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4 International Commission of Inquiry on Economic Sanctions Honorary Presidency: Ahmed Ben Bella Ramsey Clark Tony Benn Murad Ghaleb Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Daniel Ortega Clodomiro Almeyda Aims and objectives Economic sanctions and blockades, as now applied as the weapon of choice by the United States and by the Security Council of the United Naions at the urging of the United States and its allies, are a weapon of mass destruction directed at a whole people. These blockades have been used only against poor countries, and while the entire people is punished by their economic impact, the greatest harm is overwhelmingly on the poorest and weakest — infants, children, the chronically ill and the elderly. There is no crueller violation of fundamental human rights than this sanctions policy. The case of Iraq has demonstrated that the US and its allies do not stop short of the deliberate creation of a new zone of death and destitution, with thousands of deaths monthly, widespread hunger, malnutrition, kwashiorkor, dehydration, organ failure, and pain without relief, permanent physical or mental disability, and generalised shortening of life. Meanwhile Cuba has been subjected to an embargo by the US for over 30 years, with cruel consequences for its people, Libya has been condemned by the UN Security Council to sanctions whose consequences are beginning to be felt by its people, while North Korea has in effect been subjected to an undeclared blockade since the end of the Korean war in 1953 and has recently been threatened with the declaration of an embargo by the UN Security Council. Any other state may at any time be added to this list should it incur the wrath of the US government. All humanitarian law from its inception has endeavoured to limit violence to combatants, to prevent use of cruel and unfocused weapons, to protect civilians from the scourge of war, and to outlaw the principle of collective punishment. The sanctions policy is clearly a Crime Against Humanity as defined under the terms of the Nuremberg Principles. It also clearly violates the Charter of the United Nations, the Geneva Convention and other fundamental documents of contemporary international law. We must bring all the power of public opinion to bear on the UN Security Council, the Secretariat, the General Assembly, the governments of member nations, the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Concentrated effort on the President of the United States and the heads of state and government of the other permanent members of the Security Council is imperative, because it is through its coercion on this body that the United States is responsible for the present use and threats of blockade. The media must do its duty and inform the planet that desperately needs to know of widespread death, starvation, malnutrition, illness, epidemic artificially created and imposed on whole populations by these death-dealing sanctions. Every private organisation and institution committed to social justice — religion, labour, indigenous peoples, students, culture, education, the environment, peace, anti-nuclear campaigning, human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, food, health, social work — all should use their resources, skills, energy and imagination to persuade political leaderships, national governments, foreign governments, and the United Nations to ratify and enforce an International Convention Prohibiting Blockades and Penalising Violations, as called for in the Appeal for Action to Prohibit All Embargoes Against a Whole Nation issued in February 1994 by Ramsey Clark, former US Attorney General. For further information, contact: Britain: Hugh Stephens, British Commission of Inquiry, BM 2966, London WC1N 3XX. Phone/fax: 071-436-4636. Spain: Jaime Ballesteros, OSPAAAL, Valverde 28, Madrid 28004. Phone/fax: (010)-34-1-523-1829. USA: Sarah Flounders, Teresa Gutierrez, International Action Centre, 39 West 14th Street, Suite 206, New York, NY 10011. Phone: (0101)-212-633-6646. Fax: (0101)-212-633-2889. Luxembourg: Gilbert Grosbusch, BP 219, 2012 Luxembourg. Contacts are also being arranged in Holland, Italy, and a number of other countries..

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