The ExecutiveCommittee of the World Council of Churches spoke against the use of violencein Iraq

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES SPOKE AGAINST THE USE OF VIOLENCE IN IRAQ

The Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches meeting in Bossey, Switzerland, from February 17 to 20, issued a Statement on the situation in Iraq.

The WCC Executive Committee in particular ‘warns, yet again, that renewed military action will result in large scale casualties and increased suffering by the Iraqi people; calls on the churches to press their governments to oppose military action…; welcomes and supports the present diplomatic efforts to resolve the stand-off between Iraq and the United States over the issue of unrestricted access for UNSCOM inspection teams; urges that this matter be brought again to the Security Council, and that no further military steps be taken without its concurrence’. Also touched upon in the Statement was a matter of international sanctions against Iraq. It was noted that the application of sanctions fails to meet the WCC’s criteria for determining the applicability and effectiveness of sanctions which state, inter alia, that ‘the good achieved by sanctions must not be exceeded by the harm that can reasonably be anticipated’.

On behalf of the participants in the meeting in Bossey Dr.Konrad Raiser, the WCC General Secretary, sent a letter to Mr.Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, in which he informed him of the Statement and noted that the WCC ‘firmly believes that it is the United Nations, through the Security Council, which alone can appropriately take decisions related to the use of force under Chapter VII of the Charter, and not any individual power or group of powers acting unilaterally under these provisions’.