THE EDITOR, Sir:
IN RELATION to the impending US/UK war on Iraq, please allow me to pass on to the public a piece of information that has just come my way via an article by Michael Ratner of the Centre for Constitutional Rights in the US. It tells of a mechanism that responds to the hope of many that the war can yet be stopped.
This mechanism was established in 1950 by the UN Security Council by Resolution 377, named "Uniting for Peace". Resolution 377 provides that in the event of a lack of unanimity of the permanent members of the Security Council, or even of a failure by the Council to maintain international peace, the General Assembly "shall consider the matter immediately...." The General Assembly can meet within 24 hours to consider such a matter and can recommend collective measures to UN members."
The Uniting for Peace resolution procedure has been used ten times since 1950. Its first use was by the United States in 1956 when Britain and France attacked parts of the Suez Canal occupied by Egypt, while vetoing Security Council resolutions against their action. The United States went to the General Assembly under the Uniting for Peace resolution calling for a cease-fire and a withdrawal of forces. Britain and France complied. The US proceeded similarly that same year to pressure the Soviet Union to cease its intervention in Hungary.
In the current impasse over Iraq in the Security Council, Uniting for Peace could be invoked by the General Assembly to contain the threat to the peace posed by unilateral US military action. It could mandate that the inspection regime be permitted to complete its inspections. A vote by the majority of countries in the world, particularly if it were almost unanimous, would not necessarily stop George W. Bush from launching a war, but it would make that step more difficult.
"Uniting for Peace can be invoked either by seven members of the Security Council or by a majority of the members of the General Assembly... People everywhere in the world can lobby their governments to bring on such a resolution. This effort can become a worldwide effort to, as the UN Charter so eloquently states, 'save succeeding generations from the scourge of war'." (The CCR web site has a draft resolution and other supporting Uniting for Peace documents. www.ccr-ny.org) We must try every possible means to prevent this unjust war.
I am etc.,
HORACE LEVY
jenhal@n5.com.jm
