VIENNA PLATFORM

Partnership & Solidarity in East and West

We, representatives of non-governmental organisations, resolve to create a new network of co-operation.

We state our continued commitment to co-operation, a co-operation which has existed for many decades and pre-dates the fall of the Berlin Wall. We celebrated that victory for freedom and self-determination, and have strengthened our work together for peace, justice and democracy. We recognise that there are many more Europeans living in Europe today than just those living within the EU and that many of these women and men are unlikely to become EU citizens in the foreseeable future.

We affirm a common vision of a Bill of Rights enshrining civil, political, social, economic and cultural human rights including freedom of mass media to become the common heritage for all women and men living in Europe.

Non Governmental Organisations, representing large sections of organised civil society, have played an important role in the creation of European society and in its continued development and in overcoming the division of Europe.

We now bring solidarity to our friends fighting for democracy and human rights in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and of the former Soviet Union. In particular the extremely grave situations experienced in Belarus and former Yugoslavia need urgent and concerted action.

For peace, stability and democracy to establish themselves on our continent sufficient funds need to be devoted to both accession countries and to our future neighbours. These funds must be fully targeted to the building of a strong civil society. The support of NGOs is the most efficient investment to economical, ecological, democratic and social development in Central and Eastern Europe and a key to this endeavour.

The strengthening of civil society is vital to an active and participative democracy and particularly important at a time of acute crisis. The putting in place of a system of social and environmental protection, the promotion of education and public health and equality of men and women require the active involvement of NGOs and other peoples organisations protected by legal provisions in each country.

We call on NGOs, whether they be active in the protection of human rights, in the social field , in employment initiatives, in development assistance, conflict resolution or the protection of the environment to work together to create alliances for partnership with and between each other also on regional level.

We call on the European Commission to recognise this collaboration and to provide funds for NGO activities and an effective liaison work in Brussels to adopt a more coherent approach to civil society based on a real partnership with non governmental organisations who are engaged in the common task of building a Europe at peace, based on human rights, justice and tolerance.

