{"id":14224,"date":"2014-02-13T10:31:04","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T09:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/sala_stampa\/archivionotizie\/comunicati\/2014\/02\/20140213_marbonauduenat-2\/"},"modified":"2014-02-13T10:31:04","modified_gmt":"2014-02-13T09:31:04","slug":"20140213_marbonauduenat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/sala_stampa\/archivionotizie\/approfondimenti\/2014\/02\/20140213_marbonauduenat\/","title":{"rendered":"Marines: Bonino in Parliament – \u201cIt\u2019s not a bilateral question. NATO and EU at our side\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The question of the two Italian marines is not a bilateral issue between Italy<\/A> and India. It involves the European Union and NATO (which have lined up on Italy\u2019s side) and concerns compliance with anti-terrorism agreements and UN decisions on anti-piracy missions. That was the central concept in Foreign Minister Emma Bonino\u2019s address to the Senate on Thursday 13 February. The briefing took place at the urgent request of our parliamentary leaders in the wake of Wednesday\u2019s statements by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who defined the issue a bilateral affair between Italy and India. <\/P>
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<\/STRONG><\/P>
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Trying the two marines as terrorists brings international laws into question, says Bonino. <\/STRONG><\/P>
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For Bonino, Ban Ki-moon has \u201cmechanically followed UN procedure on disputes between states\u201d and spoke with \u201cmisunderstood caution\u201d and \u201cirrelevant altruism\u201d. The Indian Attorney General\u2019s request to apply the anti-terrorism SUA Act [concerning the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation] in the marines\u2019 trial \u201chas changed the terms of the question\u201d, commented the Minister. \u201cThe UN conventions and security resolutions are based on an agreed need to combat terrorism and must also eliminate any abuse concerning its definition\u201d. India\u2019s Supreme Court will reach a decision on 18 February 2014 on the charges against Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone. But in Minister Bonino’s view, trying two military personnel engaged in an international anti-piracy mission envisaged by international security agreements and by two UN decisions undermines the observance of international laws and rules. <\/P>
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EU and NATO at Italy\u2019s side<\/STRONG><\/P>
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<\/STRONG><\/P>
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\u201cWe\u2019re not the only ones concerned about this\u201d, explained Bonino. \u201cThe EU has come into play to help defend Italy from an abuse of the definition of terrorism, with Barroso\u2019s comments and 2 letters from the High Representative, Ashton, to the Indian government. Just yesterday [Wednesday 12 February] the NATO Secretary General agreed with our concern over the negative implications for international missions\u201d. <\/P>
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Wednesday also saw a meeting by representatives of the 28 EU member countries, which expressed full support for and solidarity with the Italian position and decided on a new approach to the Secretary General. \u201cThis is no longer a dispute between two states\u201d, stated Minister Bonino. \u201cThere\u2019s a critical mass of states raising a question of fundamental principles. A question that involves the EU and NATO. At stake are the principles underpinning the anti-terrorism conventions and the 2 UN Security Council decisions that authorised the anti-piracy missions\u201d. <\/P>
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Bonino-Ban Ki-moon discussion: I\u2019ll speak to India, says the Secretary General <\/STRONG><\/P>
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Bonino explained that immediately after Ban Ki-moon\u2019s comments (made to a journalist) were published, the Italian Ambassador to the United Nations had a meeting with the Secretary General on 12 February. Ambassador Cardi illustrated the negative repercussions that the Indian court\u2019s decision could have international missions, while the Secretary General expressed \u201cconcern\u201d over the possible use of the SUA Act in the case. Minister Bonino herself spoke directly to Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday evening. \u201cHe was understanding, and assured me he would speak to the Indian authorities\u201d, she declared. <\/P>
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India\u2019s jurisdiction is not legitimate<\/STRONG><\/P>
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Reiterating Italy\u2019s position on the case, Minister Bonino told the Senate that \u201cour riflemen were engaged in an anti-piracy operation in accordance with the conventions and the 2 UN decisions. We have contested the legitimacy of the Indian judges, whose jurisdiction was applied in breach of international law\u201d. <\/P>
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Appeal to UN over violation of marines\u2019 human rights<\/STRONG><\/P>
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\u201cWe will clearly consider our future actions in light of the decision to be taken by the Indian Supreme Court on 18 February\u201d, explained Bonino. Since January, Italy has underscored the human rights aspects of the case to the UN, given that the two riflemen have been held in India for two years without charge. \u201cWe are in touch with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, on this aspect of the case\u201d, concluded Minister Bonino. <\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The question of the two Italian marines is not a bilateral issue between Italy and India. It involves the European Union and NATO (which have lined up on Italy\u2019s side) and concerns compliance with anti-terrorism agreements and UN decisions on anti-piracy missions. That was the central concept in Foreign Minister Emma Bonino\u2019s address to the […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,43,76,39,42],"class_list":["post-14224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-approfondimenti","tag-asia-e-oceania","tag-diritti-umani","tag-ministri-precedenti","tag-nato","tag-unione-europea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}