Petition on behalf of the children of Iraq submitted to the United Nations
charging President Bush and U.S. authorities actions constitute acts of
genocide
Francis A Boyle
EDITOR'S NOTE: In September of 1991 Francis Boyle asked the
Coalition to Stop U.S. Intervention in the Middle East to submit an
Indictment, Complaint and Petition for Relief from Genocide by
President George Herbert Walker Bush and the United States
of America, which he had prepared on behalf of the 4.5 million
children of Iraq. Professor Boyle filed the Complaint at the request
of several Iraqi mothers whose children were dying as a result of
the sanctions. The Petition was submitted to the Secretary General
of the U.N., members of the General Assembly, the Economic and
Social Council, the Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission
on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities,
UNESCO, and UNICEF.
Boyle's petition reviewed the factual situation confronting the
children of Iraq including malnutrition, starvation, disease, and
death, and details the violations of international law upon which
this Claim is based The relief asked for included a lifting of the
sanctions against Iraq, massive provision of international
humanitarian relief, and compensation to the victims of the policies
described.
Boyle has stated, based on then current - and ongoing - devastating
situation for Iraq's children, "Likeunto a pirate, the Respondent
George Bush is hostis humans generis - the enemy of all humankind"
Boyle asked for an urgent review of this Petition and that the
appropriate organs of the United Nations, as well its member states,
institute criminal proceedings against President Bush for committing
the international crime of genocide against the children of Iraq.
The transcript of Boyle's Indictment, Complaint and Petition for
Relief from Genocide follows.
Despite the best professional efforts by Professor Boyle, who is
working pro bono publico on this matter, so far the entire United
Nations Organization has refused to act upon this Complaint on
behalf of the Children of Iraq.
TO: THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS, THE MEMBERS OF THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY, THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, THE COMMISSION ON
HUMAN RIGHTS, THE SUBCOMMISSION ON PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION AND
PROTECTION OF MINORITIES, UNESCO, UNICEF, THE HEADS OF ALL NGO'S,
ETC.
RE: INDICTMENT, COMPLAINT AND PETITION BY THE 4.5 MILLION CHILDREN
OF IRAQ FOR RELIEF FROM GENOCIDE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH AND THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
EXCELLENCY:
On behalf of The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq, I hereby submit to
you this Indictment, Complaint and Petition for Relief from Genocide
by President George Bush and the United States of America
(hereinafter referred to as the "Respondents"). This Indictment,
Complaint and Petition accuses the Respondents (1) of committing the
international crime of genocide against The 4.5 Million Children of
Iraq in violation of the International Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 and in violation of
the municipal legal systems of all civilized nations in the world;
(2) of a gross and consistent pattern of violations of the most
fundamental human rights of The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq as
recognized and guaranteed to them by the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights of 1948; (3) of the complete negation and denial of all
the rights guaranteed to The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq by the
1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child; and (4) of the
systematic violation of the special protections of international
humanitarian law guaranteed to The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq by
the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol I
thereto of 1977.
Under the human rights provisions of the United Nations Charter,
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Genocide Convention,
the Children's Convention, and the Fourth Geneva Convention and
Protocol I, The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq are proper parties to
invoke the jurisdiction of the United Nations and its various organs
in requesting the following Relief in order to be relieved from the
inhuman, degrading, cruel, criminal, and genocidal conditions
perpetrated upon them by the Respondents: The 4.5 Million Children
of Iraq demand (1) the termination of the international economic
embargo and all forms of bilateral economic sanctions against Iraq;
(2) the massive provision of international humanitarian relief
required in order to save themselves from death, disease,
malnutrition, starvation, and extermination at the hands of the
Respondents; (3) monetary compensation for the harm done to them as
well as all other forms of relief deemed necessary and appropriate;
and (4) the institution of criminal proceedings against Respondent
Bush for committing the international crime of genocide by the
appropriate international organs as well as by all States of the
World Community under their respective municipal legal systems.
