We, the undersigned, defending the right of Iraq to independence, sovereignty,
unity and territorial integrity, rejecting the attempts of Iraqi puppets promoted
by the US occupation to trade the national rights of Iraqis and to institutionalise
via census the criminal demographic engineering they have pursued by force, declare that:
From the first day of the US-UK occupation of Iraq , the occupation began to undertake a
series of measures, directly or through its local allies, to destroy Iraq as a state and a nation
and to partition it along ethnic and sectarian lines.
Today, the puppet government of the occupation and its Kurdish partners are trying to hold
a population census in Kirkuk province whose aim is to give a permanent legal character to
the criminal social engineering, ethnic cleansing and demographic changes that have been
implemented under occupation.[1] This could unleash a full blown civil war across Iraq, and
potentially lead to its partition and a consequent regional war.
In addition to the death of more than one million Iraqis, the ethnic cleansing and other means
pursued by the United States, United Kingdom and their allies in order to implement the process
of partitioning Iraq, in its cities and regions, have caused the forced migration of
2.5 million Iraqis out of Iraq and the forced displacement of 2.5 million others from
their homes inside Iraq.The ethnic cleansing suffered by the population in the provinces
of Mosul, Diyala, Salahuddin and the Baghdad area, and most notably in Kirkuk and the so-
called “disputed areas” — where the population is forced by various means, including systematic
assassinations, bombing civilians, collective punishment, transfer, displacement, deportation
and other crimes against humanity, to migrate only to be replaced by people from other
provinces or even from outside Iraq — is a clear crime of destruction and part of the
intended partition of Iraq. The United States , the United Kingdom and their allies waged
an illegal war of aggression against Iraq and occupied its territory. This war in itself is a
crime punishable under international law.
International law, in particular The Hague Regulations of 1907, the Geneva Conventions and
additional protocols, and the Genocide Convention, explicitly prohibits occupying powers from
instituting changes aimed at permanently altering the foundational structures of occupied
territories, including the judiciary, economy, political institutions and social fabric.[2]
International law considers the systematic transfer, deportation or displacement of popula-
tion a crime against humanity.[3] Residents of affected areas, the Iraqi national forces, the
displaced, and the majority of the people of Iraq declare this census null and void. It has no
binding legal consequences and cannot and should not be used to support or justify the
intended partition of Iraq .
We demand that no census be conducted before the free return of all Iraqi refugees.
We demand that the question of ethnicity not be used to instigate the partition of Iraq
and that it be removed from any census, now and in the future. We declare as fraudulent
the justification under occupation of a census on the basis of long term planning in the
context of a temporary and unstable demographic situation.
We demand that the United Nations and the Arab League and all governments, person-
alities, organisations and institutions support the demands of the people of Iraq by not
recognising the results of this census, and by not assisting in conducting it. This census
is designed to reward criminals for their crimes at the expense of their victims.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Dr Ian Douglas, coordinator of the International Initiative to Prosecute US Genocide in Iraq and member of the Executive Committee of the BRussells Tribunal
Abdul Ilah Albayaty, Iraqi political analyst and member of the Executive Committee of the BRussells Tribunal
Hana Al Bayaty, member of the Executive Committee of the BRussells Tribunal and the International Initiative to Prosecute US Genocide in Iraq
Dirk Adriaensens, member of the Executive Committee of the BRussells Tribunal
Prof. Em. François Houtart, Participant in the Bertrand Russell War Crimes Tribunal on US Crimes in Vietnam in 1967, Director of the Tricontinental Center (Cetri), spiritual father and member of the International Committee of the World Social Forum of Porto Alegre, Executive Secretary of the Alternative World Forum, President of the International League for Rights and Liberation of People, Honorary President of the BRussells Tribunal and senior advisor to the President of the United Nations General Assembly Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, recipient of the 2009 UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence
Prof. Dr. Lieven De Cauter, philosopher, K.U. Leuven / Rits, initiator of the BRussells Tribunal
Prof. Patrick Deboosere , Demographer, VUB – member of the BRussells Tribunal executive committee
Ward Treunen, former TV producer – member of the BRussells Tribunal executive committee
Hugo Wanner, VZW Netwerk Vlaanderen – member of the BRussells Tribunal executive committee
NOTES
[1] Forced displacement and the construction of walled-in districts and their associated regimes, by contributing to demographic changes in Iraq, contravene international humanitarian law, including Article 49, paragraphs 1 and 5, of The Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in the Time of War, 1949, and as such constitute war crimes.
[2] Articles 43 and 55 of The Hague IV Regulations on Laws and Customs of War on Land, 1907 (HR); Articles 54 and 64 of The Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in the Time of War, 1949. Occupying powers are obliged to manage the resources of the occupied territory under the law of usufruct only. This means that while they may use national resources as necessary to the upkeep of the wellbeing of the population in the occupied territory (Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 64) they cannot profit from the use of such resources or award themselves partial or whole ownership of such resources. The US remains a belligerent occupier of Iraq .
[3] Article 7 (1) (d) of the Elements of Crimes of the International Criminal Court.
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ENDORSED BY
Denis Halliday
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Ireland
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Former UN Assistant Secretary General & United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq 1997-98, recipient of the 2003 Gandhi International Peace Award
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Niloufer hagwatB
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India
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Vice President of Indian Lawyers Association
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Matthias Chang
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Malaysia
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Trustee of The Kuala Lumpur Foundation To Criminalise War
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Dr. Curtis F.J. Doebbler
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USA
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International Human Rights Lawyer
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Karen Parker
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USA
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Attorney , Association of Humanitarian Lawyers, partners of the BRussells Tribunal
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Salah Omar Al Ali
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Iraq
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ex iraqi minister/ex Iraq ‘s ambassador to UN
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Abdulkarim Hani
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Iraq
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Former Health minister
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Ahmed Manai
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Tunesia
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Former expert with the UN, President of the Tunisian Institute of International Relations – Tunesia
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Naji Haraj
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Iraq
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Former diplomat, human rights advocate
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Sabah Al Mukhtar
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Iraq/UK
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President of the Arab Lawyers Association
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Eduardo Galeano
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Uruguay
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Essayist, journalist, historian, and activist
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Prof. Michel Chossudovsky
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Canada
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Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)
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Dr Zulaiha Ismail
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Malaysia
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Perdana Global Peace Organisation
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Dr Souad Al Azzawi
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Iraq
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Researcher on the use of DU in Iraq , Asst. Prof. Env. Eng – University of Baghdad
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Gideon Polya
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Australia
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retired senior biochemist, author: biochemical scientific publications and global avoidable mortality
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Paola Manduca
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Italy
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Scientist, New Weapons Committee
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Stephen Lendman
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USA
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Writer, analyst, co-host of The Global Research News Hour
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Felicity Arbuthnot
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UK
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Journalist
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Dahr Jamail
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USA
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Journalist
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Nicolas Davies
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USA
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Author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq .
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Max Fuller
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UK
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Author of For Iraq , the Salvador Option Becomes Reality and Crying Wolf, deaths squads in Iraq
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Merry Fitzgerald
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Belgium
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Europe-Turkmens of Iraq Friendships Association
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Sigyn Meder
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Sweden
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Member of the Iraq Solidarity Association in Stockholm
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Joachim Guilliard
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Germany
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Journalist, Anti-war movement
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Inge Van De Merlen
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Belgium
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Member of the BRussells Tribunal
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