I.P.O. Information Service

Iraq -- United Nations:
International Meeting against the War
 

Madrid, 17 November 2002
 

In his lecture on "The Conflict between Iraq and the United Nations -- The Situation a Decade after the Gulf War," the President of the International Progress Organization, Professor Hans Koechler analyzed the legal and political aspects of the sanctions policy of the UN Security Council vis-à-vis Iraq. He characterized the ongoing comprehensive sanctions as violation of fundamental human rights of the people of Iraq. In his comprehensive evaluation of the Security Council's decisions concerning Iraq over the last decade, he described the "policy of double standards" applied by the international community, particularly as regards the nuclear non-proliferation régime in the Middle East and the ban on the use of force in international relations. He also dealt with the implications of Security Council resolution 1441 of 8 November 2002 for world peace and rejected the notion that the text of the resolution, based on Chapter VII of the Charter, would allow the use of force by individual member states without further authorization by the Council.

The lecture was delivered at the International Meeting against the War held in Madrid (Spain) by the Arab Cause Solidarity Committee (ACSC) and the Spanish Campaign for Lifting the Sanctions on Iraq. The meeting was attended by over 500 participants. Among the speakers were two former United Nations humanitarian co-ordinators for Iraq, Mr. Dennis Halliday (Ireland) and Mr. Hans von Sponeck (Germany), the British Labour MP George Galloway, Dr. Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies (Washington, DC), and Mr. Ignacio Ramonet, Director of Le Monde Diplomatique (Paris).

END/Iraq -- United Nations: International meeting against the war/2002-11-17