The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq have set forth in the attached
Indictment, Complaint and Petition all of the Facts necessary to
constitute a prima facie case against the Respondents for genocide;
grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Protocol I; and a
gross and consistent pattern of violations of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convention on the
Rights of the Child. Wherefore, The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq
demand that the United Nations and its organs immediately undertake
a full investigation of the matters presented in this Indictment,
Complaint and Petition, and subsequently authorize a complete and
public disclosure of all evidence and findings of fact at the
conclusion of such investigation. I would appreciate receiving a
formal acknowledgment of your receipt of the attached Indictment,
Complaint, and Petition by The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq at the
address listed above as well as all further communications related
to this matter.
THE PEOPLES AND COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD MUST NOT TURN THEIR EYES
AWAY IN SHAME FROM IRAQ AS HUMANKIND APPROACHES THE DAWN OF THE NEXT
MILLENNIUM OF ITS PARLOUS EXISTENCE. AS IRAQ'S CHILDREN GO, SO GOES
THE ENTIRE WORLD!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED ON BEHALF OF THE 4.5 MILLION CHILDREN OF
IRAQ,
FRANCIS A. BOYLE PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
MEMBER OF THE BARS OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS AND OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA DATED: SEPTEMBER 18, 1991
IN THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, SECRETARY GENERAL, ECONOMIC
AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, SUB-COMMISSION ON
PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION AND PROTECTION OF MINORITIES, UNESCO,
UNICEF, ALL NGO'S
UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK, GENEVA, VIENNA, AND PARIS
THE 4.5 MILLION CHILDREN OF IRAQ, APPLICANTS,
VS.
GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES INDICTMENT, COMPLAINT,
AND PETITION FOR RELIEF FROM GENOCIDE IN BOTH HIS OFFICIAL AND
PERSONAL CAPACITIES, AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, RESPONDENTS.
TO: THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS, THE MEMBERS OF THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY, THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, THE COMMISSION ON
HUMAN RIGHTS, THE SUBCOMMISSION ON PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION AND
PROTECTION OF MINORITIES, UNESCO, UNICEF, THE HEADS OF ALL NGO'S,
ETC.
RE: INDICTMENT, COMPLAINT AND PETITION BY THE 4.5 MILLION CHILDREN
OF IRAQ FOR RELIEF FROM GENOCIDE BY PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH AND THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Applicants herein, THE 4.5 MILLION CHILDREN OF IRAQ, invoke
the jurisdiction of the United Nations and its organs by virtue of
the provisions of the United Nations Charter, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and file this
Indictment, Complaint and Petition on their own behalf. The
Applicants charge the Respondents with committing the international
crime of genocide against The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq.
Applicants pray for the termination of the international economic
embargo and all forms of bilateral economic sanctions against Iraq,
and to secure the massive provision of international humanitarian
relief required in order to save themselves from death, disease,
malnutrition, starvation, and extermination at the hands of the
Respondents. Applicants also pray for monetary compensation for the
harm done to them and all other forms of relief deemed necessary and
appropriate. Finally, Applicants request the institution of criminal
proceedings against the Respondent George Bush for committing the
international crime of genocide by the appropriate international
organs and by all States of the World Community under their
respective municipal legal systems.
II. THE FACTS
2. The Applicants are The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq.
3. The Respondents are (1) George Bush, President of the United
States of America, in both his official and personal capacities, and
(2) the United States of America, a Permanent Member of the United
Nations Security Council.
4. The Respondents are the Person and State primarily responsible
for the imposition of the now year-long international economic
embargo and bilateral economic sanctions against Iraq.
5. Reports from the United Nations, the Physicians for Human
Rights, the International Red Cross, a Harvard Study Team, other
independent organizations, and private U.S. citizens have documented
the fact that unless the economic sanctions imposed against Iraq are
immediately lifted and Iraq is allowed to buy and import food,
medicine and equipment, especially for power generation, hundreds of
thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians will die in the upcoming
months.
6. A Harvard Study Team estimates that at least 170,000 Iraqi
children under the age of five will die within the next year from
the delayed effects of the war in the Persian Gulf if the imposition
of the sanctions continues.
7. This is a conservative estimate and does not include tens of
thousands of Iraqi children above the age of five who are expected
to die from similar causes.
8. The Catholic Relief Service estimates that more than 100,000
Iraqi children will die from malnutrition and disease in the
upcoming months due to the economic embargo and destruction of the
war, and the United Nations Children's Fund estimates that 80,000
Iraqi children may die from these causes.
