hope that the day would arrive when all heads of state would stand accountable for their acts before the international community. “All heads or ex- heads of state must be responsible for their acts, and legislation holding them accountable must be enacted,” Arias maintained.

With respect to the Middle East peace process, the former Costa Rican president was pessimistic. One problem, he said, was the possibility that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would win Israel’s next elections, “because (he) is the main obstacle for peace in the area.”

He added that he was “saddened” that in order to have a chance in politics in Israel, one had to have a military past.

But he was moderately optimistic regarding the situation in Colombia, where he said internationalising the peace process was the right move. He stressed, however, that “miracles must not be expected.”

Last week, Colombian President Andres Pastrana won the support of Castro and Venezuelan president-elect Hugo Chavez for his government’s peace talks with the guerrillas, which are to begin Feb. 7. Other countries have also expressed their willingness to contribute to putting an end to the decades-long civil war in Colombia.

Arias pointed out that without international participation, peace would not have been reached in El Salvador, after a 12-year armed conflict claimed at least 80,000 lives.