ANNEX
In April 1999, the Catholic Bishops' Conference
issued the following official statement:
STATEMENT ON UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS AGAINST
IRAQ
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England
and Wales has serious concerns about the United Nations' sanctions
policy currently directed against Iraq.
It is evident that the military regime of Iraq,
under the leadership of Saddam Hussien, has long been a grave
threat to the peace and stability of the Middle East. Atrocities
against the Kurds in particular, have appalled the world. Nevertheless
the Bishops' Conference shares the sorrow expressed by Cardinal
Etchegaray in June 1998 after his visit to Iraq on behalf of Pope
John Paul II, that "the embargo, by its perverse and uncontrollable
effects, is destroying the soul of the Iraqi people, who desperately
see their cultural and moral patrimony being squandered and their
social fabric unravelling". Our most fundamental concerns
are the following:
1. Sanctions have for eight years cruelly
damaged the most powerless people of Iraq, yet have left the regime
relatively unaffected. The suffering caused is out of all proportion
to any legitimate political objective.
2. Sanctions are considered legitmate under
Article 41 of the UN Charter as an extreme instrument which falls
short of military action. Yet in recent months they have been
accompanied by regular air-attacks which have caused a number
of civilian fatalities.
We fully accept and affirm that the international
community has a pressing obligation to restrict the continuing
destructive potential of the present Iraqi Government: this obligation
requires the effective monitoring and control of Iraq's military
capacity. But we urge that the present programme of destructively
comprehensive sanctions be brought to an end as quickly as possible.
There is needed either a more selective sanctions programme devised
to minimise the direct impact on the poor of Iraq, or a more effective
programme of humanitarian exemptions to the comprehensive sanctions
than applies at present.
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