Group warns of threat to democracy, security, and long term regional stability

Grigory Marakutsa, ethnic Moldovan and former Speaker of PMR's Parliament: Concerned about regional stability (file photo)

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Building a common voice for those who have no voice in the international community. That is the role of the Commonwealth for Democracy and Rights of Nations, a small grouping of unrecognized countries whose Interparliamentary Assembly is led by a Moldovan, Grigory Marakutsa.

Now, says Marakutsa, the Commonwealth will seek to expand its membership and next month will show the United Nations that peace, security and stability must not be undermined or weakened.

Democracy requires security, stability and a guarantee of peace. Conflict situations, bringing violence and risks of instability to the region, undermine progress and democratic advances.

The Commonwealth for Democracy and Rights of Nations was founded by the Presidents of South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Pridnestrovie - also known as Transnistria - on 14 July 2006 to work on joint issues involving social and economic progress of these states and obtaining international recognition of their independence and sovereignty. Later that same year, on 30 October, Speakers of the Parliaments of the three member states met in Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, to establish the Interparliamentary Assembly for Democracy and Rights of Nations under the auspices of the Commonwealth. The Assembly is open to participation of parliaments of both recognized as well as unrecognized states.

Possibility of expansion

The Interparliamentary Assembly first met on 18 December 2006, establishing guidance on commissions and approving the establishment of a secretariat. An official parliamentary delegation from Nagorno-Karabakh took part in the meeting as observers.

In December of 2006, the Assembly petitioned the United Nations to recognize member states of the Assembly as members of the international community and to declare valid the results of referendums held in the member states of the Assembly. The Interparliamentary commission for examining human rights violations by the Republic of Moldova and Georgia was set up by unanimous consent. Speaker of South Ossetia Parliament Tarzan Kokoity chaired the commission. Grigory Marakutsa said, “At that time we scheduled the next meeting of the Council of the Interparliamentary Assembly in Sukhumi for March, 2007 to discuss the commission’s report relating to drafting a statement and resolution on genocide and human rights violations”.

New countries are likely to join the Commonwealth and its Interparliamentary Assembly in the future. The group wants to speak with a common voice in the United Nations and in other international fora.

“ - The full membership of the Parliament of Nagorno Karabakh in the Assembly as well as the membership of other partially recognized states is under discussion," said Grigory Marakutsa.

" - Another new member would be Western Sahara. It is recognized by some 60 countries though it is still under Morocco's occupation and doesn’t enjoy full sovereignty. The talks on cooperation and possible membership in the Assembly are underway”.

Strengthening peace and security

On the agenda for the Council is a close eye on peace, and making sure that guarantees for their cease fires are not undermined. Foremost on everyone's mind is to prevent a weakening of security and stability in the region. The three small states are particularly worried that their larger neighbors will mislead the United Nations in an attempt to change the existing, well-functioning peacekeeping measures for a system which they fear may not work at all.

“ - On 15 April 2007, the UN will discuss peacekeeping operations in different states," said Grigory Marakutsa. Moldova and Georgia filed an appeal and will try to revoke Russia’s peacekeeping mandate in Pridnestrovie, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It is our duty to demonstrate the benefits of this peacekeeping operation to the UN, as compared to other peacekeeping missions."

" - No serviceman, no civilian has died in Pridnestrovie during a 15-year peacekeeping operation. We don’t understand the motives of Moldova and Georgia. It’s unclear why these states want to throw the existing peacekeepers out of these territories. Maybe, they are disappointed that no person has died here. We’ll debate it on April 10 and we’ll pass appropriate statements and petitions to the UN on behalf of three states to prevent changes in the current peacekeeping format”.

Elections in Abkhazia

The Interparliamentary Assembly participated with a commission to monitor the recent parliamentary elections in Abkhazia. In this respect, the Special Interparliamentary Envoy for interparliamentary relations said, “The observers of three states monitored the elections under the aegis of the Interparliamentary Assembly, we also encouraged observers from other European states to participate in monitoring of the elections.”

“ - The extent of transparency, availability of information and openness of the elections set a worthy example to all of us. For instance, the observers of all candidates had the opportunity to count the voters”.

“ - We witnessed no irregularities. Georgia made attempts to destabilize the situation in the bordering area. The elections were declared valid almost in all electoral districts except for one where only one candidate had been nominated. By-elections will take place in 12 constituencies because two candidates received the same number of votes and entered the second round of voting. Under Abkhazian law, Parliament should convene and elect the Speaker within a month following the elections. Parliament will meet to do this on 4 April”, informed Grigory Marakutsa.

“ - It’s often easier to solve problems with the help of parliamentarians but not executive officials. For instance, parliamentarians are invited to monitor referendums and elections. Members of Parliament are public officers who represent their state”, - Grigory Marakutsa noted.

Grigory Marakutsa (or Grigore Mărăcuţă, in the Moldovan language) is an ethnic Moldovan, alongside fellow ethnic Moldovan Alexander Caraman, is considered one of the founding fathers of PMR, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Until 2005, he was Speaker of PMR's Parliament. In December of 2005, the opposition won control of Parliament in that year's legislative elections and unseated Marakutsa.

In 2006 Grigory Marakutsa was appointed General Secretary of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, an international grouping of South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Pridnestrovie. (With information from vspmr.org)

See also:
» Grigore Mărăcuţă: "I'm a Moldovan, and proud that my people voted for freedom"