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Macedonian P.E.N. Centre
18 Maksim Gorki Street
1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Tel./Fax: +389-91-130-054
E-mail: macedpen@unet.com.mk
Website: www.pen.org.mk

To:
The President of the Republic of Macedonia
The President of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia
The Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia

The Presidency of the Macedonian P.E.N. Centre (with ex officio members in attendance) in compliance with the Charter of P.E.N. International, at its session on 17 February 2000, in Skopje, issued the following:

AN APPEAL
CONCERNING THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

- Bearing in mind the provisions of the United Nations Charter;

- Considering in particular Articles 2 and 4 (1) of this Charter;

- Recalling the 1947 Resolution 113 (II) of the UN General Assembly, which requests an opinion from the International Court of Justice regarding the legality of the conditions for admission of a state to membership in the United Nations that are not expressly set forth in Article 4 of the UN Charter;

- Recalling the 1948 Resolution 197 (III) of the UN General Assembly, according to which the General Assembly adopts the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice delivered on 28 May 1948, Admission of a State to the United Nations;

- Recalling that, according to the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice of 28 May 1948, Admission of a State to the United Nations, no conditions in the admission process can be imposed, nor can such conditions be voted upon, unless they are expressly provided by Article 4, paragraph 1, of the UN Charter;

- Recalling the Memorandum on the Legal Aspects of the Representation of States, UN Doc.S/1466, of 1950, according to which during the admission process for membership in the UN a state cannot be conditioned by recognition of elements of its juridical personality;

- Bearing in mind that, according to the general principles of international law, the name of every state, and in this context the name of the Republic of Macedonia as well, is an inherent and inalienable right of the state itself, since a legal identity is an essential element of a juridical personality;

- Taking into account the principle of the inviolability of juridical personality, i.e., the inalienable nature of the essential elements of the juridical personality enshrined in the 1970 UN Declaration on the Principles of International Law;

- Bearing in mind that disrespect for the constitutional name of a state also implies disrespect for its sovereignty and dignity;

- In view of the fact that every external attempt to change the name of a state constitutes a violation of the principle of inviolability of a juridical personality and interference in its essential domestic jurisdiction;

- Recalling that each state is admitted to international organisations under its constitutional name, that such is an inalienable part of its juridical personality, without which it can not exercise its rights and carry out its obligations in the international community;

- Recalling that during the admission process of a state as a sovereign member, the UN is obligated to admit states into its membership without discriminatory conditions, to protect membership rights and the legal status of a state after its admission, just as it protects the internal legal order of the UN and the international legal order in general;

- Confronting the fact that during the admission process of the Republic of Macedonia to membership in the UN two additional conditions were illegally imposed; first, that it accept the provisional denomination The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and, second, that it negotiate with another state (the Republic of Greece) over its constitutional name, and that these conditions are not explicitly set forth in Article 4 (1) of the UN Charter;

- Concluding that these additional conditions violate the principle of juridical equality provided by paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the UN Charter, as well as the principle of non-interference in the essential domestic jurisdiction of a state, as provided in paragraph 7 of the same Article;

- Emphasising the fact that the constitutional name of any state in the world cannot be imposed or denied by another state and that it cannot be the subject of either bilateral or multilateral negotiations;

- Pointing to the fact that within the framework of the UN there exists a procedure for the reconsideration of the legality of the admission of a state, including requesting opinions from the International Court of Justice, applicable to all states, the Republic of Macedonia included;

- Convinced that the UN General Assembly will demonstrate good will and transfer the question regarding the legality of the conditions for admission to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice;

- Believing it is a primary interest of the Republic of Macedonia to defend its legal identity, personality and statehood as a requirement for the protection of its equal juridical position within the System of the UN;

- Believing that this Appeal of the Macedonian P.E.N. Centre will be met with the full support of the highest state officials, since it is their constitutional obligation to protect the dignity and sovereignty of the Republic of Macedonia;

- Believing that this Appeal of the Macedonian P.E.N. Centre will be met with the wide support of the entire Macedonian public,

The Macedonian P.E.N. Centre appeals to the President of the Republic of Macedonia, the President of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia and the Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia to employ all necessary diplomatic measures and procedures in order to begin the process of examination of the legality of the 1993 Resolution of the UN General Assembly 47/225 whereby the Republic of Macedonia was admitted to full membership in the UN in the part concerning its provisional denomination and the obligation to negotiate with another state over its own constitutional name. In doing so, they will initiate in the UN the process of the establishment of the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia.

Presidentship
of the Macedonian P.E.N. Centre

President
Prof. Dr. Katica Kulavkova

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