FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
CONTACT: Ramzi
Kysia or Mike Miles
Voices in the
Wilderness, Iraq
Al Fanar Hotel, Baghdad,
7188007
WHERE: UN Headquarters, Canal Street
WHEN: 4:30pm, Monday,
14 January, 2002
IRAQ ACTIVISTS OFFER HUGS,
COOKIES & COUNSELING TO “BATTERED” UN
BAGHDAD - A group of American peace
activists and Iraqi street children held a demonstration at UN
Headquarters in Baghdad today, offering UN workers milk and
cookies, as well as free hugs and counseling. The group, from Voices in the
Wilderness, a U.S.-based campaign to end sanctions against Iraq, likened the UN to a “battered
woman in need of help,” and the U.S. to “her abuser.”
Carrying signs and plates of
cookies, the children and activists approached UN workers as they left the
building at the end of the day, and offered them cookies and hugs. UN personnel
were encouraged to “stand up to their attacker,” and “say ‘no’ to the United States.” A small booth was set up for UN
personnel who wanted to talk about their feelings on U.S. “violence” against the UN and in Iraq.
Kathy Kelly, the director of Voices
in the Wilderness, claimed that, “the UN’s relationship to the US is that of a battered woman to an
abusive partner, desperately going to great lengths to provide cover for her
abuser. … [but] the entire façade of bureaucratic delays that make up the UN’s
efforts in Iraq is absurd. Do any of the UN workers
who struggle to provide minute documentation that Iraq isn’t building bombs out of parts
for water treatment plants, for example, really believe that the US cares about their work?”
The UN’s own reports state that the
U.S.-led international embargo against Iraq has contributed to hundreds of
thousands of deaths among Iraqi civilians since the sanctions were first imposed
in 1990. The activists say that this constitutes a “violation of the UN’s own
charter.” They said that by offering forgiveness and love to UN workers, they
hoped that this would empower the UN staff to stand up to the U.S. and prevent further attacks against
the Iraqi people.
The demonstration occurred on the
first day of Benon Sevan’s trip to Iraq. Mr. Sevan is the highest ranking
UN official responsible for Iraq. This is his first visit to Iraq in 1½ years.
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