C E B O . org

Posted 9:11 AM by Mary

Dear Friends,

continue to lobby China, Russia, Syria, Germany and France to call for the UN General Assembly to launch "Uniting for Peace". The UNGA could call for ceasefire under Resolution 377. guardian.co.uk

Emails:
rusun@un.int ; chinamission_un@fmprc.gov.cn ; france-presse@un.int ; syria@un.int ; contact@germany-un.org

Posted 7:49 AM by Mary

Campaign to stop selling bulldozers to Israel. sustaincampaign

Posted 12:02 AM by Mary

Voice 4 Change proposes to send a petition to all Member Countries of the United Nations in order to ask for a meeting of the UN General Assembly within the next 24 hours to STOP THE WAR in Iraq. It is possible thanks to UN Resolution 377 which dates from 1950 and has been enacted ten times.

Go to voice4change to sign the petition. See CCR-NY.org for more information.

Posted 3:25 PM by Mary

[This letter has been hand delivered to the UN offices of the Missions currently on the UN Security Council.It is also being sent to the National Offices of the CEBO members. ]

*A suggestion for modification of UN Security Council Resolution 1441*

To: U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Ambassador Members of the U.N. Security Council
From: UN Council for Ethics Based Organizations and the New York Office of the American Humanist Association
Re: A suggestion for a compromise measure addressing the present dilemma regarding Iraq and the US
Date: Friday, March 14, 2003

Acknowledging that the United States is urging the UN Security Council to take immediate action giving approval for the US to implement its military plan to punish Iraq for its non-compliance with its disarmament obligations, and

Knowing also that the US has already amassed troops near Iraqi borders for this purpose and is poised to begin bombing with or without allies and without the approval of the UN Security Council, and

Recognizing that the majority of Nations, as well as several members of the Security Council, do not favor giving this approval, instead insisting that the United Nations stand firm and carry out its own more urgent mandate in behalf of the Peoples of Earth to prevent the scourge of war, and to respect human rights, by continuing to negotiate the issue without resorting to violence, and

Admitting that Iraq’s reluctant and irregular compliance with Security Council resolutions over the years, regarding the dismantling of their weapons of mass destruction, has caused anxiety to neighboring Nations, and that the threat of impending military action by the US has already pressured Iraq to be more cooperative and forthcoming with the inspectors, so that just the threat of war, which we all abhor, may have actually produced a beneficial result, and

Realizing that the United Nations is at the crossroads in its history, despite its tremendous accomplishments, where its reputation may be eroded, and it is threatened with being seen as irrelevant and impotent in its role as a proponent of peace and a preventer of war, in the face of present disrespect from the single remaining most powerful nation on earth, and

Wishing to create a win-win situation out of the present dilemma, the United Nations, and especially, its highest officers: the Secretary General, or the head of the Security Council or the head of the General Assembly, might move to occupy the moral high ground by asserting the necessary leadership and authority granted to this body by the stated wishes of all the Peoples of
Earth in the UN Charter, perhaps by going so far as to lending their physical presence to the situation in the form of a UN Delegation to Iraq, especially to assure that no bombing will take place, and

Insisting that non-military solutions only be employed, or if any form of military action is considered that it should be under the direction and jurisdiction of the United Nations, and

Requiring firmly, even forbidding, that, in order to protect the lives of the blameless citizens of Iraq, and instead of standing by to watch senseless slaughter, allowing more irreparable harm to be inflicted on those who have already suffered years of deprivation through sanctions, the United States must immediately abandon all plans to bomb that country, and

Acknowledging this superb brinkmanship on the part of the United States, by having brought near compliance on the part of Iraq without: 1) further destabilizing the entire region; and 2) without unleashing an unending ripple effect of retaliation and revenge; and 3) without setting a dangerous precedent of using counter productive military showdowns as a problem solving measure among all the Nations of Earth in these perilous times, and

Fearing, as well, that the presence of chemical, biological or nuclear materials, or of depleted uranium, are all of great danger, and that bombing will not eradicate their presence but cause greater harm by releasing them into the atmosphere, the water or the soil, and that they should instead be treated with exacting care for disposal, and

Accusing Saddam Hussein of crimes against his own people is more adequately dealt with by creating an ad hoc tribunal for old alleged crimes or by bringing charges against him in the new International Criminal Court for those which have occurred after July 2002, and if the accusations of torture of dissidents and life-threatening coercion of those persons having knowledge of secrets
is taking place, this practice will stop with a regime change, and

Considering that a massive occupying ground force under the auspices or approval of the United Nations might be the most effective way to complete Iraq’s compliance with its obligations, and to intercept the shell game of moving contraband materials from place to place, which is an almost impossible task for even a large inspection team, the United States, while primed for war, might adapt its stated mission of initiating a regime change and destroying weapons of mass destruction, to include such a ground force
for hands-on prevention of the manufacture, stockpiling and dissemination of these weapons, and

Remembering that at the formation of the United Nations, and at the suggestion of the United States, there was to be a Military Staff Committee consisting of all the Security Council member States’ military heads who would meet regularly to discuss problems of this sort, but this safeguard practice has not been carried out, and should be resumed, and

Maintaining a standing United Nations Intervention Force, in lieu of a Peacekeeping Force, when there is a situation where there is no peace to maintain, as was needed in Rwanda, and is sorely needed at this time, was a strong recommendation of the Brahimi Report, as a way of strengthening the effectiveness of the United Nations, and

Recalling that ten times during the history of the Security Council, when an impasse was reached and threatened vetoes stymied an action, UN resolution 377 has been invoked to move the debate to the General Assembly where a better outcome was anticipated, and

At this pivotal point in the history of Humankind and the survival of a civilized forum for solving world problems, it is essential for the United Nations, an organization on which the hopes and dreams of all of us depend, to take bold, heroic and decisive action, asserting moral and ethical leadership in behalf of peace.

Thank you,

Beth Lamont, Mary Beaty
NGO Representatives, American Humanist Association

Margaretha Jones,
NGO Representative, International Humanist and Ethical Union

Martha Gallahue,
NGO Representative, National Service Conference,
American Ethical Union