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ISMAG media release
Peace Movement Aotearoa
PO Box 9314, Wellington. Tel (04) 382 8129, fax (04) 382 8173, pma@apc.org.nz
7 April 1999
Media statement for immediate release
International petition on Iraq sanctions to be presented to Parliament
On Thursday 8 April, at 12:30 pm, on the steps of Parliament, an international petition calling on the economic sanctions against the people of Iraq to be ended will be presented to Parliament.
The petition, with 885 New Zealand signatures, will be received by Graham Kelly MP. Speakers will include Mr Kelley, a representative of Peace Movement Aotearoa, and a representative of ISMAG. This world-wide petition, organised by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, will also be presented at the United Nations and in Washington DC.
The Iraq Sanctions Medical Alert Group (ISMAG) - a group of health professionals which includes doctors, health policy advisors, health researchers and epidemiologists - has been involved in recent efforts to send aid to Iraq, and have been lobbying the NZ Government to amend its current support for the sanctions, on the basis that:
- they do not touch Saddam and his cronies - they hit the wrong Iraqis
- if anything, Saddam can manipulate the sanctions to gain support for his regime, control the Kurds, and profit from the black market
- the rationale for the sanctions is weak due to UNSCOM now being in limbo
- the humanitarian disaster in Iraq - Every month, UNICEF estimates that 6,000 children will die unnecessarily in Iraq as a result of the sanctions.
An ISMAG spokesman, Dr. Marten Hutt, said that: "Regardless of your politics, the figures show that sanctions are currently the most devastating weapon of mass destruction of them all, particularly if you are under five years of age. If our quarrel is not with the people of Iraq, then let us separate economic from military sanctions. ISMAG supports military sanctions, but economic sanctions are a waste of time".
ISMAG supports the recent statements from the Pope on this issue. In his New Year's address to the diplomatic corps on 10 January 1999, the Pope criticized the embargo against Iraq, saying that "the weak and innocent cannot pay for mistakes for which they are not responsible".
Contacts/Spokespeople: Dr. Marten Hutt wk ph: (04) 463 6527 /
a/h 389 1706 Fax: (04) 496 6568
marten.hutt@vuw.ac.nz
Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, wk ph: (04) 496 2000 or a/h (04) 562 0107; Fax: (04) 496 2341
ashley.b@xtra.co.nz http://come.to/ISMAG
Return toStop Killing the People of Iraq.
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