[antiwar-van] URGENT: Petition For Emergency General Assembly Session

[Steve Kisby]

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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 http://www.voice4change.org/stories/mailUFP.asp to sign the petition. 
See http://www.ccr-ny.org for more information.

Please forward this letter to everyone, and all activist groups, that you know. 

Thanks

Rob Wheeler
Global Peoples Assembly Network

Joan Russow
Global Compliance Research Institute
1-250-598-0071

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Dear U.N. Ambassador,

U.S. President Bush appears determined to wage war on Iraq despite the world's opposition, despite the progress of U.N. weapons inspectors, and despite the likelihood that an unprovoked war will foment -- rather than eliminate -- terrorism.  The Bush Administration has threatened to attack Iraq even without the authority of the U.N. Security Council. This constitutes both a threat to world peace and a violation of U.N. principals and protocols.  Time is running short.  This disastrous war must be prevented.

Therefore, I urge you to support a "Uniting for Peace" resolution against an unprovoked war against and invasion of Iraq.

As you know, Resolution 377, adopted by the U.N. in 1950, was made for situations precisely like this one.

Uniting for Peace provides that if, because of the lack of unanimity of the permanent members of the Security Council (France, China, Russia, Britain, United States), the Council cannot maintain international peace where there is a "threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression," the General Assembly "shall consider the matter immediately..." The General Assembly can meet within 24 hours to consider such a matter, and can recommend collective measures to U.N. members including the use of armed forces to "maintain or restore international peace and security."

Such a "Uniting for Peace" resolution could require that no military action be taken against Iraq without the explicit authority of the Security Council. It could mandate that the inspectors be permitted to complete their task, and stipulate a reasonable deadline for the inspectors to complete that task. It seems unlikely that the United States and Britain would ignore such a measure. A vote by the majority of countries in the world, particularly if it were almost unanimous, would make the unilateral rush to war more difficult.

Uniting for Peace can be invoked either by seven members of the Security Council or by a majority of the members of the General Assembly.

The U.N. Charter states to "save succeeding generations form the scourge of war."

Please act now.

Sincerely,

Steve Kisby
Vancouver, CANADA