9. Malnutrition has become severe and widespread in Iraq since
imposition of the embargo and the war due to severe food shortages
and the inflation of food prices of up to 1000%, which has
effectively priced many Iraqis, especially the poor and
disadvantaged, out of the food market.
10. Cholera, typhoid, and gastroenteritis have become epidemic
throughout Iraq since the war due to the critical scarcity of
medicine and the inability of Iraq to process sewage and purify the
water supply.
11. The system of medical care has broken down in Iraq, resulting
in the closure of up to 50% of Iraq's medical facilities due to
acute shortages of medicines, equipment, and staff.
12. The incapacitation of 18 of Iraq's 20 power plants during the
war is a principal cause of the deterioration in public health due
to the resultant inability of Iraq to process sewage, purify its
water supply, and supply electricity to health facilities.
13. The health care crisis cannot be addressed without the
reconstruction of electrical facilities that enable the purification
of water and treatment of sewage.
14. Before the economic embargo of Iraq, three quarters of the
total caloric intake in Iraq was imported and, moreover, 96% of
Iraqi revenue to pay for imports, namely food and medicine, was
derived from the exportation of oil now prohibited under the
embargo.
15. The summer heat in Iraq has both accelerated the spread of
disease and impeded its treatment due to the lack of refrigeration
facilities even in hospitals.
16. The acute shortages of food in Iraq, the inflation of up to
1000% in food prices caused by these shortages, the critical
scarcity of medicine, and the essential need to reconstruct Iraq's
capacity to generate electricity to enable sewage treatment and
water purification, cannot be addressed or rectified without Iraq's
re-entry into global commerce, at present effectively prohibited by
the economic sanctions.
17. The immediate lifting of the sanctions would drastically reduce
the number of Iraqi children who will die in the upcoming months
from malnutrition and disease and would relieve the suffering of the
innocent Iraqi population which is now bearing the burden of the
embargo.
18. Approximately 500 Iraqi children are dying each day from
disease, malnutrition, and lack of proper medical treatment due to
the continuation of the international economic embargo and bilateral
economic sanctions upon Iraq that have been organized and imposed by
the Respondents.
III. CONTENTIONS
19. The Harvard Study Team Report, Public Health in Iraq After the
Gulf War, estimated that as of May 1991, 55,000 additional deaths of
Iraqi children under five had already occurred because of the Gulf
Crisis, and projected that at least 170,000 Iraqi children under
five will die in the coming year from the delayed effects of the
Gulf Crisis. The Study also emphasized that these projections are
conservative: "In all probability, the actual number of deaths of
children under five will be much higher."
20. The continuation of multilateral and bilateral economic
sanctions against Iraq prevents the massive infusion of
international humanitarian assistance necessary to prevent these
mortality projections from becoming a reality. The Harvard Report
directly raises the question whether Respondents are responsible for
the commission of the international crime of genocide against the
Applicants, The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq, because of their
obstinate insistence that economic sanctions be maintained in order
to produce the deposition of the President of Iraq despite the fact
that the original purpose for their imposition was achieved with the
so-called "liberation" of Kuwait.
21. Respondent United States of America is a Contracting Party to
the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide of 1948, which will hereinafter be referred to as
"the Genocide Convention" for sake of convenience.
22. Article I of the Genocide Convention provides that the
Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time
of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law,
which they undertake to prevent and to punish.
23. Article II of the Genocide Convention defines the international
crime of "genocide" as follows:
Article II. In the present Convention, genocide means any of the
following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in
part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in
part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
24. Article III of the Genocide Convention provides that the
following acts shall likewise all be punishable: (a) genocide; (b)
conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) direct and public incitement to
commit genocide; (d) attempt to commit genocide; (e) complicity in
genocide.
25. According to Article IV of the Genocide Convention, persons
committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article
III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible
rulers, public officials, or private individuals. This basic
requirement of the Genocide Convention is fully applicable to
Respondent George Bush.
26. According to Article V of the Genocide Convention, the
Contracting Parties undertake to enact, in accordance with their
respective Constitutions, the necessary legislation to give effect
to the provisions of the Genocide Convention and, in particular, to
provide effective penalties for persons guilty of genocide or of any
of the other acts enumerated in Article III.
