Green party

Iraq: a peaceful way out of the crisis

Conference notes:

1. That the majority of the 200,000 Iraqis who died as a result of the 1991 Gulf war were civilians, and that very considerable damage was done to Iraq's civilian infrastructure during the war.

2. That the economic sanctions against Iraq since then have been at least partly responsible for the deaths of very large numbers of people, especially children under 5.

3. That a recently-leaked UN report estimated that the number of children who could die as a result of another war in Iraq might be more than a million.

The Green Party believes that these results of war and of aggressive economic sanctions are unjustified, inhumane and completely unacceptable. It is ordinary Iraqis who have suffered most from US and British policies towards Iraq, and we believe ordinary Iraqis would be the chief victims of another major conflict.

The Green Party therefore urges that peaceful and effective ways of resolving the current crisis are used, including:

1. Give full support to the UN weapons inspections, including as much time as the inspectors need to complete their task.

2. Immediately cease economic sanctions and provide food, medical and other essential aid to help the people of Iraq to restore a viable civil society.

3. Support the newly-established International Criminal Court as the chief international forum for dealing with crimes against humanity, and the United Nations and other relevant international fora as the route to non-violent resolution of conflict.

Finally, but not least, promote in Britain and on the international stage the comprehensive range of policies necessary to tackle the causes of war including economic injustice, the international arms trade, existing weapons of mass destruction, including Britain's and the USA's, and the pursuit of economic domination and military superiority.

Conference instructs GPEx to continue to work with NGOs to promote alternatives to war and the External Communications Coordinator to continue to actively promote the party's views in this matter.

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