December 2001 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
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Nobel winner Annan gets petition, US gets profound rebuke 14 December 2001
On Monday 10 December, International Human Rights Day, Sir Paul McCartney sang three songs in Oslo’s Spektrum concert hall joined by singers Wyclef Jean, Youssou N’Dour, and Anastacia. The performance was staged in honor of the 100th Nobel Peace Prize, given this year to 63 year old UN Secretary General Kofi Annan of Ghana. Annan was in the audience along with several past Peace Prize winners. The night before, Colm O’Cuanachain, Chair of human rights advocacy organization Amnesty International, delivered 10,000 signatures on letters and postcards to Annan in the lobby of the Grand Hotel in Oslo in support of Amnesty’s campaign No Security Without Human Rights. He said to Annan “Amnesty International congratulates you and the United Nations on receipt of this justified and merited award... However, at this critical moment in time the member states of the United Nations, and the Security Council, have failed to protect human rights by allowing governments to undermine hard won provisions through the enactment of national laws that restrict civil liberties and are open to abuse. At a time when human rights provide the only solution to this global conflict, any regressive moves to undermine human rights must be counteracted by the United Nations.” And on 7 December, a coalition of 100 Nobel prize winners who received awards over the past 45 years issued a public statement condemning what they call “the unilateral search for security,” a transparent metaphor for current US foreign and domestic policy. The laureates write “The most profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from the irrational acts of states or individuals but from the legitimate demands of the world's dispossessed. Of these poor and disenfranchised, the majority live a marginal existence in equatorial climates. Global warming, not of their making but originating with the wealthy few, will affect their fragile ecologies most. Their situation will be desperate and manifestly unjust. “It cannot be expected, therefore, that in all cases they will be content to await the beneficence of the rich. If then we permit the devastating power of modern weaponry to spread through this combustible human landscape, we invite a conflagration that can engulf both rich and poor. The only hope for the future lies in cooperative international action, legitimized by democracy. “It is time to turn our backs on the unilateral search for security, in which we seek to shelter behind walls. Instead, we must persist in the quest for united action to counter both global warming and a weaponized world. “These twin goals will constitute vital components of stability as we move toward the wider degree of social justice that alone gives hope of peace. “Some of the needed legal instruments are already at hand, such as the Antiballistic Missile Treaty [note: this week US president Bush, apparently undaunted by the collective intelligence of 100 Nobel laureates, called the ABM treaty 'obsolete'], the Convention on Climate Change, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. As concerned citizens, we urge all governments to commit to these goals that constitute steps on the way to replacement of war by law. “To survive in the world we have transformed, we must learn to think in a new way. As never before, the future of each depends on the good of all. ” Check our link to the article on Canada’s Globe And Mail site for the full list of signatories. | Globe And Mail article | | Amnesty International | | AI human rights petition | | press release: No Security Without Human Rights | | top of page | |
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