27. Pursuant to Article V, the Congress of the United States of
America adopted what is called implementing legislation for the
Genocide Convention that makes genocide a crime under U.S. federal
criminal law. Basically following the terms of the Genocide
Convention, this Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987
(found in Title 18 of the United States Code) defines the crime of
"genocide" as follows:
28. According to subsection (d), the basic offense must be
committed either within the United States, or by a national of the
United States. The penalty for violating subsection (a)(1) is a fine
of not more than $1 million and imprisonment for life. The penalty
for violating subsections (a)(2) to (a)(6) is a fine of not more
than $1 million or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or
both.
29. Under the definitional provisions of this Act, 225,000 dead
Iraqi children clearly constitute a "substantial part" of "a
national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such." The
continuation of economic sanctions against Iraq will (1) kill at
least 170,000 more Iraqi children by the end of the year; (2) "cause
serious bodily injury to" Applicants, The 4.5 Million Children of
Iraq; (3) "cause the permanent impairment of the mental faculties
of" Applicants; and (4) subject Applicants "to conditions of life
that are intended to cause the physical destruction of the group in
whole or in part
30. Only the "specific intent" of Respondent George Bush to commit
genocide against Applicants remains to be proven beyond a reasonable
doubt to establish his criminal responsibility under United States
municipal law and international criminal law. The open publication
and widespread dissemination of the Harvard Report on 22 May 1991
makes that task possible. Any Bush administration official
responsible for implementing the economic sanctions policy against
Iraq who has knowledge of the conclusions of the Harvard Report
would possess the "specific intent" required to serve as the mental
element or mens rea of the international and municipal crime of
genocide against Applicants, The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq.
Applicants assert that Respondent George Bush has full knowledge of
the genocidal consequences of the continuation of economic sanctions
against Iraq and therefore has the mens rea necessary for committing
the crime of genocide as recognized by the Genocide Convention and
the Genocide Implementation Act.
31. The same principles of international criminal law have been
incorporated into the municipal legal systems of almost all States
in the World Community today. Wherefore, there is universality of
jurisdiction for any State to prosecute Respondent George Bush for
committing genocide against the Applicants, The 4.5 Million Children
of Iraq. Like unto a pirate, the Respondent George Bush is hostis
humani generis - the enemy of all humankind.
IV. COMPETENCE
32. Article I of the Genocide Convention makes it quite clear that
all 99 states that are Contracting Parties have an international
legal obligation "to prevent" the commission of genocide against
Applicants, The 4.5 million children of Iraq.
33. Article VIII of the Genocide Convention provides that any
Contracting Party "may call upon the competent organs of the United
Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations
as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of
acts of genocide ..."
34. Thus, all 99 states parties to the Genocide Convention have
both the right and the duty under international law to bring the
genocidal situation in Iraq to the attention of the entire United
Nations Organization, as well as its affiliated organizations such
as UNESCO, UNICEF, etc.
35. The Genocide Convention expressly confers international legal
competence upon all organs of the United Nations--including the
Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the General
Assembly, the Secretary General, the International Court of Justice,
the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission on
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, UNESCO,
UNICEF, etc. - to do something about the genocidal situation in
Iraq. But so far, such individual steps and collective actions by
Member States have not been taken for fear of running afoul of the
all-powerful Respondents, who represent and constitute the only
self-styled "superpower" sitting as one of the five Permanent
Members of the Security Council.
36. The Respondents bear ultimate legal responsibility for the
imposition of economic sanctions upon Iraq and therefore for the
international crime of genocide against Applicants, The 4.5 Million
Children of Iraq.
37. Under the current desperate circumstances, responsible
officials of Member States permitting the continuation of economic
sanctions against Iraq could commit the separate international crime
of "complicity" in the crime of genocide that is today being
inflicted upon the Applicants by the Respondents, in violation of
Article III(e) of the Genocide Convention.
V. JURISDICTION
38. That the organs and agencies of the United Nations, including
the Secretary General, the Economic and Social Council, the General
Assembly, the Human Rights Commission, the Sub-Commission on
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, UNESCO
and UNICEF, inter alia, have the jurisdiction to receive and hear
this Indictment, Complaint and Petition, and to provide the Relief
requested herein.
