A Kurdish family carries their few belongings to a resettlement camp after being displaced by Iraqi forces following a failed rebellion against Saddam Hussein. (AP/WWP)
International Community Speaks Out Against Saddam Hussein
Since 1945, the United Nations and regional organizations have come together to create a world where fundamental freedoms and human dignity are respected. For the past 20 years, Iraq has moved in the opposite direction. International law forbids torture, murder, and the infliction of cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment; yet Saddam Hussein has created a system flagrantly violating these international laws and parading abuses in front of the world community. Over the past 20 years, his attacks on the Iraqi people have been persistently recorded and denounced by the international community.
The United Nations Security Council "condemns the attempts by Iraq to alter the demographic composition of the population of Kuwait...."
— UN Security Council Resolution 677 of 28 November 1990
The United Nations Security Council "condemns the repression of the Iraqi civilian population in many parts of Iraq...."
— UN Security Council Resolution 688 of 5 April 1991
After his 1999 trip to Iraq, Max van der Stoel, UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights in Iraq, reported the following to the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights:
"I received their testimonies, ranging from individuals who showed me their scars and wounds from torture to the hundreds of Kurdish women who held up their fingers indicating the numbers of family members who had been taken by the Iraqi authorities and subsequently disappeared."
"The prevailing regime of systematic human rights violations is contrary to Iraq's many international obligations...."
— UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission
on Human Rights in Iraq, 1999
"Saddam Hussein remains a threat to stability in the Middle East....He is still pursuing total control over the people of Iraq and is ready to engage in systematic repression...."
— Prime Minister of Great Britain Tony Blair, 17 February 2001
"The mere suggestion that someone is not a supporter of the President carries the prospect of the death penalty."
— Andreas Mavrommatis, UN Special Rapporteur,
UN Secretary General's Report, 2001
UN Security Council Resolution 1441 of November 8, 2002, gives Iraq another chance:
"I urge the Iraqi leadership...to seize this opportunity and thereby begin to end the isolation and suffering of the Iraqi people."
— UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, November 8, 2002
The international community stands behind the people of Iraq. Despite Saddam Hussein's many attempts to silence the Iraqi people, their voices and stories are being heard.
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