PERTH — A veteran peace campaigner has sent a complaint to the International Criminal Court in The Hague seeking the prosecution of the Australian government for war crimes committed in invading Iraq. In his letter, posted on March 13, Kevin Watkins accuses the government of "abrogation of treaty obligations and the laws of the United Nations".
"There are only two grounds for the use of force under the UN charter", Watkins wrote. "The first, enshrined in article 51, allows force to be used in self-defence. The attack must be imminent. The second basis is when the UN Security Council authorises the use of force as a collective response to the use or threat of force. Neither of these scenarios existed in relation to Iraq."
Watkins also pointed to the extent of civilian casualties as a violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and associated protocols. "If an Iraqi is killed by a coalition bomb or bullet, or dies from avoidable disease (through coalition destruction of sanitation and other civil infrastructure), the end result is the same and so is culpability", he said.
Barry Healy
ACTU adopts resolution on Colombia
On March 8, the ACTU executive adopted a resolution on Colombia that encourages state trades and labour councils to establish the Australian Solidarity Network with Colombia; endorses activities to further inform affiliates and members of the situation in Colombia as it relates to the plight of trade unionists and other social activists; supports the activities at the International Labour Organisation to fully implement its program to highlight and bring to an end the exploitation and violence directed at workers and unionists in Colombia; encourages international union solidarity visits to Colombia; and supports investigating the feasibility of supporting a community development project in Colombia.
The resolution also calls on Australianbased mining and resource companies to respect and promote labour rights and human rights.
Kerry Smith
No ties with the Indonesian military!
Following US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's call for stronger military links with Indonesia, Joe Collins from the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) said on March 16, "It is definitely not in the interests of the West Papuan people for the US or Australia to be training the Indonesian military".
Numerous reports have documented the involvement of the Indonesian military in illegal logging, fradulent construction projects, theft of aid and human rights abuses. Collins said: "The renewal of military ties would not improve the military's human rights record, but legitimize its ongoing abuses ... If Indonesia has really introduced democratic reforms, why is there a ban on the media visiting West Papua?"
AWPA called on the US and Australian governments to urge the Indonesia government to lift the ban on journalists visiting West Papua and allow access to the UN Special Rapporteur for the Prevention of Genocide on a fact-finding mission to West Papua.
Viv Green
From Green Left Weekly, March 22, 2006.
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