An appeal to the international community . . .

Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Free Headline Alerts

The following 'Appeal to the Parliament of Estonia and the international community concerning the Russia’s aggression against Georgia' is being circulated by the Estonian Institute for Human Rights.

An aggressive war is the greatest violation of human rights. The principles of the United Nations are based on the expectation that all its member states must strive to to secure and keep the peace.

Russia’s military aggression against Georgia is in essence a continuation of its military actions in Chechnya. Victims of this war are the victims of large-scale infringements of human rights. The great-power ambition of Russia is to restore its domination over Transcaucasia by destroying democratic Georgia.

Observing from a distance and failing to act in a timely manner, let alone appeasement of the aggressor, have irreversible consequences for world peace.

By timing its military aggression to coincide with an international event - the Olympic Games - during which the participants have traditionally ceased hostilities, Russia is blatantly and cynically violating the ways of the civilised world. Russia is now trampling down the treaties aimed at ensuring international peace as well as other vital international agreements that it has ratified.

We call on Estonian Members of Parliament to react firmly and promptly in making the positions of the Estonian public and the Estonian State known to international organisations and the world community.

We call on democratic states and their governments to be far-sighted: do not allow Russia’s aggression to develop into a full-blown action similar to the destruction of the Chechen people.

Our historic experience teaches us that if the democratic nations and peoples allow themselves to be picked off one by one, as once happened with the countries divided up by Hitler and Stalin under the illegal arrangements of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, we all are doomed.

The Estonian Institute for Human Rights
Merle Haruoja, Member of the Board

Estonian Institute for Human Rights
Tõnismägi 2, 10122 Tallinn, Estonia, tel/fax 372 6307 477
e-mail: info@eihr.ee, kodulehekülg: http://www.eihr.ee
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