The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
Friends, This April, Karen Parker will once again attend the annual session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and in August, the Sub-Commission on Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. She will continue her groundbreaking work on lifting sanctions against Iraq, on maintaining the momentum against use of weapons containing depleted uranium (DU) because they are incompatible with existing humanitarian (armed conflict) law, and on initiatives to curb governments' reactions to terrorism that violate human rights or humanitarian law. There are 54 members of the Commission, who represent countries, and 26 "independent experts" on the Sub-Commission, nominated by governments and voted on by the Commission. At the Commission and Sub-Commission, besides making what the UN calls "oral statements" at the sessions, Karen will continute to participate in a number of non-governmental organization Round Tables and seminars. She will continue her meetings with the new Special Rapporteur for Iraq, who had substantially and favorably changed the tone of the "condemning" reports. (We note that in his first report (2001) he cited the "Bossuyt" report, the report of the new Special Rapporteur on the right to food (which itself also cited Bossuyt) and spent more time discussing the serious situation caused by the sanctions then any other issue.) And of course she will meet with government delegates as well as Sub-Commission members "one by one" for support or opposition to resolutions. As many of you know, she has been especially successful in persuading the Sub-Commission to address both DU and the Iraqi sanctions by appointing special rapportuers and by adopting an annual "decision" on the adverse consequences of the Iraqi sanctions in particular. Neither the 2000 Bossuyt report on sanctions nor the annual decisions in the Iraqi sanctions would have been possible without her legal analysis and the combined lobbying efforts she carried out in coordination with nongovernmental organisations such as Bridges to Baghdad, Women for Mutual Security, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Throughout 1999 and 2000 Karen worked very closely with Mr. Bossuyt in the drafting of the sanctions report. (See, Marc Bossuyt: The Adverse Consequences of Economic Sanctions on the Enjoyment of Human Rights, Economic and Social Council, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/33 of June 21, 2000. http://www.aldeilis.net/jus/econsanc/sanctions.htm) Karen is currently assisting the Sub-Commission rapporteur assigned to prepare the paper on DU weapons. And since August 2000 she has been working with the Special Rapporteur for human rights and terrorism. The 2001 terrorism report (U.N. Doc. E/CN.4.Sub.2/2001/31, available on the UN website of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) involved a great deal of Karen's time, and she is now equally hard assisting two rapporteurs at the same time: the next report on terrorism and the Special Rapporteur's working paper on DU and other "bad" weapons. Both documents must be submitted by the rapporteurs for publishing by the end of May and are due to be issued for the August 2002 session. Additionally, at her own expense, Karen travelled to New York during last Fall's General Assembly session to meet with the terrorism rapporteur and will again meet with her in Geneva during the Commission. Make no mistake: the United States is clearly opposed to these legal initiatives. US representatives at the Commission and Sub-Commission lobby strongly against them, trying to water down our language, and putting pressure on country delegates to vote against them. But the sanctions report and the two current reports are going forward in spite of US opposition. The new rapporteur for Iraq is much better than the first one, and is listening to us. And the Sub-Commission has not stopped condemning the sanctions against Iraq even after the US lead a drive at the Commission on Human Rights to prohibit the Sub-Commission from acting. More and more countries who are represented at the Commission are rallying to the agenda that we, the nongovernmental organisations, have set. This effort has opened up considerable political space to shape a global concensus on the violations of human rights incurred by sanctions, DU, and the "war against terrorism" where none has existed before. > I am writing now to ask for donations to make Karen's travel to Geneva possible this April to the Commission and in August for the Sub-Commission and to enable her to continue this work. Work with the special rapporteurs is voluntary, as the UN has no budget for assistants to rapporteurs -- in fact the rapporteurs themselves are unpaid. Karen's work with them, however, leaves little time either for paid work or fundraising but I am sure you would all agree how important it is to have Karen so involved with these valuable documents. She has jokingly told me that in some of the cases it is rather like arguing a case at the Supreme Court and then being asked by the Justices to write the opinion herself. And she is able to "write" the opinions on the issues that are our issues. Your help is needed now more than ever to keep our initiatives going. While a few wonderful people have made very generous contributions for which we are very grateful, we urge as many of you that can to support this work as well by sending a donation to UN Project,c/o Philippa Winkler, POB 911,Flagstaff, AZ 86002, USA. While we encourage you to make out your checks directly to Karen Parker you may also make tax deductable donations to Association of Humanitarian Lawyers. Thank you, Philippa Winkler, Association of Humanitarian Lawyers _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk