ONE MILLION SIGNATURE petition
Sat, 6 Feb 1999THE ONE MILLION SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN begins in the U.S.: a DECLARATION in OPPOSITION to ECONOMIC SANCTIONS against the PEOPLE of IRAQ Dear Friends: This year marks the 50th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Within the human rights community, the social and economic rights that are denied the people of Iraq have increasingly become an issue of grave concern. There is a growing recognition of the need to take a strong stand against sanctions that target civilians and prevent nations, like Iraq, from maintaining the public health of its citizens. After months of collaboration and feedback, Iraq activists from around the country helped to create the "One Million Signature" Declaration. We hope this historic declaration will circulate throughout all of the organizations and grassroots networks working on Iraq. Inspired by the Cairo Declaration, our goal is to collect one million signatures by April first. To do this, we need your help. The petition was crafted as both educational and political tool. We hope it will assist your local efforts to raise public awareness. Once a million signatures have been collected, we will present them to President Clinton, Members of Congress, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, and the United Nations. The first deadline for signatures will be April 1st, 1999, but the petition will continue until ONE MILLION signatures are gathered. As citizens and residents of the nation primarily responsible for waging war against the people of Iraq, it is time for one million Americans to take a stand against the killing being done in our names. With every signature we collect, we remove one more name from the list of those for which the U.S. claims to take action. Your support is vital in order to make this effort a success. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Erik Gustafson, Education for Peace in Iraq Center Kathy Kelly, Voices in the Wilderness Rania Masri, Iraq Action Coalition Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies (if your organization would like to endorse, let us know at epicenter@igc.org) The One Million Signature Campaign commenced on Jan. 15, 1999, the 8th anniversary of the Gulf War. Send petitions by April 1, 1999 to EDU. for PEACE in IRAQ CENTER, 747 Tenth St. SE #2, Washington, DC 20003. (this is a hard copy petition, so either request a copy from Erik Gustafson at EPIC, or write me and I can send you an attachment over e-mail). _______________________________________ Petition below (To get the petition as an attachment in MS Word document, please contact EPIC at: <epicenter@igc.org> A DECLARATION IN OPPOSITION TO THE ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ WE, THE UNDERSIGNED CITIZENS & RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BELIEVE that economic sanctions, when they prevent or otherwise hamper a nation's ability to provide for the public health, unjustly target civilians. WE NOTE that the economic sanctions on Iraq have resulted in serious shortages of food, clean water, and medicine. Water and sanitation systems have collapsed, spreading disease. United Nations agencies estimate over one million fatalities, mostly children under the age of 5. Even under the Oil for Food program, sanctions have resulted in the deaths of approximately 250 people each day and over 90,000 each year [UNICEF April '98]. Thus the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq have become equivalent to violence, sowing the seeds of enmity, war and division. WE THEREFORE CALL UPON the United Nations General Assembly to ban all such economic sanctions forthwith, as they are themselves weapons of mass destruction. WE URGE the United Nations Security Council to respect International Law, including laws relating to the treatment and protection of civilian populations. Since restrictions on Iraqi oil sales severely limit Iraq's ability to purchase adequate food, medicine and necessities vital for the repair of the civil infrastructure, WE URGE all UN member states to immediately end compliance with the economic sanctions on Iraq. WE APPLAUD the 43 U.S. Representatives who signed Congressman John Conyer's letter calling on President Clinton to de-link economic sanctions from military sanctions. WE CALL UPON the U.S. Congress to immediately hold fair and objective hearings on the humanitarian impact of the UN sanctions. Furthermore, WE URGE Congress and the President to immediately end the ongoing economic sanctions against the people of Iraq. Printed NAME SIGNATURE Full ADDRESS with Zip Code 1. 2. 3. (Not intended as an email petition. Please use hard copies only.) 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. The One Million Signature Campaign commenced on Jan. 15, 1999, the 8th anniversary of the Gulf War. Send petitions by April 1,1999 to EDU. for PEACE in IRAQ CENTER, 747 Tenth St. SE #2, Washington, DC 20003. For info, call (202) 543-6176 _________________________ FROM EGYPT: World's Largest Petition Celebrated by Sohair Soukkary Cairo, Egypt ~ On December 30, 1997, a coalition of Egyptian and international organizations held a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Cairo Declaration, a petition "to save the children of Iraq and ban economic blockades as weapons of mass destruction." Begun as the One Million Signature Campaign by the Arab Women Solidarity Association (AWSA) who wrote it, over 18 million signatures were collected in Europe and the Middle East. This far exceeded the expectations of the creators of the Declaration, who rightfully call it the World's Largest Petition ever compiled. The ceremony took place at the Cairo Official Stadium. A coffin, representing the Iraqi child, was led by a replica of the funeral hearse that carried the body of Alexander the Great when he was buried in Egypt. Copies of the Declaration were presented to a representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the League of Arab States. Excerpts from the Cairo Declaration: "We, the undersigned Citizens of Earth, are determined to save all children everywhere, irrespective of their nationality, race, ethnic origin or religious faith, not only from the scourge of war, but from all measures that are claimed to be non-military in nature but in actual fact constitute war..." "We emphasize that economic blockades inflict wholesale slaughter on children and on innocent civilians, and stunt the growth of surviving children and afflict them with countless physical and mental illnesses and disabilities...We firmly believe that blockades constitute a crime against humanity..."