39. That the organs of the United Nations are endowed with explicit
and inherent powers to assume jurisdiction of cases of the kind
presented in this Indictment, Complaint and Petition is reflected in
the Charter of the United Nations. Chapter 1, Article I(1) of the
Charter obligates the United Nations and its members to "maintain
international peace and security." Such peace and security are
threatened by many acts short of open interstate warfare. Genocide
by the Respondents against the Applicants, The 4.5 Million Children
of Iraq, threatens international peace and security.
40. As the situation described above constitutes a constant threat
to the maintenance of international peace and security, the
Secretary General, under the authority conferred upon him by Article
99 of the Charter, is entitled to bring this matter to the attention
of the Security Council. He is also authorized by Rule 13(g) of the
Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly to include in the
Assembly's agenda any item which he deems it necessary to put before
the Assembly. Applicants hereby request the Secretary General to
include their Indictment, Complaint, and Petition on the agenda of
the 46th General Assembly, and to bring it to the attention of the
Security Council.
41. The General Assembly is authorized to act under Chapter IV,
Article 22 of the United Nations Charter to establish an ad hoc
Tribunal empowered to grant the Relief requested herein. For
instance, in 1950, the General Assembly established a special
tribunal to deal with various claims arising in the former Italian
colony of Libya. Given the circumstances detailed in this
Indictment, Complaint and Petition, the creation of such a Tribunal
would be justified and necessary to carry out the very Purposes and
Principles for which the United Nations was established: to ensure
peace and security and to guarantee the protection of fundamental
human rights. Applicants request the 46th General Assembly to
establish such a Tribunal as a subsidiary organ and to charge it
with the responsibility to investigate and adjudicate their
Indictment, Complaint and Petition, as well as to order all forms of
Relief requested in Section VI herein.
42. That all Members of the United Nations have pledged themselves
under U.N. Charter Chapter IX Articles 55 and 56 to take action to
ensure respect for human rights. Article 55 states in part:
With a view to the creation of conditions of stability and
wellbeing which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations
among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and
self-determination of peoples, the United Nations shall promote:
(c) universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and
fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex,
language, or religion.
Article 56 states:
All Members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action in
co-operation with the Organization for the achievement of the
purposes set forth in Article 55.
43. Such a pledge indicates that under the Charter, Member States
must be prepared to take action to assist in enforcing and
protecting human rights. Should an organ of the United Nations
determine that the rights of Applicants were violated by Respondents
and recommend action, Member States have pledged themselves to
co-operate with the United Nations in taking necessary steps under
the Charter to promote "universal respect for, and observance of,
human rights."
44. These human rights provisions of the United Nations Charter
were further elaborated upon and specified by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by consensus by the
United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The Universal Declaration
of Human Rights enunciates the basic standards of international
human rights law to which all individuals around the world are
entitled. Indeed, it is the official position of the United Nations
Organization and of the Respondent United States of America that the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights is binding upon all States and
for the benefit of all People around the world as a matter of
customary international law.
45. Among the plethora of rights guaranteed to the Applicants by
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that are currently being
systematically violated by the Respondents, the most sacred and most
fundamental right of all is their very right to life itself, as
recognized by Article 3 thereof "Everyone has the right to life,
liberty and security of person." Respondents act as if the
"everyone" referred to in Article 3 does not include the Applicants,
The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq.
46. Applicants also assert that the Respondents have grossly,
consistently, and systematically violated the fundamental right that
has been guaranteed to them by Article 5 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights: "No one shall be subjected to torture
or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
47. Applicants, The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq, also assert that
the Respondents have violated all of the rights guaranteed to them
by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989.
48. Applicants also assert that the Respondents have violated the
special protections of international humanitarian law guaranteed to
children by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Additional
Protocol I thereto of 1977.
49. Under the human rights provisions of the United Nations
Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Genocide
Convention, the Children's Convention, and the Fourth Geneva
Convention and Protocol I, Applicants are proper parties to invoke
the jurisdiction of the United Nations in requesting Relief on their
own behalf in order to be relieved from the inhuman, degrading,
cruel, criminal, and genocidal conditions perpetrated upon them by
the Respondents.
