Women's Empowerment and Leadership Development for Democratisation
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WLUML statement on the war on Iraq
Within hours American and British military forces are expected to attack Iraq in a war that has no international legal sanction.
Within hours American and British military forces are expected to attack Iraq in a war that has no international legal sanction. It is a war that is condemned by millions of people across the world, including a very substantial portion of the American and British populations, who feel diplomatic avenues and peaceful measures have not been fully explored.
The network Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML)
expresses its deepest opposition to this illegitimate and illegal war, which it
feels will cause long-term damage to the chances for global peace, the upholding
of the rule of law and international consensus-building. It will have
particularly negative consequences for the cause of women’s rights in Muslim
countries and communities.
WLUML also extends its solidarity to the Iraqi
people, already suffering under the combined weight of dictatorship, sanctions
and ongoing aerial bombardment. They will undoubtedly be the main victims of the
military campaign, the subsequent anticipated humanitarian and ecological
disasters, and inevitable political upheaval in their country.
The role
of the American, British and other governments in keeping Saddam Hussain in
power and in arming him with devastating weapons must not be forgotten. Their
abandonment of the struggles of the Kurdish people and other minorities in Iraq
must also not be forgotten. Any government's claim to be acting out of a desire
to limit the global spread of weapons of mass destruction and concern for the
rights of all Iraqi peoples must be questioned in the light of geo-strategic
interests. The US administration’s linkages with transnational oil interests are
well-known, as is the fact that USAID has already cynically invited tenders from
US companies for the post-war reconstruction of Iraq.
WLUML fails to
understand how a military campaign, inevitably accompanied by internal chaos,
will ensure that whatever weapons of mass destruction, if any, held by the Iraqi
regime will fall into ‘safe’ hands. The safest hands were those of UN weapons
inspectors who have now been forced to leave Iraq under the threat of an
impending US-led attack. If such weapons do indeed exist, the bombing of Iraqi
military installations will surely mean that they are detonated, which is what
the war is supposedly attempting to prevent.
At the time of the US-led
bombing campaign in Afghanistan, the world was promised concrete efforts towards
a Middle East peace settlement in order to lessen global opposition to the
campaign. This peace settlement is nowhere in sight while the situation worsens
day by day. Nor has regime change in Afghanistan brought peace to areas outside
Kabul, where internecine fighting continues and human rights abuses appear to be
increasing again. Last week the world community dismissed US President Bush’s
latest announcements regarding Israel and Palestine. This shows that the world
will not be diverted by false promises and will continue to oppose the US-led
subversion of all international and humanitarian norms.
Above all, WLUML
is deeply concerned with the long-term impact of these events, and especially
the cause of women's rights in Muslim countries and communities. This will not
only deeply damage future prospects for women’s rights but undermine all
previous gains they have made through years of struggle.
In many of the
countries linked through the network, we have seen how the US and British
governments’ response to the September 11 outrages have actually strengthened
the extremist misuse of religion for political gain. For the first time in
Pakistan’s history in 2002, politico-religious parties were elected to head
provincial governments and immediately began threatening to curtail the
activities of women’s development organisations and to introduce policies that
would limit female education opportunities. Extremists were similarly
strengthened in contexts as diverse as Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Mali
and Nigeria. In all such contexts the space for democratic discussion and
diversity of identities has narrowed, and in each of these contexts women have
been a prime target.
As witnessed in the aftermath of September 11 the
threat came not only from such extremist forces but governments across the world
who were opportunistic and exploited the situation to crack down on all internal
dissent. There are now concerns that governments, notably that of Israel, may
again take advantage of the world’s attention being focused in other areas to
carry out oppressive agendas otherwise likely to draw strong international
criticism.
Against this background, a war in Iraq can only further
strengthen those extremist forces who seek to manipulate religion for their own
political ends, making peace and social justice an ever more distant
dream.
expresses its deepest opposition to this illegitimate and illegal war, which it
feels will cause long-term damage to the chances for global peace, the upholding
of the rule of law and international consensus-building. It will have
particularly negative consequences for the cause of women’s rights in Muslim
countries and communities.
WLUML also extends its solidarity to the Iraqi
people, already suffering under the combined weight of dictatorship, sanctions
and ongoing aerial bombardment. They will undoubtedly be the main victims of the
military campaign, the subsequent anticipated humanitarian and ecological
disasters, and inevitable political upheaval in their country.
The role
of the American, British and other governments in keeping Saddam Hussain in
power and in arming him with devastating weapons must not be forgotten. Their
abandonment of the struggles of the Kurdish people and other minorities in Iraq
must also not be forgotten. Any government's claim to be acting out of a desire
to limit the global spread of weapons of mass destruction and concern for the
rights of all Iraqi peoples must be questioned in the light of geo-strategic
interests. The US administration’s linkages with transnational oil interests are
well-known, as is the fact that USAID has already cynically invited tenders from
US companies for the post-war reconstruction of Iraq.
WLUML fails to
understand how a military campaign, inevitably accompanied by internal chaos,
will ensure that whatever weapons of mass destruction, if any, held by the Iraqi
regime will fall into ‘safe’ hands. The safest hands were those of UN weapons
inspectors who have now been forced to leave Iraq under the threat of an
impending US-led attack. If such weapons do indeed exist, the bombing of Iraqi
military installations will surely mean that they are detonated, which is what
the war is supposedly attempting to prevent.
At the time of the US-led
bombing campaign in Afghanistan, the world was promised concrete efforts towards
a Middle East peace settlement in order to lessen global opposition to the
campaign. This peace settlement is nowhere in sight while the situation worsens
day by day. Nor has regime change in Afghanistan brought peace to areas outside
Kabul, where internecine fighting continues and human rights abuses appear to be
increasing again. Last week the world community dismissed US President Bush’s
latest announcements regarding Israel and Palestine. This shows that the world
will not be diverted by false promises and will continue to oppose the US-led
subversion of all international and humanitarian norms.
Above all, WLUML
is deeply concerned with the long-term impact of these events, and especially
the cause of women's rights in Muslim countries and communities. This will not
only deeply damage future prospects for women’s rights but undermine all
previous gains they have made through years of struggle.
In many of the
countries linked through the network, we have seen how the US and British
governments’ response to the September 11 outrages have actually strengthened
the extremist misuse of religion for political gain. For the first time in
Pakistan’s history in 2002, politico-religious parties were elected to head
provincial governments and immediately began threatening to curtail the
activities of women’s development organisations and to introduce policies that
would limit female education opportunities. Extremists were similarly
strengthened in contexts as diverse as Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Mali
and Nigeria. In all such contexts the space for democratic discussion and
diversity of identities has narrowed, and in each of these contexts women have
been a prime target.
As witnessed in the aftermath of September 11 the
threat came not only from such extremist forces but governments across the world
who were opportunistic and exploited the situation to crack down on all internal
dissent. There are now concerns that governments, notably that of Israel, may
again take advantage of the world’s attention being focused in other areas to
carry out oppressive agendas otherwise likely to draw strong international
criticism.
Against this background, a war in Iraq can only further
strengthen those extremist forces who seek to manipulate religion for their own
political ends, making peace and social justice an ever more distant
dream.