ABOLISHING WARS & SEEKING PEACE WITH JUSTICE: THE ROAD MAP AHEAD Shad Saleem Faruqi
INTRODUCTION SEVENTY years ago the Charter of the
United Nations proclaimed that the people of the UN were determined to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and to “establish conditions under which justice … can be maintained”.
ď Ż Peaceful resolution of disputes was the
over-arching ideal of the Charter. However, the Charter permitted two exceptions under which recourse to war was permissible: 1. 2.
Under Article 51 a nation can defend its sovereignty against an armed attack. Armed actions can be undertaken under the authority of the UNSC Resolution.
In the seventy years since, we are unfortunately
surrounded by theatres of conflict everywhere. In a nuclear age, the savagery of war has become even worse and the grounds on which war is waged have expanded.
Some powerful nations like the USA and Israel have doctored the Charter to read into it the right of pre-emptory attack.
A new ground of “humanitarian war” without the authority of the UN has been established extralegally by the US-EU Alliance.
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Wars for the purpose of regime changes were waged in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and now in Syria and Yemen.
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Many rich states are creating and supporting armed mercenary forces for the purpose of subverting the sovereignty of another state (e.g. against Nicaragua, Libya, Syria and Yemen).
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Civil wars are raging in many nations. What is most troubling is that some of the wars are proxy wars, fuelled and financed by the West. Tragic examples are: Yemen, Libya, Syria and Ukraine.
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Since the 90s, wars, incarceration in overseas prisons and torture have been privatised.
State terrorism (both within one’s own territory and abroad) is widespread.
The so-called “war against terrorism” has degenerated into a spiralling war between terrorist nations and terrorist outfits like the IS.
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Extra-judicial assassinations of the officials of other states or national liberation movements are being carried out by drone attacks, special forces units or covert operations.
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Some nations like the USA and Israel are developing, deploying and testing their nuclear and space weapons systems in Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza.
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Threats of missile and nuclear attacks (as against Iran) have become standard language of foreign policy.
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In the name of human rights, sanctions are being enforced but in a very selective way by the Security Council and by individual nations against their opponents. This is despite overwhelming proof that sanctions hurt innocent civilians and cause untold misery and deprivation to the weakest members of society.
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The ICC has gone into operation. But nations like the USA and Israel refuse to join it.
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The UNSC and the ICC have brought to book a few war criminals. Sadly, the work of the ICC shows a terrible ethnic bias against Africa. Mass murderers from the USA, EU and Israel remain immune.
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The Cold War has become reignited and with it new theatres of conflict as in Ukraine are causing massive loss of life.
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The arms trade continues unabated and ignites and fuels regional wars and retards the search for political solutions to international disputes. All arm traders are merchants of death but enjoy a prestige and wealth unknown to many other professions.
Western exceptionalism and unilaterism is for everyone to see. The US has bombed, invaded or interfered in 64 countries since World War Two. In the last decade itself, there were full scale invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq on trumped up charges plus bombing of Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and Syria. In Yemen, Libya and Syria, western proxies are in the forefront of the so called civil war. US drones blow up “enemy combatants” in many parts of the world with sickening regularity.
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Despite its professed belief in democracy, Washington has a sorry record of collaborating with right-wing military officers to overthrow elected leaders who do not do Washington’s bidding. A partial list would include Mossadegh in Iran (1953), Arbez in Guatemala (1954), Allende in Chile (1973), Aristide in Haiti twice, Chevez in Venezuala (2002), Zeleya in Honduras (2009), Morsi in Egypt (2013) and now Yanukovych in Ukraine (2014).
ď Ż Besides the US, France is notable for its
military interventions in Mali, Central African Republic and Algeria. The United States shot down an air bus or Iran killing nearly 300 people. No action was taken against the general who ordered the missile attack.
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US and European complicity in the 67 year old genocide against the Palestinians is an undeniable fact.
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Dutch complicity in the massacres in Srebrenica is well documented.
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The role of the West and the Western controlled Security Council in the Rwandan holocaust of 1994 in well known.
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As I speak, Israel continues to butcher children, women and civilians in Gaza.
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Add to these military atrocities, the structural violence and oppressive economic systems of the west. There is a desire to consolidate an uncompromising version of corporatism that seeks total economic hegemony over Asia and Africa.
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An environmental catastrophe is awaiting the world unless we take adequate measures to control the threat. Needles to say that part of the ecocide is contributed by the use and misuse of weapons of mass destruction.
ROAD AHEAD ď Ż What can be done to bring about a more
peaceful and just world? ď Ż There are obviously no simple solutions.
A comprehensive, holistic approach is what is needed.
ď Ż In the area of economics: A decade or
so ago in Monterrey, a bargain was struck between developed and developing countries to try to achieve “Freedom From Want�. In pursuance of this, all developing countries must seek to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to mobilize all their strategies for this purpose.
ď Ż Developed countries must give duty free
and quota free market access to export from the least developed countries. As was recommended by former Secretary General Kofi Annan, developed countries must spend 0.7% of their gross domestic product on development assistance. This increase must be frontloaded through an international finance facility.
ď Ż Development must be sustainable. All
efforts will be in vain if their results are reversed by continued degradation of the environment and depletion of its natural resources. Carbon emissions and green house gas emissions must be controlled.
ď Ż A multibillion dollar international fund
must be established to bring rapid and effective relief to the victims of sudden disasters, whether natural or man made.
ď Ż Human Rights and Democracy: Developing
countries must improve their governance, uphold the rule of law, combat corruption, adopt an inclusive approach to development and make space for civil society and the private sector to play their full part. Developing nations must pay heed to freedom movements and to the aspirations of human rights. ď Ż There is no necessary incompatibility between
democracy and development.
