Peoples Of The World Resolution On Iraq

Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 11:35 am
Opinion: The Scoop Editor

We, the people of the world,

Reminding national governments and the United Nations that their authority rests on us;

Affirming the rights and duties of people everywhere to participate in political decisions to create a just and peaceful world;

Mindful of the fact that progress toward peace and justice will continue to depend on us in the future as it has in the past;

Dismayed by the continuing undemocratic nature of war, even in otherwise democratic countries, where the entry into war continues to be determined by small handfuls of male politicians and where we, the peoples to whom these governments are responsible, are routinely ignored or manipulated;

Drawing attention to the 110 million people killed in war in the 20th century;

Determined that such crimes not be repeated in the 21st century and that those prepared to repeat them be stopped;

Disturbed by the widespread use of violence and terror, both by states and by non-state actors;

Weary of violence, of those who commit it, and of those who justify and support it;

Welcoming the October, 2002 report by the World Health Organization that identifies violence as one of the world's most urgent problems;

Recalling that the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the period 2001-2010 as the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World;

Alarmed by the spread of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction;

Convinced that this dangerous tendency has been encouraged by the refusal of the most powerful nations, notably the five permanent members of the Security Council, to undertake nuclear disarmament in accordance with the 1996 opinion of the International Court of Justice and Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty;

Dismayed by the decision of the United States of America to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, to oppose the establishment of the International Criminal Court, and in other ways to brush aside international agreements and law;

Noting with regret the increasing isolation of the United States in world opinion, and especially the growing antagonism between the United States and the world's Muslim populations, as indicated in recent interviews (Pew Global Attitudes survey) with over 38,000 people in 44 countries;

Stressing that this growing clash of civilizations is consistent with the desires of leading global terrorists and holds nothing of value for the peoples of the world;

Recalling that the General Assembly of the United Nations attempted to prevent this clash by adopting the suggestion of President Khatami of Iran and proclaiming the year 2001 the UN Year of the Dialogue among Civilizations;

Determined that this dialogue be postponed no longer;

Drawing attention to the current desperate circumstances of Iraq;

Remembering that the government of Iraq has committed acts of aggression against neighbouring states, and has violated the rights of the people of Iraq;

Acknowledging that there is a need for inspection and destruction of weapons in Iraq as well as a need to address the human rights violations within Iraq;

Remembering also that the UN Security Council and its members, especially the United States and the United Kingdom, have violated the rights of the Iraqi people, broken international agreements, and gravely damaged the credibility of the United Nations;

Deploring the deliberate destruction, in the 1991 bombing of Iraq, of water and sewage facilities crucial to Iraq's public health, in direct violation of Article 54 of the 1977 Geneva Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions, dealing with the "protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population";

Condemning the further weakening of water and sewage treatment facilities, the impoverishing of the population, and the conscious spread of malnutrition and disease in Iraq by the United States and other nations, through economic sanctions and the manipulation of the Security Council's 661 Committee, in violation of the key principles of public health, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and universal moral standards;

Recognizing that the draconian measures taken to obstruct Iraq's oil sales from 1990-1996 were in clear violation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which states that, "in no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence";

Aware that the children of Iraq are as valuable as any other children;

Appalled that the economic sanctions against Iraq have contributed to approximately 500,000 excess deaths since 1990 among Iraqi children under the age of five, in obvious violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that, "States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life," and "States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child";

Stressing that acts of violence by the United States and the United Kingdom in the so-called "no-fly zones" are not justified by Security Council Resolution 688, as is sometimes claimed, but are flagrant violations of that resolution, which affirms, with other Security Council resolutions, the commitment of all member states to "the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Iraq";

Welcoming the official release of a report by Medact and the unofficial release of a United Nations inter-agency planning document on the likely humanitarian impact of an invasion of Iraq;

Dismayed by both of these reports, which outline a possible humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq following a military invasion, to include 2 million destitute, internally displaced people;

Convinced that the threatened invasion of Iraq by the United States, the United Kingdom and other nations violates Article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations, which states that, "the parties to any dispute, the continuance of which is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, shall, first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice";

Believing further that an invasion of Iraq under the present circumstances would constitute a crime against peace as set forth in the 1950 Principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal affirmed by the General Assembly of the United Nations;

Drawing attention to evidence from public opinion surveys that the great majority of people in the world do not support an invasion of Iraq;

Recalling that Security Council Resolution 687 does not restrict itself to a discussion of Iraq but addresses the danger of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East generally, speaking of "the need to work towards the establishment in the Middle East of a zone free of such weapons," and that this resolution speaks as well of the need to work toward peace and security in the region by "using all available means, including a dialogue among the States of the region";

Dismayed that the Security Council has left these proposals to one side while concentrating on the use of force;

therefore declare that we:

1. Reject in the strongest terms the threatened invasion of Iraq;

2. Support a process of thorough, fair, and respectful weapons inspection and disarmament in Iraq;

3. Insist that steps be taken to extend such inspections and disarmament to all those nations, including the permanent members of the Security Council, whose weapons pose threats to humanity;

4. Demand that the economic sanctions against Iraq be lifted and that Iraq be invited to rejoin the community of nations;

5. Demand further that Iraq be given generous assistance in the process of reconstruction;

6. Insist that a process of fair and sincere dialogue be initiated in the Middle East to address the human rights situation and the profound conflicts in that region;

7. Call upon all member states of the Security Council to rise to their responsibility to reject an assault on Iraq and to promote the just resolution of conflict in the region;

8. Urge the permanent members of the Security Council to use their veto, if this should be necessary, to prevent the sanctioning, by the United Nations, of an assault on Iraq;

9. Demand that the political representatives and governments whose power rests on us denounce, and refuse to participate in, an assault on Iraq, and use their influence to promote mature resolution of conflict;

and finally,

10. Invite each other, the peoples of the world, to use all necessary means of a non-violent nature to prevent, impede and discredit the invasion of Iraq and the continued merciless punishment of the people of that country, and to promote peace and justice in the 21st century.

ENDS

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