50. Due to the fact that the Respondents represent and constitute
the only self-styled "superpower" sitting as one of the five
Permanent Members of the Security Council, the Respondents have
repeatedly and abusively used and threatened to use their voting
power and their so-called "veto power" to continue the international
economic embargo upon Iraq in a manner that is ultra vires the
"primary responsibility" for the maintenance of international peace
and security that has been conferred upon the Security Council by
Article 24(1) and (2) of the United Nations Charter: "2. In
discharging these duties the Security Council shall act in
accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations."
According to Article 1(3) of the Charter, one of the foremost
Purposes of the United Nations is proclaimed to be "... promoting
and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental
freedoms for all ..."
51. That as a direct result of the illegal and ultra vires conduct
by the Respondents at the Security Council, the Applicants have
nowhere else to turn for Relief except to the General Assembly, the
Secretary General, the Economic and Social Council, the Human Rights
Commission, the Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and
Protection of Minorities, UNESCO and UNICEF, etc. in order to save
themselves from the death, disease, malnutrition, starvation and
genocide that is currently being inflicted upon them by the
Respondents.
52. That the General Assembly has the inherent power to create
methods and instrumentalities to carry out the Purposes and
Principles of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, the Genocide Convention and the other
aforementioned instruments of international law. The Secretary
General also possesses inherent powers to carry out these Purposes
and Principles. The same is true for the Human Rights Commission,
the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities, as well as for UNESCO and UNICEF, etc.
53. That the Respondents represent and constitute a Member State of
the United Nations and therefore would be obligated to act in
compliance with any determination by any United Nations organ
concerning this matter.
VI. PRAYER FOR RELIEF
54. Applicants pray for the issuance of a Directive by the
Secretariat, or the General Assembly, or the Economic and Social
Council, or the Human Rights Commission, or the Sub-Commission on
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, or
UNESCO, or UNICEF or any other competent organ or agency of the
United Nations to hear this Indictment, Complaint and Petition; to
investigate and adjudicate the allegations of genocide by
Respondents against Applicants; and to order the termination of all
forms of multilateral and bilateral economic sanctions against Iraq.
55. Applicants also pray for the massive provision of international
humanitarian relief to Iraq by the United Nations Organizations as a
whole, its specialized agencies and affiliated organizations, as
well as by all Member States thereof, in order to save them from
death, disease, malnutrition, starvation, genocide, and
extermination at the hands of the Respondents.
56. Applicants also pray for due compensation to be paid by
Respondents to Applicants and their families for the deaths as well
as physical and mental injury caused by Respondents' actions in
violation of the Genocide Convention and the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, inter alia.
57. Applicants pray that proper sanctions be taken against
Respondents for any refusal to comply with any of the orders or
decisions that the United Nations or any international organ makes
in relation to this matter.
58. Applicants pray that the United Nations authorize a full
investigation of the matters presented in this Indictment, Complaint
and Petition and subsequently authorize a complete and public
disclosure of all evidence and findings of fact at the conclusion of
such investigation.
59. Applicants further pray that the appropriate organs of the
United Nations Organization - as well as of all the Member States
thereof - institute criminal proceedings against Respondent George
Bush for committing the international crime of genocide against the
Applicants, as required by the Genocide Convention and the municipal
legal systems of all civilized nations, including his own.
VII. CONCLUSION
THE PEOPLES AND COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD MUST NOT TURN THEIR EYES
AWAY IN SHAME FROM IRAQ AS HUMANKIND APPROACHES THE DAWN OF THE NEXT
MILLENNIUM OF ITS PARLOUS EXISTENCE. AS IRAQ'S CHILDREN GO, SO GOES
THE ENTIRE WORLD!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED ON BEHALF OF THE APPLICANTS, THE 4.5 MILLION
CHILDREN OF IRAQ,
FRANCIS A. BOYLE PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY OF
ILLINOIS COLLEGE OF LAW 504 EAST PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE CHAMPAIGN,
ILLINOIS 61820 USA PHONE: 217-333-7954
FAX: 217-244-1478
MEMBER OF THE BARS OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
AND OF
THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DATED: SEPTEMBER
18,1991
Francis Boyle, author of the Indictment, Complaint and Petition for
Relief from Genocide, is Professor of Law at the University of
Illinois College of Law in Champaign, Illinois.
