- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 1 October 1990 (13th Sitting) (see Doc. 6301, report of the Political Affairs Committee, Rapporteur: Mr Soares Costa; and Doc. 6309, opinion of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, Rapporteur: Mr Cucó). Text adopted by the Assembly on 1 October 1990 (13th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
1. The Assembly recalls its intensive work before the crisis on prospects for peace in the Middle East in general, and the Gulf region in particular, including the question of arms sales and human rights, denouncing among other things the lack of respect for an embargo on arms sales to Iran and Iraq when these countries were at war.
2. It stresses that Iraq's aggression against Kuwait cannot be allowed to succeed and that gross violations of human rights, including summary executions of protesting Iraqi and Kuwaiti nationals and the treatment of thousands of non-Iraqi citizens as hostages, as well as the violation of diplomatic premises, must cease.
3. It also expresses deep concern at the disturbance which Iraqi aggression has brought to the international oil market; it draws attention to the dangerous speculatory moves which the crisis has provoked in such a vital market and it recalls the dramatic consequences involved for the stability of economies and social welfare policies world-wide.
4. The Assembly denounces the Iraqi annexation of Kuwait, which is primarily an aggression against another Arab country and represents a threat above all to other countries of the region. It therefore rejects the shameless attempts of Saddam Hussein to present his aggression and violation of international law as a Western attack on the Arab world or else to present it in terms of a North-South conflict.
5. It condemns unreservedly Saddam Hussein's contempt for United Nations Security Council resolutions and calls upon Iraq to comply with them forthwith.It welcomes and supports the full implementation of Resolutions 660, 661, 662, 664, 665, 666, 667 and 670, calling in particularfor:
5.1 the immediate withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, whose sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity must be restored ;
5.2 the unconditional release of all hostages;
5.3 compliance by all United Nations member states with the economic embargo decided against Iraq, whose effectiveness is essential if the risk of resorting to force is to be avoided;
5.4 the authorisation of food and medical imports only for the purpose of relieving human suffering, the distribution of which must be supervised by the appropriate international humanitarian agencies; and
5.5 scrupulous observance of the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949 on the protection of civilians in wartime.
6. It also welcomes the Helsinki Summit of 9 September 1990 between President Bush and President Gorbachev, symbolic of the emergence of a new world order, expressing common determination to see Iraq's aggression end, and a readiness to envisage additional steps, if current ones fail, any such steps to be consistent with the United Nations Charter. It expresses the view that Europe must also play a decisive part - especially if it succeeds in speaking with one voice - in such a new world order aiming at respect for international law and justice.
7. The Assembly welcomes the fact that Western European Union, following the decisions taken by its Council of Ministers on 21 August 1990 in Paris, is playing an effective role in the enforcement of the embargo against Iraq and, by co-ordinating the action of the forces of its member states, alongside those of the United States and other countries, to back up the implementation of the Security Council's decisions, is making a major contribution to the creation of a new international order based on the prestige and authority of the United Nations.
8. The Assembly calls upon nations such as Japan to make a substantial contribution both to the costs of the deterrent operation and the losses caused to the economies of so many countries in the region and elsewhere.
9. The Assembly takes note of the Committee of Ministers'declaration of 12 September 1990 and encourages member governments and parliaments, including those represented with special guest status:
9.1 i. to demonstrate the widest international solidarity of Europe in fully implementing United Nations SecurityCouncil resolutions, which is the necessary prerequisite for a peaceful solution to the crisis;
9.2 to take steps to minimise the economic hardship suffered by the "frontline" states, and Turkey in particular, as well as those countries currently candidates for Council of Europe membership, whose plans to free their economies, without social upheaval, have been placed in jeopardy; support must also be given to non-oil-producing developing countries, which are the main victims of the price increases resulting from the Gulf crisis;
9.3 to pursue such opportunities to serve the cause of human rights as may be presented during or after the crisis, in order to:
a achieve an adequate settlement of existing Middle East problems;
b enhance the capacity and authority of the United Nations, especially in regard to the prevention of aggression and conflict;
9.4 to respond generously to the appeals by the governmental and non-governmental international organisations to help the persons displaced by the crisis ;
9.5 to increase their aid to developing countries to facilitate the resettlement of their repatriated nationals.
