Hans Faessler Kantonsschule AR Niedern 9043 Trogen Switzerland Phone Number: 071 343 61 11 Fax Number: 071 343 61 61 Home Address: Imbodenstrasse 17, CH - 9016 St. Gallen Phone 071 288 39 52 e-mail-addresses: hans.faessler@kst.ch hans.faessler@freesurf.ch Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, Room S-3430 New York, NY 10017 USA Trogen, 9th November 2000 Permission to Hoist UN Flag Dear Sirs, I am a teacher of English at Kantonsschule Trogen in Switzerland. For the 200th anniversary of the canton of St. Gallen, the Swiss member state where I live, being celebrated in 2003, I am working on a satirical show about the canton’s past and present. In this show (a mixture of comedy and what we in German call "Kabarett") the subject of domination by a foreign power will be very important: in the form of the historical French occupation of Switzerland during the time of the Napoleonic wars, in the form of the imaginary and much feared occupation by the Warsaw Pact during the years of the Cold War and, thirdly, in the form of the fears of the political far right that Switzerland might one day be dominated by supranational organisations like the EU and the UN (of which we are, lamentably, still not a member). I have now asked the city authorities of the city of St. Gallen for the permission to hoist the following three flags outside the city hall: the flag of the city of St. Gallen, the EU flag and the UN flag, in order to make the fears of the political far right in this country visible. A photo will then be taken of the three hoisted flags, which I am planning to use in my satire. A week ago the city authorities gave me the requested permission and I am therefore asking you for the permission to use the emblem and flag of the United Nations in the above- mentioned context. Yours sincerely, Hans Faessler