TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANISATION
The Estonian Democratic Movement and the Estonian National Front present to the General Assembly of the United Nations the following MEMORANDUM, concerning the fate of the Estonian nation.

In view of the fact:

that existence of different nations constitutes the riches of the humanity;
that as a result of forcible levelling and assimilation of national cultures the humanity gross poore;
that one of the basic features in the development of the world during the last decades has been the emergence and growth of indenpendent national states - members of the UNO;
that the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 1), the Declaration of the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (par. 2) as well as ohter analogous UNO documents declare the right of all nations to self-determination, under which they shall freely determine their political status, and exercise their economic, social and cultural development;
that in accordance of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (art. 21, par. 3) the power of government lies in the poeples’ will, which must be expressed through periodic and unfalsified elections ... and forms, that guarantee the freedom of voting;
that Estonia, a former internationally recognized independent state and member of the League of Nations (beginning from 1921) was in 1940 forcibly deprived of her national independence and reduced in fact to the status of a colonial territory;
that as a result of such status and the policy of the Soviet government, aimed at the gradual assimilation of all nationalities living on the Soviet territory into a Russiandominated nation, there has arisen a serious threat as to the further national, political and spiritual existence of the Estonian nation;
that the states-signatories of the Atlantic Charter (including the Soviet Union) committed themselves (art. 3) to promote restoration of sovereign rights and self-government to those peoples, who have been forcibly deprived of them;
that the aforementioned commitment has not been fulfilled solely in the case of the three Baltic nations, including Estonia;
that under the colonial rule the Estonian nation has not been guaranteed the fulfilment of the articles 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14(1), 18, 19, 20, 21, 26(2), 27(2) of the Universal Declaration on Human rights, articles 1, 8(14), 13(3), 15(3) of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and articles 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

the Estonian Democratic Movement and the Estonian National Front DEMAND:

restoration of the independent Estonian state in the frontiers fixed by the 1920 Tartu peace-treaty between the Estonian Republic and Soviet Russia;
admission of Estonia as a former member of the League of Nations to United Nations membership;
To these ends the Estonian Democratic Movement and the Estonial National Front consider necessary:
to liquidate the existing colonial administration, which does not correspond to the art. 21 par. 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, depends entirely on the Soviet central goverment and is an instrument of the latter’s imperialist and chauvinistic aims;
to liquidate the Soviet military bases on Estonian soil and withdraw from Estonia all Soviet military personnel (who, under the agreement between Estonia and Soviet Union were stationed for 10 years only, the agreement expired in 1949);
up to the formation of national organs of government through free democratic elections to place Estonia temporarily under the UNO administration and to introduce to Estonia the UNO’s peace-keeping forces;
pending the UNO administration, opportunity for return to Estonia must be given to all persons of Estonian nationality, who have been forcibly deported from Estonia (including these detained on political reasons), or who have left Estonia at their own will, also to all ohter persons, who have been citizens of the Estonian Republic, and to their descendants;
to restore normal political life and to create conditions for really free democratic elections (under the supervision of the UNO observers) in order to form a representative body of the Estonian peole – the Constituent Assembly.

All political parties and groups, who respect the democratic principles and the right of peoples to national independence, may participate in the elections to the Constituent Assembly.

In the elections to the Constituent Assembly suffrage belongs to all those persons at least 18 years old, who have been (or among whose parents at least one has been) citizens of the Estonian Republic, or who were born on the Estonian territory.

The Estonian Democratic Movement and the Estonian National Front are convinced that only the implementation of the aforementioned considerations and demands permits the United Nations Organisation to exercise consistently her obligations which lie on her in accordance with the articles 1, 2, 4, 5 of the Declaration on the Granting Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, article 1 par. 3 of the Inernational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and articles 103, 104, 105 of the UNO Charter.

The Estonian Democratic Movement and the Estonian National Front demand the UNO to take effective steps in order to abolish the immoral, inhuman and illegal Soviet colonial rule in Estonia and to compel the Soviet Union not to hinder the restoration of the legal rights and national sovereignty to the Estonian nation.

Estonians will never accept the colonial status of their fatherland.

At present, when even the smallest nations of the world have been recognized the right to national independence, the Estonian nation looks forward to urgent and real help from the United Nations Organisation.

Tallinn, October 24, 1972
The Estonian Democratic Movement
the Estonian National Front 