ILOG Press Statement
Might there be Justice after
all?!
- a gleam of hope-
A decade after the fall of the iron curtain and after many
years of humiliation victims of unlawfully confiscated
properties may finally have the opportunity to claim their
possessions back.
Until now supranational and international institutions were
reluctant to resolve World War II's uncompensated
expropriations and were eminently eager to deem cases
inadmissible by raising the objection ratio temporis, i.e.
asserting that the international covenants are not applicable
fore the acts took place before the entry into force of the
diverse conventions protecting property rights.
Recently, there seems to be a change in attitude, the courts
as well as the European Parliament have ultimately, in part, acknowledged their
jurisdiction. The decision of the latter was preceded by a petition demanding the
restitution of wrongfully confiscated possessions in
accordance with democratic principles and the rule of law. A
request which was initiated by ELOG (today ILOG) and later
submitted consecutively with many other ally associations
(ARE, AGO, BJD, Schutzgemeinschaft in Deutschalnd [Germany];
SUVLAH [Croatia]; IS.FI.DA [Italy]; ZLRP[Slovenia], American
Owners of Property in Slovenia; Focus Group [USA and Canada];
Committee for Private Property Inc.; The Czech Coordinating
Committee, IDAC, Lithuanian-American Community, Inc,) to the
European Parliament. The petition was declared admissible and
brought to the attention of a more competent body within the
European Parliament.
Establishing the admissibility of such claims constitutes a
milestone in the long and hard struggle for Justice. Time
will tell if the European Parliament can rise to the occasion
and implement equitable restitution norms and thus heal old
but profound wounds.
Cologne, 13.12.99
Alexandra Mareschi
