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Pridnestrovie is a de-facto state with its own infrastructure and fully functioning government institutions

BRUSSELS (Tiraspol Times) - Like it or not, they exist. They are a fact of life. But they are the voiceless, and it is now becoming increasingly morally right to finally give them a voice in the international community.

The existence of unrecognized or de facto states were the theme of a conference held Thursday at the European Parliament in Brussels, Brussels, with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and UNPO as joint organizers.

Following the conference, the Office of the General Secretary issued a call to give a "voice to the voiceless" and find ways for the international community to integrate states like Somaliland, Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus, Taiwan and Transdniestria (Pridnestrovie), among others.

" - This conference, then, brings together officials from unrecognised governments with the main aim of creating and sustaining permanent mechanisms of involvement and consultation of unrecognised state entities in the international community, for the benefit not only of the peoples of these de facto states, but for the international community at large," read part of the concluding statement.

Functioning as states

The conference held on 15 May 2008 was titled Opening the World Order to De facto States, Limits and Potentialities of de facto states in the International Context.

UNPO convened the conference, not to address whether or not these entities should be independent and sovereign, which is a very complex and controversial matter, but to deal with the reality that these pockets of the world do exist and function, to varying degrees, as states, and the practical implications of this fact.

According to the conference summary, beyond the confines of the world’s internationally recognized State borders exist entities without official recognition as States. Yet these same entities actually possess many or all of the traditional empirical criteria for statehood and sometimes even function as States in international fora.

The conference recognized that these de facto states may have their own democratically elected government, political system, laws, judiciary, police force, defence force, currency, foreign representation, or all of the above, independent of any officially recognized State in whose (claimed or sovereign) territory they may lie.

At the same time, participants noted that many sovereign States are not in favor of opening up the World Order to de facto states.

Inhabitants suffer from being ignored

Without full access to the World Order, both the peoples of these de facto states and the international community at large suffer. This suffering takes place in terms of trade and investment, international security, health, safety and the prosecution of transnational, international and domestic crime. Negligence towards de-facto states harms human rights and human dignity.

On a domestic level, examples of this suffering can be seen in the obvious consequences to the commercial sector of the de facto state lacking an internationally recognized central bank, the health of the peoples of the de facto state suffering because, for example, the de facto state entity is denied access to the World Health Organisation, or their safety being jeopardized.

On an international level, the practical implications of the restricted access of de facto states to the World Order are more profound still. Obviously, whilst the very same domestic concerns mentioned can have wide-ranging international consequences, in a globalized world, the dangers created by the legal voids that these areas represent in international security and crime should be of grave concern to all State governments. (With information from UNPO)

See also:
» European Parliament conference on Transnistria; other 'de facto' states [1]
» Moldova and Transdniester Parliament leaders meet in Brussels for EU-led talks [2]

On the web:
» UNPO Declaration: Opening the World Order to De facto States [3]