Attack
on UN in Baghdad Escalates Cycle of Violence
Making
Multilateral Response More Urgent
Statement
by Charlotte Bunch, Executive Director,
Center
for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
The Center for
Women's Global Leadership deplores the attack today in Baghdad on United
Nations Headquarters and mourns the deaths of UN personnel there including
Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN Special Representative to Iraq and UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights.
It is particularly
sad and troubling when peacemakers and humanitarian workers who are trying to
bring a greater international presence and respect for human rights to Iraq
become victims of the cycle of violence. Mr. Vieira de Mello was killed just as
he was seeking to develop a stronger and clearer mandate for the UN in Iraq
that could address the humanitarian crisis, peace-keeping, and reconstruction.
Further, as head of
UN Operations in East Timor and in his short time as High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Vieira de Mello was an effective advocate for the human rights of
women in such conflict situations, and his voice will be sorely missed. Indeed
one of the immediate impacts of the attacks in Baghdad is the cancellation of a
UNIFEM/UNDP sponsored conference scheduled for next week with Iraqi women to
discuss their particular needs and roles during the conflict and reconstruction
process.
While condemning
all such acts of violence, we also call upon the US government and US citizens
to understand and take responsibility for policies of the US government that
have contributed to this unprecedented attack on the United Nations. The damage
done by the occupying forces in attempting to “liberate” Iraq through military
bullying rather than by multilateral negotiations has put ever more lives in
danger – the lives of Iraqis, of US and other soldiers, of journalists and now
of international civil servants and humanitarian workers. Further, this administration’s practice of
defying international treaties, violating human rights in the name of
“security,” and belittling the importance of multilateralism has undermined the
authority of the United Nations and of human rights globally at the very time
when the world most needs these.
This cycle of
violence can only be broken by addressing the frustrations of the Iraqi people
and giving the UN a greater leadership role in Iraq. The international community, including US citizens, should rally
around the UN in this crisis and take it as the occasion for demanding changes
in US policy in the region. We must call for a larger and clearer mandate for
the United Nations in Iraq that will allow them to deploy a fully multilateral
peace-keeping mission to meet the humanitarian crisis and create the conditions
for a reconstruction process that enables Iraq to return to
self-government.
For more
information contact: Center for Women's
Global Leadership, cwgl@igc.org or
732-932-8782
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Center for Women’s Global
Leadership, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
160 Ryders Lane, New
Brunswick, NJ 08901-8555 USA; Phone: (1-732) 932-8782; Fax: (1-732) 932-1180
E-mail: cwgl@igc.org; Web Site:
http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu