[Sdpg] URGENT: Support Emergency UN General Assembly action for peace

[SDECC & San Diego Permaculture Center]

Dear members and friends,
I've responded to the following appeal on behalf of the San Diego Economic
Conversion & Permaculture Center.  Marcia Boruta

Urgent Action: Stop the War on Iraq: The Uniting for Peace Resolution

The Center for Constitutional Rights is asking for your help in a very
important action. We hope to create a movement in support of the adoption
of a Uniting for Peace Resolution by the United Nations General Assembly to
prevent an attack on Iraq by the United States, the United Kingdom and
other nations. If even one country requests such a meeting, that alone can
trigger this procedure.

While in the U.N. system the Security Council has the primary
responsibility for maintaining international peace and security throughout
the world, another procedure exists to ensure peace when the Council fails
to do so. That procedure, the Uniting for Peace resolution, allows the
General Assembly to meet to consider the threat to international peace and
it can then recommend collective measures to U.N. Members to maintain or
restore peace.

If one U.N. Member State requests that a meeting be convened to consider
adoption of such a resolution and either seven Members of the Security
Council or a majority of the Members of the General Assembly agree, an
emergency special session will be called and the General Assembly will come
together to discuss the threat to international peace. We are hoping to
find the requisite support for the convening of such a session.

The United States and the United Kingdom have become increasingly vocal
about their willingness to use force against Iraq without explicit Security
Council authorization. Because of the veto power of these two countries,
the Security Council will be stymied in its responsibility to maintain
international peace and security in the Persian Gulf. In these
circumstances, the General Assembly has the right and indeed the
responsibility to assume this duty.

We urge you to contact your U.N. representative, other members of your
government, and other governments to request that they write to the
Secretary-General to call for an emergency special session under the
Uniting for Peace Resolution. Please also circulate these materials to
other groups and individuals and encourage them to do the same.

To send an e-mail all UN Member States go to:
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/mailUFP.asp

For the rest of the story:
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=030318~v4c.asp

*** The letter that gets sent says:

Dear U.N. Ambassador,

President Bush appears determined to wage war on Iraq despite the world's
opposition, despite the progress of UN weapons inspectors, 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 UN Security Council. This constitutes both a
threat to world peace and to the very integrity of the UN as an institution
dedicated to "the maintenance of international peace and security."  Time
is running short.  This disastrous war must be prevented.

Therefore, I urge you to band together with other nations in support of a
"Uniting for Peace" resolution against an unprovoked invasion of Iraq.

As you know, Resolution 377, adopted by the UN 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. 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.

Clearly, it our last best hope for fulfilling the mission stated in the UN
Charter: to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war."

Please act now.  It's not too late.

Sincerely,
Marcia Boruta, Director, San Diego Economic Conversion Council and
Permaculture Center
sdecc at igc.org
4452 Park Blvd Ste 205, San Diego, CA 92116 USA