Vienna 22 nd November 1998

  1. GIAMPI ALHADEFF, SOLIDAR BRUSSELS
  2. KATHRIN SCHICK, SOLIDAR, BRUSSELS
  3. SUSANNE DRAKE, SOLIDAR BRUSSELS
  4. PROFESSOR JOSEF WEIDENHOLZER, AUSTRIAN PEOPLE’S AID, VIENNA
  5. WOLFGANG SPERL, AUSTRIAN PEOPLE’S AID, VIENNA
  6. HEINZ STIEB, AUSTRIAN PEOPLE’S AID, VIENNA
  7. ANDREAS KNAUS, AUSTRIAN PEOPLE’S AID, VIENNA
  8. BIRGIT ERTL, CARITAS AUSTRIA, VIENNA
  9. KURT FRENSSING, NORTH-SOUTH-INSTITUTE AUSTRIA, VIENNA
  10. MAX KOCH, VOCATIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE, VIENNA
  11. GÜNTER SCHWÄRZLER, AUSTRIANS ENERGY COUNCIL, VIENNA
  12. ASTRID WEIN, CARE AUSTRIA, VIENNA
  13. DR. WILFRIED WIEBECKE, IPPNW AUSTRIA, VIENNA
  14. ANDREI SANNIKOV, CHARTER 97 BELARUS, MINSK
  15. PAVEL KHOLOD, CHARTER 97 BELARUS, MINSK
  16. DR. NATALIA FEDOTOVA, UNIVERSITY IRKUTSK, RUSSIA
  17. PROFESSOR IVAN BORTNIK, FUND FOR SMALL & INNOVATIVE ENTERPRISES, MOSCOW
  18. SERGEI GRIGORIANTS, GLASNOST FOUNDATION, MOSCOW
  19. DR. LEV KLOCHKOVSKY, ACADEMY OF SCIENCE MOSCOW
  20. ROSA KHATSKELEVITCH, NGO DEVELOPMENT CENTRE, ST. PETERSBURG
  21. ANTON K. CKTCKOUKINE, NON-PROFIT CORP, ST. PETERSBURG
  22. GENNADY GRASCHENKO, CHAMBER OF LAWYERS ODESSA, UKRAINE
  23. ANDREY ODINENKO, GREENPEACE UKRAINE, KIEV
  24. EUGENE KANEVSKY, TV NOVOSTI, CHARKOV, UKRAINE
  25. ILJA TROMBITZKY MP, ECOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION BIOTICA, MOLDOVA
  26. ALI ELTALI, ECOLOGICAL MOVEMENT OF ALBANIA, TIRANA
  27. LIYANA ADJAROVA, COMMON GOOD FOUNDATION BULGARIA, PLOVDIV
  28. PATRICIA JOHNSON, HELSINKI CITIZENS ASSEMBLY, PRAHA
  29. ANNA NEMCOVA, RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF LABOUR, BRATISLAVA
  30. HAINALKA SZERETO, RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR LABOUR, BRATISLAVA
  31. SANDOR KÖLES, CARPATHIAN FOUNDATION, SLOVAKIA, KOSICE
  32. MARTINA SUDOVA, NGO PEOPLE AND WATER, SLOVAKIA, KOSICE
  33. RUDOLF HOFMANN, TRYBUNA, WARSZAVA, POLAND
  34. PETRE MOLDOVAN MP, SOCIALDEMOCRATIC PARTY ROMANIA, BUCHAREST
  35. WILHELM UNTCH, GERMAN YOUTH FORUM, MEDIAS, ROMANIA
  36. MIKLOS BARABAS, EUROPEAN HOUSE BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
  37. EMESE BARABAS, EUROPEAN HOUSE BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
  38. ISTVAN CSARNAI, CITY COUNCIL OF BEKES, HUNGARY
  39. HAJNALKA SZERETO, CITY COUNCIL OF BEKES, HUNGARY
  40. ERZSEBET SCHMUCK, HUNGARIAN ASSOC.NATURE CONSERVATIONISTS, HUNGARY
  41. GYULA SIMONYI, BOCS FOUNDATION, SZEKESFEHERVAR, HUNGARY
  42. MILJENKO DERETA, CIVIC INITIATIVES, BELGRADE
  43. VLADIMIR GRECIC, INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMY AND POLITICS, BELGRADE
  44. BILJANA KOVACEVIC, YUGOSLAV LAWERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, BELGRADE
  45. MANUELA NIKOLIC, RADIO B 92, BELGRADE
  46. DUSAN PETROVIC, NEZAVISNI, NOVI SAD
  47. MIRNO GRUBOR, RADIO 021, NOVI SAD
  48. SESKA STANOJLOVIC, HELSINKI COMMITTEE BELGRADE
  49. JANA TASIC, DANAS, BELGRADE
  50. DARINKA KLADNIK, DNEVNIK, LJUBLJANA
  51. DAN GALLIN, GLOBAL LABOUR INSTITUTE, GENEVA
  52. ELINA SALONEN, SERVICE CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT, FINLAND
  53. MARKO PERSSON, OLOF PALME INTERNATIONAL CENTRE, STOCKHOLM
  54. DUSAN BOGDANOVIC, IFIAS GERMANY, BONN
  55. MANUELA PUTZ, DEUTSCH-RUSSISCHER AUSTAUSCH, BERLIN
  56. SADIJA KLEPO, COALITION FOR THE RETURN OF REFUGEES GERMANY, WINDECK
  57. MARIE NOELLE GRELL, CENTRE EUROPÉEN DU VOLONTARIAT, BRUSSELS
  58. MICHAEL ROEKARTS, PAX CHRISTI INTERNATIONAL, BRUSSELS
  59. SONJA SCHMIDT-MONTFORT, EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION, BRUSSELS
  60. HEIKE SCHNEIDER, APRODEV BRUSSELS
  61. WOLFGANG KOETH, IFIAS BRUSSELS
  62. GERD GREUNE, IFIAS BRUSSELS

Open letter to the family of Galina Vassilevna Starovojtova



Dear Andrew S. Volkov, dear Platon Porshevsky,
we, the participants of the Conference “Working together – Building Partnership with Central and Eastern Europe”, representing NGOs from 20 European states who gathered in Vienna from November 20-22, like to express our sadness and deepest concern after the tragic death of Galina Vassilevna. We share your painful feelings after this inestimable loss.

We are shocked and outraged by the murder of Galina Starowojtova, member of the State Duma and a leading figure of the democratic movement in Russia. We are deeply concerned about the spreading of criminal and totalitarian tendencies in Russia and we ask the Russian government and the President of the Russian Federation to enlighten the circumstances of this crime – not only in words but also in deeds – and to punish those who executed as well as those who ordered this horrible crime.

We are obliged to remember, that the Russian leadership is bearing political responsibility for this and for other crimes perpetrated in the country, and that it still is not able to give an answer to the question, why such crimes have become possible in today’s Russia.

The life of Galina Vassilevna was devoted towards the finding of solutions to the most catastrophic problems of Russian life. Her voice was a severe reminder about what will happen to Russia, if these problems are not overcome. Her tragic death witnesses the fact that we’re still far from the solution of these problems, fills us with deepest grief and reminds us what we can expect in the future if we do not tackle this problem.