EUROPEAN CONFERENCE FOR PEACE IN THE BALKANS

We, representatives of left and progressive parties, of NGOs and peace organisations, and men and women of the arts, science and culture who participated in the EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON PEACE IN THE BALKANS that took place in Athens on 23-24 April 1999:

We strongly condemn the barbaric war in Yugoslavia and express our solidarity with the citizens of Yugoslavia who are the casualties of this war, irrespective of their ethnic origin.
Our conscience revolts by the fact that, for the first time since World War II, an independent European state is being relentlessly bombed every day with increasing numbers of civilian casualties, Serbs and Albanians alike.

We are profoundlly concerned about the ecological damage affecting the entire population and to future generations.

It is our view that the bombing of Yugoslavia by the US and NATO has no moral or legal justification whatsoever. It is a violation of international law; it is being done without a decision by the UN Security Council and in violation of the basic principles of its Charter. The claim that this vast war machine was set in motion for humanitarian reasons, when the results prove the opposite, is an insult to both truth and common sense.
The continued bombing and possible deployment of ground troops in Kosovo will aggravate the situation, destabilise the Balkans more generally, and eliminate any hope of reaching an agreed political solution that would restore the prospect of peaceful co-existence and cooperation between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo.

We believe that the NATO operations being conducted under the selective ostensible reasoning of a supposedly humanitarian mission will on the political level result in fomenting nationalism and reinforcing extremism. The grave responsibilities of the Belgrade government in their dealings with the Albanians of Kosovo are obvious, although there are different assessments of them by the participants in this Conference. The progressive forces of Europe have steadily been concerned for human rights violations there.

For all of these reasons, we appeal

• for NATO bombing and war to cease immediately.

• for all hostilities, aggression and violations of human rights in Kosovo to be terminated

• for negotiations to begin at once under the auspices of the UN and OSCE, for a peaceful solution on the basis of broad autonomy for Kosovo within the frontiers of the sovereign state of Yugoslavia.

• for all refugees to return to their homes with the necessary UN guarantees of their safety.

We support the convening of a Helsinki-type conference on peace in the Balkans and the undertaking of commitments by all the countries in the region with respect to the inviolability of frontiers. We call upon all the countries of Europe to contribute to the reconstruction and development of the Balkans.

We call upon the governments of European countries to stop cooperating or tolerating the military plans of the USA, to refuse NATO the role of “policeman” in European and international affairs, and instead to support the upgrading of OSCE and the UN.

We ask all peoples and citizens of Europe to step up their mobilisations against the war in Yugoslavia, to work for peace in the Balkans and to revitalise the vision of a Europe of peace and cooperation.

From the city of Athens, which gave birth to democracy and humanist values, we declare our opposition to violence, militarism and nationalism. The road to the 21st century lies in common security, dialogue, cooperation, and co-development in order to create a world of peace, without armaments and with universal understanding and harmony.

Athens, 24 April 1999