Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-15-Speech-3-312"
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"en.20020515.11.3-312"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union's attitude towards the Iraqi Government is, unfortunately, moulded by the stance of that country's rulers, which amounts to blackmail. The policy of aggression pursued by Saddam Hussein and his accomplices has taken large numbers of their own people hostage. The insidious thing about this situation is the way that genuine human and economic distress, much of it artificially made worse, is exploited for political purposes. Generally, this hits the weakest members of society the hardest, but this should not lead us to confuse cause with effect.
It is not the sanctions that cause the sufferings of the vast majority of the Iraqi people, but rather the aggression, cunning and incompetence of the totalitarian regime that provoked these sanctions. Every other approach and every attempt to dispel the facts from people's minds has to be firmly resisted. Every utterance focusing exclusively on the direct connection between the consequences of the embargo and the effects on the population falls dangerously short of the mark even when – indeed, especially when – it is well meant, for it thereby shifts and obscures the manifest political responsibility of Iraq's rulers. Anyone who talks about the ruination of the social and technical infrastructure, and about the lack of food and medicines whilst leaving the regime's responsibility out of consideration, passing over it or keeping quiet about it, is behaving naively or irresponsibly, to say the least.
The right way ahead was shown by the UN Security Council at its meeting yesterday, when it resolved unanimously to step up the arms embargo and simultaneously to make it easier for Iraq to import goods for civilian use. This is further evidence of the broad agreement that exists between, on the one hand, the report before us and Parliament's resolutions to date, and, on the other, the resolutions of the Security Council and of the UN Commission on Human Rights. This consensus should be emphasised, deepened and built on rather than being tested to breaking point by assertions about the alleged failure of the embargo.
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne's report also picks up and deepens a proposal made as long ago as November 2000 concerning the setting up of a tribunal to punish the Iraqi regime's offences against human rights. I am convinced that trials of this sort can have a deterrent effect – if not on every dictator, then on many of their willing accomplices – and contribute to destabilising their regimes. I therefore unreservedly support the call for the establishment of an investigation authority to collect and assess witness statements and documentation and document evidence that will stand up in court."@en1
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