Minute on Ending the Economic Sanctions Against Iraq
Adopted by Atlanta Friends Meeting, May 21, 2000
Moved by our belief that every human life is sacred, Atlanta Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends calls on elected officials to support the end of economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations and to continue pursuing arms control with Iraq.
The economic sanctions began as a temporary measure in August, 1990, after Iraq's military invasion and occupation of Kuwait. The sanctions were to be lifted when Iraq terminated its weapons of mass destruction under international supervision and submitted to ongoing United Nations monitoring.
However, it has been clear for some time that the economic sanctions have not had their intended effect, and have instead created devastating conditions for the Iraqi people. More than one million civilians, mostly children, the sick, and the elderly, have died in the ten years since sanctions were imposed. Broken down water treatment and sewage systems have led to outbreaks of typhoid, polio, and hepatitis. Hospitals have inadequate disinfectants, medicine, or antibiotics to treat diseases that would be cured routinely under normal circumstances. Agricultural production has collapsed for want of fertilizers and machinery. Atlanta Friends note with compassion the suffering of Iraqi civilians at this painful time.
It is time for a change in policy, to focus more clearly on disarmament. For example, sanctions specifically affecting the leaders of the Iraqi government should continue, including travel bans, freezes on assets, and an embargo on luxury items and military materiel. The international community should maintain and develop devices to control arms manufacture and purchases by Iraq and the region, and exports of military technology and weapons to Iraq should be more tightly controlled.
Broad economic sanctions against Iraq, however, have shown themselves to be both immoral and ineffective, and should be stopped.
OTHER QUAKER STATEMENTS & LETTERS
Reviewed:
09/06/2005
More on Iraq
|
