Australia involved in illegitimate war on Iraq

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights today added their voice to the growing body of international opinion that the involvement of Australia in a war on Iraq led by the United States of America will bring Australian into clear breach of international law.

“The Australia Government is mistaken in its view of the law”, said ALHR President Simon Rice, representing 600 human rights lawyers across Australia..

“As a result, Australia is in breach of international law, and is undermining the authority of the United Nations”, he said.

"The international law is clear in this area. Unless authorised by the Charter of the United Nations, any use of force by one country against another is a breach of the Charter and so is a breach of international law.

"There are only two circumstances under which the use of force is authorised under the UN Charter: in self defence, and when authorised by the UN Security Council.

“Mr Howard relies on UN Security Council Resolutions 678 and 687 as justifying Australia’s attack on Iraq. This is plainly wrong. Resolution 678 was passed in 1991, specifically in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. It has no relevance to the current situation. The same is true of Resolution 687, which set out the terms of the ceasefire in Iraq. There is no provision within Resolution 687 that links Iraq's duty to destroy all weapons of mass destruction with an authorisation to use armed force against Iraq,” said Mr Rice.

Mr Rice said that “There is no current Security Council resolution which authorises the use of force against Iraq. Resolution 1441 does not do so. In fact it explicitly affords Iraq ‘a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations’

“In choosing to interpret Resolution 678 in this way Mr Howard has by-passed the UN procedure, established after World War Two to prevent countries taking international law into their own hands.”

For further information contact:
Simon Rice on 9380 6566 and
Kate Eastman on 9230 3213