PRESS CONFERENCE BY CHAIRMAN OF CARE AUSTRALIA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY CHAIRMAN OF CARE AUSTRALIA

Malcolm Fraser, Chairman of CARE Australia and Australia's Special Envoy to secure the release of the three CARE Australia humanitarian aid workers recently convicted on spying charges by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning that it was not just a question of Steve Pratt, Peter Wallace and Blanko Jelen, but of all those involved in humanitarian work.

Once a settlement was reached and the fighting ended, the humanitarian need in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was going to be massive, he said. It would be important for humanitarian workers to be able to work in the country with a sense of security, knowing at least that they had the support of the Government.

Elaborating on events leading up to the capture and conviction of the three men, he said that while the whole world had seen the refugee camps in Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on television, many had forgotten about the half a million Serbian refugees, who had been removed from Croatia and Bosnia in earlier phases of the Balkan War.

However, he continued, CARE International was an organization that had not forgotten those refugees, and its workers, who had been there since 1993, had been working to provide fuel, food and medical supplies to over 100,000 Serbian refugees. The refugees in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were not in large camps, such as those in Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or Africa. They were scattered around the countryside wherever a building could be found that was suitable for shelter. There had been talks recently with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about raising extra funds and expanding the work there.

He said that Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace were travelling near Lipovac in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to go around into Montenegro, to try and expand CARE's operation there because of the growing number of refugees in Montenegro. They had been detained and for a long time it could not be determined where they were. On 31 March, they had, in a sense, disappeared and all that was known was that they had been picked up in Lipovac.

There had been no consular visits till 19 April, he went on to say, and an investigating judge had been appointed around 6 April. His work had been completed and a lengthy indictment made, alleging the formation of a spy ring and the joining of a spy ring. The process had taken place in a military court, and had been held in secret -- observers from CARE and other international organizations, and Australia's consular representative had been removed from the courtroom. That Court had found that not one charge in the indictment had any merit, and the accused had been found to be entirely innocent of all the charges in the indictment.

However, in a most extraordinary procedure, the judge had then, in issuing the verdict, announced a new charge, which they had been found guilty of, he continued. The three young men, one of whom was a Yugoslav national, had collectively been given a prison sentence of 22 years, with one given 12 years. No one had been notified of the new charge. It had appeared as the judge was giving his verdict, which must have been unprecedented for any country, including the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

He said that while the defendants had all given evidence, no witnesses had been called in relation to anything. The documents, which had been examined, were largely those which any aid worker from any country would have had to provide -- situation reports, that would be needed by the head office and would be required by donors. The charge was passing information to a person or an agency in a foreign country that employed the person. That was something, he believed, which would aptly fit any journalist working in Belgrade and reporting to their head office in another country. It certainly fit any humanitarian worker.

What was needed, he said, was the release of Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace, so that they could return to their families and friends. He emphasized that the Court had found them entirely innocent of all the charges in the indictment. The new charge that had been "plucked out of the air" had been called by the Law Council of Australia the most outrageous travesty of justice which had ever been drawn to its attention.

He said that the men were still in jail despite considerable support. He was grateful for representations made and letters written by a number of people, including Secretary-General Kofi Annan, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, the Greek Foreign Minister, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Sergio Vieira de Mello, Nelson Mandela and Reverend Jesse Jackson. Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who was now in Belgrade with Viktor Chernomyrdin, had stated unequivocally that he would raise the issue with President Slobodon Milosevic when he met with him.

CARE Australia and CARE International, if it was possible, wanted to continue to work wherever there was a humanitarian need, and that included the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, he said. However, that was extremely difficult when a case, such as the present one, came along and people got detained and thrown into jail. There was an appeal process that would go to a civilian court, which might be helpful, but he hoped that it would not have to go on as long as that.

In response to a question on why it had been a military tribunal rather than a civilian one, he said that it was because of martial law and the fact that it was in a country at war. Despite having been to Belgrade twice and having had a discussion with the Foreign Minister there, he had not been able to secure the release of the two men.

CARE Australia Press Conference - 3 - 3 June 1999

Asked if part of the problem was that President Milosevic could not get the public relations coup in releasing the Australians that he had had when he released the three American soldiers, Mr. Fraser replied that Australia, in terms of population, was a small country on the far side of the world. That did make a difference. However, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had to understand that the case was causing immense concern among the whole humanitarian community. People were going to need assurances that that aspect of the law was not going be applied against others. It was in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's national interest to release the two Australians and the Yugoslav national.

A correspondent asked whether they were in fact prisoners of public relations. To that, Mr. Fraser replied that it had to be understood that he was trying to use fairly measured terms, since he was relying on Yugoslav lawyers for the defense in the appeal. He had deliberately tried not to say anything that could in any way prejudice that trial. He was appreciative to the press, worldwide and particularly in Australia, for their understanding of that point.

There had been occasions when he thought the omens were good, he added. There appeared to have been shifts, changes of attitude within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia about how to handle the case. It had been shown in the trial that most of the information in the situation reports, that CARE workers in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had provided, had come from UNHCR reports themselves or from the newspapers. In other words, that information had already been in the public domain.

He said that he had been travelling around the world, trying to see and speak with people, who had, individually or collectively, influence in relation to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. That included President Ahtisaari, people in Moscow, non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, and United Nations officials. He regarded the United Nations influence as important, and there were those who wished that the Organization had had a greater involvement in the issue, all the way through. He believed that the best hope for a sane world depended on a strong United Nations and an effective Security Council.

Asked if the agreement by the Serb legislature today to the text of a peace deal made him more optimistic about the release of the three men, he said that he was optimistic that the war would soon be over. He had tried to avoid undue optimism or any sense of pessimism because he was not only talking to journalists. Wives, parents and families of the prisoners also read what was being written. He had been deliberately trying not to say anything that might cause them to think that it would all be over tomorrow, unless that was actually true.

He said that the Yugoslav nationals were concerned about what had happened. It was very difficult for them now. The country was intensely

CARE Australia Press Conference - 4 - 3 June 1999

nationalistic and the war had united the country. There were not many other non-governmental organizations working there now and CARE and the Red Cross were two of the largest operators in the country.

In response to a question on whether the international community should show greater interest towards the release, he said that the Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and others in the Organization had given solid support to it. He was also grateful for the support he had seen from Australia's diplomatic offices in many countries over the last six weeks.

Asked if the situation would have been different if the aid workers had been American or from NATO countries, he said that there was not much point in speculating about that. Three American soldiers got worldwide attention, but then whatever the United States did was of enormous importance to everyone. Under the present circumstances, everyone's support was needed. For middle- ranking countries like Australia, the best protection for a peaceful world was going to be a continually improving and more effective United Nations.

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