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Lobby the Security Council: Vote against "smart sanctions" - Push for the lifting of economic sanctions This should only take five minutes to read, copy and send. If you are able to forward this to someone, we would be very grateful. Many thanks for your time. 1) Why we are asking you to send this letter. 2) Note on Voting in the Security Council 3) Draft letter to Members of the Security Council. 4) Email addresses of Members of the Security Council. (With some names of ambassadors.) 1) Why we are asking you to send this letter. In a few days, by the 4 July 2001, the UN Security Council will be voting on whether to adopt a new "smart sanctions" resolution on sanctions on Iraq, sponsored by the British and US governments. Former UN Humanitarian Coordinators for Iraq Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck believe that, if adopted, this resolution will actually 'tighten the rope around the neck of the average Iraqi citizen.' (For more information on the resolution, please go to <http://www.viwuk.freeserve.co.uk> .) Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck believe that the only way to solve the humanitarian crisis is to push for the immediate lifting of all the economic sanctions on Iraq, allowing civilian exports, loans and investment, and direct access to Iraq's foreign earnings. We are lobbying the 15 members of the Security Council to vote _against_ the British/US resolution and to push instead for the immediate and unconditional _lifting_ of economic sanctions. Please take five minutes today to copy this letter over and send it to at least one of the member states. Many thanks for your time, Joanne Macinnes Milan Rai Voices in the Wilderness UK voices@viwuk.freeserve.co.uk 2) Note on Voting in the Security Council: 'Each [Security] Council member has one vote. Decisions on substantive matters require nine votes, including the concurring votes of all five permanent members. This is the rule of "great Power unanimity", often referred to as the "veto" power.' < http://www.un.org/documents/scinfo.htm#STRUCTURE> So if six countries vote against a resolution, it falls. If just one of the Permanent Five (Russia, China, France, UK, US) vote against something, it falls. 3) Draft letter to Members of the Security Council. For example, to the Russian Ambassador to the UN To the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, His Excellency Sergey Lavrov Permanent Mission Email Address: rusun@un.int Your Excellency, The UN Security Council will shortly be faced with a momentous decision regarding the future of the people of Iraq. The British Government has submitted a draft resolution which would strengthen and entrench most of the economic sanctions on Iraq. The consequences could be devastating for millions of ordinary families in Iraq, according to warnings from former UN Humanitarian Coordinators for Iraq Hans von Sponeck and Denis Halliday. I am writing to urge you to vote against the British resolution. As you will be aware, there is an emerging international consensus that the economic sanctions regime on Iraq is both immoral and illegal. After surveying the Iraqi experience over the last decade, the House of Commons Select Committee on International Development stated in February 2000, 'We find it difficult, however, to believe that there will be a case in the future where the UN would be justified in imposing comprehensive economic sanctions on a country.' The Economist said in April 2000, 'Slowly, inexorably, a generation is being crushed in Iraq. Thousands are dying, thousands more are leading stunted lives, and storing up bitter hatreds for the future... If, year in, year out, the UN were systematically killing Iraqi children by air strikes, western governments would declare it intolerable, no matter how noble the intention. They should find their existing policy just as unacceptable.' (8 April 2000) Despite the claims that have been made for the so-called "smart sanctions" resolution, it is clear that the UK/US proposals cannot solve the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. As you will recall, the 'Humanitarian Panel' appointed by the Security Council to study the situation in Iraq reported in 1999, 'the humanitarian situation in Iraq will continue to be a dire one in the absence of a sustained revival of the Iraqi economy'. And as the Financial Times has pointed out, 'the [British and] US plan will not revive Iraq's devastated economy while control over Iraq's oil revenues remains in the hands of the UN, and foreign investment and credits are still prohibited.' (Financial Times, 28 May 2001) The Economist is equally firm: 'Iraq needs massive investment to rebuild its industry, its power grids and its schools, and needs cash in hand to pay its engineers, doctors and teachers. None of this looks likely to happen under smart sanctions.' (Economist, 26 May 2001) We urge you to vote against the British proposals, and to press instead for the tabling of a resolution to lift economic sanctions immediately and unconditionally, for humanitarian reasons. A resolution which will allow Iraqi exports other than oil, foreign loans to and investment in the civilian economy, and which will end the UN- controlled escrow account which is denying Iraq direct access to its foreign exchange earnings, and therefore hampering the reconstruction of the public health infrastructure. Without these measures, the economy of Iraq cannot re-inflate, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary families in Iraq will remain unable to earn enough to purchase the necessities of life. For the sake of the present generation of children in Iraq, I urge you to vote against the British resolution, and to table a resolution calling for the lifting of economic sanctions. Yours sincerely, Milan Rai 29 Gensing Road, St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex, England TN38 0HE 4) Email addresses of Members of the Security Council. (With some names of ambassadors.) Permanent Mission of Bangladesh Mission email address: bangladesh@un.int Ambassador & Permanent Representative: His Excellency Mr. Anwarul Karim Chowdhury. Personal e-mail: anwarulc@un.int Permanent Mission of China Mission email address: china@un.int Ambassador & Permanent Representative: His Excellency Wang Yingfan Permanent Mission of Colombia Mission email address: colombia@un.int Ambassador & Permanent Representative: H.E. Mr. Alfonso Valdivieso. Personal email address: avaldivieso@un.int Permanent Mission of France Mission email address: france@un.int Ambassador & Permanent Representative: H.E. Mr. Jean-David Levitte Permanent Mission of Ireland Mission email address: ireland@un.int Permanent Mission of Jamaica Mission email address: jamaica@un.int Ambassador & Permanent Representative: H.E. Patricia Durrant Permanent Mission of Mali Mission email address: mali@un.int Permanent Mission of Mauritius Mission email address: mauritius@un.int Permanent Mission of Norway Mission email address: delun@mfa.no Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary & Permanent Representative: H. E. Mr. Ole Peter Kolby Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation Mission email address: rusun@un.int Ambassador & Permanent Representative: H.E. Sergey Lavrov Permanent Mission of Singapore Mission email address: singapore@un.int Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary & Permanent Representative: H.E. Mr Kishore Mahbubani Permanent Mission of Tunisia Mission email address: tunisia@un.int Ambassador & Permanent Representative: H.E. Said Ben Mustapha Permanent Mission of Ukraine ukraine@un.int or ukrun@undp.org Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary & Acting Permanent Representative: H.E. Mr. Valeriy P. Kuchinsky Permanent Mission of The United Kingdom Mission email address: uk@un.int Ambassador & Permanent Representative: Sir Jeremy Quentin Greenstock, KCMG Permanent Mission of the United States of America Mission email address: usa@un.int Acting United States Representative Ambassador James B. Cunningham -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://www.casi.org.uk