By: Sara Kovač (Nova24tv.si)
In recent days, Janez Janša attended the International Democratic Union Forum in London, where he also took part as a speaker. In addition to Janša, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko, MEP Manfred Weber, and other high-ranking officials, former ministers and presidents also addressed the Forum. A delegation of the youth wing of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska Demokratska stranka – SDS), the Slovenian Democratic Youth (Slovenska demokratska mladina – SDM) also attended the event, including the President of SDM Simona Purkat and the party’s International Secretary Zala Tomasič. At the meeting of the IDU Executive Committee, a resolution calling on countries to help Ukraine and declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism was unanimously adopted.
More than 80 different political parties working for freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law are part of the International Democratic Union (IDU), founded in 1983. The list of the organisation’s founding members includes the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the then US Vice-President George Bush Sr, the Paris Mayor and later President of France Jacques Chirac, the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and many other party leaders. The IDU forums are high-level meetings where parties of similar beliefs can exchange views on political and organisational matters so that they can learn from each other, work together, network and raise their voices to promote democracy and centre-right politics around the world.
The SDS party President also took part in one of the panel discussions on the topic of “How should leaders navigate today’s economic woes?” The interlocutors on the panel discussed the need to take into account the interdependence between countries and to invest in people to give them the freedom they need to thrive. The event featured well-known names in global politics, and you can read more about them here.
The IDU Executive Committee adopts resolution
The Forum also unanimously adopted a resolution calling on countries to help Ukraine and to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. The resolution stressed that the IDU condemns, in the strongest terms, the unprovoked and premeditated, barbaric and violent invasion of Ukraine. They support the establishment of an ad hoc international criminal tribunal to bring every Russian war criminal to justice. They also believe that Russia, as a serious violator of international law, should no longer have a place among the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
The IDU faithfully supports Ukraine in its struggle for freedom and democracy, independence and sovereignty, territorial integrity within internationally recognised borders and its right to freely choose its international allies. It, therefore, demands that Russia immediately and completely withdraw its armed forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine without any preconditions or further escalation on the ground. They also call on all democratic countries around the world to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. They also call for the imposition of additional sanctions against Russia, in particular, the restriction of Russian exports to the world, thus depriving Russia of its ability to finance war.
It should be noted that the resolution on the classification of Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism has already been adopted by many Member States and was also adopted by the European Parliament last November but was not supported by Slovenian MEPs at the time. Nor did the coalition parties support it in our National Assembly – instead, they unanimously rejected it.
You can read the resolution in its entirety below.
“Resolution tabled by the European Solidarity, Ukraine at the IDU Executive Meeting, June 21st, 2023, in London
The International Democrat Union (IDU) reiterates its condemnation in the strongest possible terms of Russia’s unprovoked and premeditated, barbaric, and violent large-scale invasion of Ukraine of February 24, 2022. It continues to view this decision of the Russian leadership, primarily by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin personally, as an act of war of aggression and open terror, an attempted genocide against the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian statehood, and a clear and fragrant violation of international law and the global rules-based order.
The IDU states that Russia has not accomplished any of its goals, nor come close to. It applauds Ukraine’s resilience, that the world’s democracies have admired and which has in- spired them to become united behind Ukraine as never before. Neither the brutality of Russian forces in Ukraine, nor assaults on its territory, nor continued mass shelling of Ukraine with missiles and drones have ever made Ukraine’s counter-action weaker or less courageous. The IDU rests on the opinion that the world of democracies should effectively match Ukraine’s sacrifice and dedication to our shared values and principles – something that still fall short of the aspiration.
As Russian attempts to erase Ukraine continue, we were deeply shocked by the recent scale of destruction of civilian and energy infrastructure, including the recent act of ecocide by the blasting of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, along with its water reservoir – the biggest in Europe – mass and indiscriminate killings of peaceful citizens, rapes and torture of civilians, war crimes and atrocities, committed in Ukraine by the Russian armed forces under the command of President Putin. Such acts of genocide and blatant violations of international law must not be tolerated and all those responsible must be brought to international justice.
The IDU supports establishing an ad hoc international criminal tribunal to bring every Russian perpetrator of war crimes and aggression against Ukraine to justice. We are encouraged by the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for the first two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine, and call on all parties to the ICC to meet their obligations deriving from the ICC membership. As a grave violator of the international law, Russia should no longer occupy a place among the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, for it has breached key principles of world order.
The IDU faithfully supports Ukraine in its fight for freedom and democracy, independence and sovereignty, territorial integrity within the internationally recognized borders, and its right to freely choose its international alliances. We reiterate our strong stand for the principles that no country can change the borders of another one by force, and no country can impose its will on another one. It is for Ukraine and its people to decide on their future. We commend the bravery of Ukrainian Armed Forces, volunteers, and ordinary citizens, who united their efforts to defend their country and their nation from Russian war of aggression.
To this end, the International Democrat Union:
1. Demands the Russian Federation immediately and fully withdraw its armed forces and military assets from the sovereign territory of Ukraine within the internationally recognized borders without any preconditions nor further escalation on the ground;
2. Urges the Russian Federation to revoke all illegal decisions to attempt annexation of the sovereign Ukrainian territories, in particular Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizzhya regions, and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which are clear and blatant violations of the UN Charter and international law;
3. Appeals to every democracy of the globe to consider designating Russia and its regime as a state sponsor of terrorism and as a state that uses means of terrorism triggering less cooperation with and international isolation of Russia worldwide;
4. Calls for more sanctions to be imposed on Russia, of which the only criterion shall be limiting Russian exports to the world and depriving Russia of its ability to keep financing the war;
5. Strongly urges all the responsible nations to stop supporting the Russian aggression, including by means of military assistance and aid in circumvention of sanctions;
6. Is of opinion that the sanctions pressure must be increased until a total withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and a funda- mental change of attitude in Russia towards its neighbours and international law and order;
7. Calls on the G7, the European Union, the NATO member states, and other nations to keep strengthening coordinated political, financial, economic, humanitarian, and military support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to win against Russia;
8. Calls for greater military assistance to Ukraine with no limits in quality, range and type of weapons needed for Ukraine’s Armed Forces, for the sooner it reaches Ukraine, the sooner the war will be over;
9. Calls on the international community to support the peace initiatives of Ukraine based on the principles of the UN Charter, international law, and justice;
10. Calls for the establishment of a comprehensive and consolidated recovery plan for Ukraine aimed at reconstruction of the country and assisting it to reach the high standards for joining the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
11. Urges Russia to stop blackmailing the world with a global food crisis and thus to let the Ukrainian grain and agricultural products reach the global market without any limits nor obstacles;
12. Calls on Ukraine and the European Union to take all the possible efforts to ensure the launch of pre-accession negotiations by the end of 2023.”
The International Democratic Alliance brings together centre-right political parties and is the only international organisation of its kind with member parties from every continent. The SDS party is also a member of the International Democratic Alliance, which is based in Munich. Janša was made an honorary member of the Advisory Board last August, along with Austrian Sebastian Kurz and Australian Scott Morrison.