Iraq: An Appeal for Peace

On 28 February, the following petition was sent to the heads of state or government of the non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, calling on these countries to oppose the proposed second resolution on Iraq put forward by the US and its allies. Signed by more than 70 international and national non-governmental organisations, it stressed the utmost importance of rejecting a resolution aimed at providing UN imprimatur for what would be a totally unjustified war.

As members of international civil society and as organizations which seek to articulate the concerns of the people all over the world over a war in Iraq, we would like to address this appeal for peace to you.

The US and its allies have submitted a draft second resolution on Iraq to the UN Security Council. Although the resolution appears to merely declare that Iraq “has failed to take the final opportunity” to comply with its disarmament obligations, its real objective is clear: to provide legitimacy for an attack on Iraq. While the resolution does not specify the use of force, it is evident from US statements and actions that this is nothing if not a resolution for war.

During the recent debate in the Security Council, the overwhelming majority of Council members expressly rejected such a resort to force at this stage and made it clear that the UN inspectors should be given time to complete their work of disarming Iraq. The general view was that there was no need at this stage for a second resolution.

In this respect, we must commend your government for so courageously articulating its unambiguous and unequivocal stand in favour of peace during the Security Council debate.

The call for a peaceful resolution of this issue by Council members was a reflection of the almost universal rejection of war (so dramatically expressed in the form of mass demonstrations and protest marches all over the world) so long as a peaceful avenue for the resolution of this problem still exists.

The proposed second resolution by the US and its allies is an attempt to thwart this move to avoid war and undermine all hopes of a peaceful determination of the problem.

It is of the utmost importance for the future of the world body and international peace to resist this move to use the UN as a fig-leaf to launch a war on a member state that cannot be justified on any ground whatsoever.

As the recent debate in the Security Council revealed, it is the non-permanent members who hold the key to any decision by the Council on this issue.

We therefore appeal to your government, consistent with its earlier stand, to reject any move in the Security Council for a second resolution. As we stated earlier, a vote for a second resolution, however innocuously worded, is a vote for war. We firmly believe your government has the moral integrity to resist such a move, regardless of any pressures or inducements from any outside quarters.

Please rest assured of our continued support for your courageous stand in the cause of peace.

Signatories:

Accion Ecologica (Ecuador)
African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET)
Alliance for Democracy (USA)
Amigransa - Venezuela
AM-Net (Advocacy and Monitoring Network on Sustainable Development) (Japan)
ANPED, the Northern Alliance for Sustainability
Awami Committee for Development (Pakistan)
Broad National Combination for Independence, Peace and Democracy (Japan)
Broad National Combination for Independence, Peace and Democracy, Aichi (Japan)
CDM Watch (Indonesia)
Center for Encounters and Active Non-Violence (Austria)
Center for Orang Asli Concerns (Malaysia)
Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (Fiji)
Citizens International
COECOCeiba - FoE Costa Rica
Conference Interpreters Asia Pacific
Consumers’ Association of Penang (Malaysia)
The Corner House (UK)
Cumberland Countians for Peace & Justice (USA)
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)
Environmental Monitoring Group (South Africa)
Environmental Protection Society Malaysia
Focus on the Global South, Thailand, Philippines and India
Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy (USA)
Forest Peoples Programme, UK
Foundation for Ecological Recovery, Thailand
Friends of the Earth Finland
Friends of the Earth Malaysia
Fukuoka NGO Forum on ADB (Japan)
GenderWatch (nee GenderWatchers)
GeneEthics (Australia)
GiriGiri-Family (Step-Step-Family) (Japan)
Group Yui-Yui (Japan)
Guatemalan Academy of Sciences (Guatemala)
Hutan Group (Japan)
IBASE (Brazil)
Institut Masyarakat (Malaysia)
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (USA)
Institute of Science in Society (UK)
International Development Economics Associates
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
International Youth and Student Movement for the United Nations (ISMUN)
Japan CHT Committee
Japan Confederation of Railway Workers’ Unions
Jubilee Kyushu on World Debt and Poverty (Japan)
Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangha (KRSS) (Karnataka State Farmers’ Association) (India)
Kilusang Magbubukid Ng Pilipinas (Philippines)
Labor/Community Strategy Center (USA)
Los Angeles Bus Riders Union (USA)
Mangrove Action Project (MAP) - Southeast Asia Office
Missionary Society of St Columban (Fiji)
MMA Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Malaysia)
National Fish Workers Forum of India (NFF)
Network Earth Village (Japan)
Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility (USA)
NGO Coordinating Committee on Development, Thailand
North American Women for Diversity (NAWforD)
Obed Watershed Association (USA)
Oilwatch International Secretariat
Okayama prefecture branch of Block the Road to War - One Million Signature Campaign (Japan)
Peace Act (Tokushima, Japan)
People-Centered Development Forum (USA)
Sachetan/Centre for Holistic Studies (India)
Sarawak Campaign Committee
Secretariat of Orinoco Oilwatch - Venezuela
The Sloth Club Japan
Society for Human Integrity and Prosperity (India)
Spire Media & Research (Malaysia)
The Sunshine Project (USA and Germany)
Swedish Network against War (Sweden)
TEBTEBBA Foundation (Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education) (Philippines)
TERAS (Malaysia)
Third World Network
Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA (Australia)
World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP)
YUVA: Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (India)