Czech Republic Bans Youth Movement

That the Parliament expresses its great concern at the decision of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic to ban the Communist Youth Union (KSM), the youth wing of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM), on Monday 16 October 2006; notes that this decision was made despite a large international and domestic campaign against the prohibition of the KSM undertaken by trade unionists and student organisations among other groups and including a petition signed by thousands of Czech citizens; is further concerned that this took place only a few days before the Czech senate elections; believes that this act is in contravention of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights which guarantees freedom of speech and association; further believes that the Czech Interior Ministry’s claim that the KSM’s policies calling for a socialist transformation of society are incompatible with the country’s constitution is invalid and considers that the constitution is in fact superceded by international human rights legislation, and calls on the government of the Czech Republic to overturn this undemocratic ban immediately.