I.P.O. ANNUAL REPORT 1989

Vienna,  31 December 1989


COMMITTEE FOR PEACE ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA

An International Seminar on the Reunification of Korea through Confederation was held in Vienna on 23 June 1989. The Seminar was attended by constitutional experts and political scientists, among them Prof. Dr. Hans R. Klecatsky, retired Minister of Justice of Austria. The participants unanimously adopted an Appeal for the Reunification of Korea which was submitted to the Secretary - General of the United Nations, to the Chairman of the Non-aligned Movement and to several Heads of State.

An International Meeting of Experts was held in Geneva (29- 30 May 1989) on the Exchange of Prisoners of War between Iran and Iraq. The Meeting was attended by prominent experts of international law and by observers from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations. The Presidents of Austria, Dr. Kurt Waldheim, and of Venezuela, Carlos Andrés Pérez, sent special messages. An Appeal for the release of all prisoners of war was unanimously adopted and submitted to the Heads of State of Iran and Iraq as well as to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. An International Follow-up Committee was formed, consisting of the President of I.P.O., Prof. Dr. Hans Koechler, the former Head of State of Sudan, Field Marshal Abdul Rahman Sowar el-Dahab, and Prof. Dr. Tuerkkaya Ataoev, Director of the Department of International Relations at the University of Ankara/Turkey. This Committee sent a delegation to brief President Kurt Waldheim of Austria on the programme of action adopted by the Geneva Meeting (19 June 1989).

The President of Iraq presented a new proposal for the immediate exchange of all prisoners of war between Iran and Iraq which was reported in detail in the international media. The President of I.P.O. also held consultations with the Head of the Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations (Geneva), Ambassador Sirous Nasseri (29 May). In connection with the efforts of the International Committee for Peace in the Gulf the President of I.P.O. has met with a group of Iranian prisoners of war at Al- Ramadi camp on 8 March 1989. He also received a delegation of the families of Iraqi prisoners of war in Vienna on 5 October 1989.

An International Round Table on the Human Rights Situation in Palestine was held in Vienna on 7 June 1989. A special lecture was given by the Honorable Ramsey Clark, former Attorney- General of the United States of America (Vienna, 20 April 1989). The Committee sent another International Delegation of Inquiry to the occupied Palestinian territories (25-30 June 1989). The Delegation consisted of General (rtd) Nino Pasti (Italy), Prof. Dr. Christoph Pan (Austria), and Prof. Dr. John Quigley (USA). The Delegation issued a Report which was circulated as an official document of the General Assembly of the United Nations and of the Commission on Human Rights. - I.P.O. published this report and the report of 1988 in a new brochure entitled The Human Rights Situation in Palestine (Vienna 1989, 44 pages, ISBN 3- 900704-07-4). - The I.P.O. also gave support to several humanitarian initiatives. - On 1 September 1989 the President of the I.P.O. met with the President of Palestine, Yasser Arafat, to brief him on the work of the Committee.

In March 1989 the Executive Board appointed Mr. Saad Qasem Hammoudi, member of the Board, as Permanent Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (Baghdad).

The President of the I.P.O., Prof. Dr. Hans Koechler, gave a number of lectures during 1989 explaining the views and strategies of the International Progress Organization. Professor Koechler spoke on 20 February in Washington D.C. on the I.P.O.'s programme of action; he gave a public lecture on 27 February at the University of Leoben (Austria) on The Gulf Conflict and Actual Peace Perspectives; on 21 August he delivered a paper on Democracy and Human Rights at the International Conference on Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy at Edinburgh/U.K.

Special consultations to coordinate I.P.O.'s projects were held by the President of the I.P.O. at United Nations headquarters in New York in February and September 1989. Prof. Koechler met, among others, with the Under Secretary-General for Special Political Questions, Mr. Abdul Rahim Abi Farah (15 February), and with the Chairperson of the Committee for the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Ambassador Absa Claude Diallo, (20 September). The President of the I.P.O. - accompanied by the I.P.O.'s Permanent Representative to the U.N., Dr. Robert Thabit Esq. - also attended the Opening Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (19 September).

Further meetings were held with the National Director of the National Association of Black Lawyers (USA), Mr. Wilhelm Joseph (New York, 17 February) and with the Representative of the New York City Commission on Human Rights, Ms. Cheryl R. Howard (17 February). - On 8 March a meeting was held in Baghdad with Dr. T. A. Jaber, Director-General of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

NEW PUBLICATION

A new publication is being issued under the title Democracy and Human Rights. Do Human Rights Concur With Particular Democratic Systems? Studies in International Relations, vol. XV. ISBN 3-900704-08-2.

Election of New Executive Board

At the General Assembly held in Vienna on 29 November 1989 a new Executive Board was elected for a term of office of 4 years. Dr. Hans Koechler (Austria) was re-elected as President. (Attached to this circular please find the complete list of Board members.)

In conformity with previous decisions of the Executive Board an International Meeting of Experts on the South Pacific Region is being planned for February 1990 in Sydney/Australia. The Executive Board will also hold its next regular session on this occasion. - The members are kindly invited to submit their ideas and proposals on topics to be dealt with at this meeting and to suggest names of experts from the South Pacific region.

In connection with the U.S.-U.S.S.R. summit a meeting of the Mediterranean Peace Committee (of which the I.P.O. is a member) took place in Malta on 3 December 1989. The President of the I.P.O. spoke at a Peace Festival in Malta (2 December) and met with former Prime Minister Dr. C. Mifsud Bonnici. - The Board agreed with the I.P.O.'s co-sponsorship of the International Conference for Peace in the Mediterranean to be held in Crete/Greece between 4 and 6 May 1990. The local organizer will be the Independent Peace Movement of Greece (AKE).