ď Ż Psychological dimension: Wars begin in the
minds of men and it is human psychology that we need to alter. The education system must emphasise peace studies. ď Ż The psychological ingredients which support
war must be combated. Modern culture glorifies war. Employment in the armed forces is referred to as military service. Films are made to glorify the heroism on battlefields. What is in fact a brutal, murderous affair is given a halo.
ď Ż The media and NGOs can expose the
horrors of war. Peace groups, other civil society organisations, and the media must educate the masses that in wars there are no victories but varying degrees of defeat. Wars begin when you will but they do not end when you please. Benjamin Franklin’s reminder that there never was a good war or a bad peace must be borne in mind.
ď Ż The dehumanization of the enemy is
what rationalizes atrocities against him. For example in relation to the Palestinians, the indifference of the Western world is partly owed to the mind manipulation by the government and the pro-Israeli media. Our NGOs must fill the airwaves with the view that there will be no lasting ceasefire and no peace unless there is justice.
ď Ż The Palestinians cannot be caged. Racist and
religious bigots in Israel, the US and Europe must be told that enough is enough. The world cannot anymore tolerate this 65 year old effort to wipe out the Palestinians. We cannot condone the diabolical attempt to sear into the Palestinian conscience, the idea that the Palestinians are a defeated people and that if they wish to survive they must be prepared to lead a dog’s life under Israeli control.
ď Ż Israeli sycophants in the US congress
must be told to put the interest of America first and not to allow Israel to push the US into committing atrocities against the opponents of Israel’s policies in the Middle East.
ď Ż Genocide in Palestine: It is no
exaggeration to say that the genocide in Palestine is fuelling a large number of wars and acts of terrorism around the world. Perhaps Americans will sleep better if the children of Palestine could also get a good night’s sleep without their house being demolished, their homes bombed and their orchards burnt.
ď Ż Nuclear Threats: Global policy makers
must do whatever is necessary to eliminate the nuclear threat to mankind’s survival.
ď Ż Impartial mediators: The third world should
stop relying on the US and Europe to bring justice to the Middle East. Instead it should turn to Russia and China. There is one shining precedent. In 1956 an Anglo-French-Israeli expedition invaded the Suez Canal. The USSR threatened to intervene on the side of Naser’s Egypt. Faced with this ultimatum, France, UK and Israel withdrew in humiliation.
ď Ż The third world should have no
expectations from the Security Council of the United Nations. It is a relic of the racist, colonial era. Instead we must rely on the 200 or so strong general assembly.
ď Ż International law: Despite all its flaws,
there is much in international law to prosecute wrongs. The Nuremberg law must be invoked to report unrepentant western leaders like Bush, Blair, Cheney and Rumsfeld for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity under Part VI of the charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal.
ď Ż Reports of genocide and crimes against
humanity by successive Israeli leaders must be filed with the ICC and with all the 115 or so countries that have signed the Rome statute. Some of these countries have laws that authorize prosecution for war crimes committed abroad. Though the US unsigned the Rome statute, leaders of Britain, France, Spain and Australia and other participating states in the many carnages in the Middle East are liable to the jurisdiction of the ICC once they leave office and their sovereign immunity expires.
ď Ż Citizens’ Tribunals like the Bertrand
Russell Tribunal and the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal must continue their work to give voice to the voiceless and to expose the truth.
ď Ż Reform of the UN: It may be harsh to
say that the UN has failed. But certainly many members of the UNSC have been delinquent. The UNSC is a dysfunctional institution and should be consigned to the dustbin of history.
ď Ż ICC: Despite its paralysis against
western violators, there is much promise in the ICC and ways must be found to enhance its jurisdiction even against leaders of those countries that have not signed the Rome Statute or are shielded by the UNSC.
ď Ż Humanitarian Intervention: It is an irony that
in some cases, humanitarianism is eclipsing humanity. It is time to end this charade of humanitarian intervention and outlaw destruction of nations on the pretext of protecting human rights. We must remember what Mahatma Gandhi said in 1942: “What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarians or the holy name of liberty or democracy�?
ď Ż UN Peacekeeping Force: The General
Assembly of the UN must pass resolutions to provide a UN peacekeeping force in such areas of conflict as Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. International funds must be raised and deployed to maintain a strong United Nations peacekeeping force wherever war breaks out. This ideal has far reaching economic implications. A truly international Peacekeeping Force is, however, a necessity.
ď Ż Reparations: Washington, London and
Canberra should be required to announce a scheme of reparations for the devastations caused by the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
CONCLUSION ď Ż Despite what some people believe, war is not
natural and not inevitable. Peace, security, love, laughter and the pursuit of happiness are what all human beings desire. ď Ż However, we cannot ignore flashpoints around
the world that lead to wars and conflagrations. We need to identify their historical, religious, cultural, political and economic causes. For example, the vested interest that the arms industry has in creating and promoting wars should be understood and neutralised.
ď Ż The approach to the prevention of war must take note off
all factors and forces that can provide the prerequisites for peace. ď Ż The principles of the UN Charter (except in relation to the
UNSC) if applied in all their ramifications, constitute an effective instrument for reshaping the actual policies of power and hegemony amongst sovereign states into those of mutual respect. Conversely, the real international terrorism is founded in the imposition of the will of the powerful states upon the weak by means of economic, political and cultural military domination.
ď Ż The key to ending all forms of war and
terrorisms is the development of new relations among nations and peoples based on unfailing respect for the right of self determination of peoples and on a greater measure of economic, political and social equality on a world scale.
The task appears impossible in the present
world situation. One must remember that human history went through similar, perhaps worse, periods earlier. Change is possible. Each one of us who abhors war, and supports peace and justice has a role to play. In the desert, sand dunes often grow around single blades of grass. Lin Yutang once said “Hope is like a road in the country: there was never a road but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.”