Petition on Behalf of the Children of Iraq Submitted to the United Nations Charging President Bush and U.S. Authorities Actions Constitute Acts of Genocide

Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), Fall, 2001 by Francis Boyle

(44.) These human rights provisions of the United Nations Charter were further elaborated upon and specified by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by consensus by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enunciates the basic standards of international human rights law to which all individuals around the world are entitled. Indeed, it is the official position of the United Nations Organization and of the Respondent United States of America that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is binding upon all States and for the benefit of all People around the world as a matter of customary international law.

(45.) Among the plethora of rights guaranteed to the Applicants by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that are currently being systematically violated by the Respondents, the most sacred and most fundamental right of all is their very right to life itself, as recognized by Article 3 thereof: "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." Respondents act as if the "everyone" referred to in Article 3 does not include the Applicants, The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq.

(46.) Applicants also assert that the Respondents have grossly, consistently, and systematically violated the fundamental right that has been guaranteed to them by Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

(47.) Applicants, The 4.5 Million Children of Iraq, also assert that the Respondents have violated all of the rights guaranteed to them by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989.

(48.) Applicants also assert that the Respondents have violated the special protections of international humanitarian law guaranteed to children by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Additional Protocol I thereto of 1977.

(49.) Under the human rights provisions of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Genocide Convention, the Children's Convention, and the Fourth Geneva Convention and Protocol I, Applicants are proper parties to invoke the jurisdiction of the United Nations in requesting Relief on their own behalf in order to be relieved from the inhuman, degrading, cruel, criminal, and genocidal conditions perpetrated upon them by the Respondents.

(50.) Due to the fact that the Respondents represent and constitute the only self-styled "superpower" sitting as one of the five Permanent Members of the Security Council, the Respondents have repeatedly and abusively used and threatened to use their voting power and their so-called "veto power" to continue the international economic embargo upon Iraq in a manner that is ultra vires the "primary responsibility" for the maintenance of international peace and security that has been conferred upon the Security Council by Article 24(1) and (2) of the United Nations Charter: "2. In discharging these duties the Security Council shall act in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the Nations." According to Article 1(3) of the Charter, one of the foremost Purposes of the United Nations is proclaimed to be "... promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all ..."