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Uniting for Peace
Activate UN Resolution 377
With the US, UK and Spain issuing a one-day ultimatum on 16.3.03, what more can we do to stop the war and bring international pressure for peace on these belligerent states? Here is something else to try — now.
There is an international call out for the activation of United Nations Resolution 377. Passed in 1950, and commonly called 'Uniting for Peace', Resolution 377 allows for the UN General Assembly to take emergency measures if there is a breach of the peace or threat of breach of the peace, and the Security Council is unable to resolve the matter.
Resolution 377 has been used ten times, the first time successfully in 1956 to resolve another crisis in the Middle East, the French and British occupation of the Suez Canal.
To put Res. 377 into effect seven members of the Security Council or a majority of the General Assembly (96) must call for it to happen.
New Zealand could and should be one of that majority. Read Keith Locke's press release on the subject.
Please pm [at] ministers [dot] govt [dot] nz (email Helen Clark) or write to her NOW (Prime Minister Helen Clark, Parliament Buildings, Wellington) urging her to commit New Zealand to invoking Resolution 377 'Uniting for Peace' and to instruct the New Zealand Permanent Representative at the United Nations to work with other peace-loving states to make this happen.
If you are e-mailing your request, then do copy it (as a bcc - blind carbon copy) to ufpnz [at] neuron [dot] net [dot] nz. This is Unite for Peace NZ, which is tracking how many emails the PM receives. Once there are hundreds, the Green MPs can then ask in Parliament how many she has received, and what she intends to do about them.
Unite for Peace NZ also has a draft letter you could use in writing to the PM, (obtainable by ufpnz [at] neuron [dot] net [dot] nz (emailing Unite for Peace)). You can of course give all the very good reasons you already have for why there should be no war on Iraq and why it is necessary for the UN to act immediately to stop it. But the core message to get across is that you want her government to commit NZ to invoking Res. 377 NOW.
More on Uniting for Peace initiatives, with background on detail on the Resolution and how it works, can be found at Uniting for Peace and The Center for Constitutional Rights.
Americans are of course having to put direct pressure on foreign UN ambassadors and governments; they are relying on us to lobby our own government to take action.
Extra:
For excellent background information on the crisis, documenting how the USA could have got rid of Saddam Hussein in 1991, and betrayed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to their deaths in not doing so, listen to the BBC documentary playing on National Radio just after the 8 p.m. news tonight (Monday March 17).
