Campaign Resolutions
adopted at
Globalising Peace!
the 2000 Canadian Peace Alliance Convention
October 20 – 22, 2000
Campaign resolutions summary
- resolution of solidarity with Cuba
- sanctions against Iraq
- protecting the Canadian dollar
- arms trade
- NATO and corporate globalisation
- Canadian involvement in the US National Missile Defence (NMD) program
- sanctions
- equality of peoples in Canada
- the use of depleted uranium in armaments
- 'child soldiers' in Canada
- children and war
- military action by Canadian armed forces outside Canada
- formation of a global nonviolent peace force
- nuclear weapons abolition
- the importation of plutonium (MOX) fuel by Canada
- military exports to the US
Emergency resolutions
- militarism in Colombia
- a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Full text of resolutions
1. RESOLUTION OF SOLIDARITY WITH CUBA
Submitted by: Canada-Cuba Friendship Association
WHEREAS the over forty-year US blockade of Cuba has been condemned by the United Nations;
WHEREAS this blockade not only bans trade with most US owned companies but negatively affects Cuba’s trade with all other countries, including Canada;
WHEREAS Cuba is a military threat to no one;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance urge all levels of government in Canada to normalise relations with Cuba in all areas.
2. SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ
Submitted by: CAW Local 199 Human Rights Committee
WHEREAS the strict ten-year economic embargo against Iraq is the longest, most comprehensive and most severe set of multilateral sanctions ever imposed;
WHEREAS the sanctions have had a grave effect upon people in Iraq, causing the death of 1.5 million people between 1991 and 1997 due to scarcities in food and medicine;
WHEREAS continuing the sanctions is a gross violation of the fundamental rights of the people of Iraq;
WHEREAS the sanctions violate international law, specifically the letter and spirit of the Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibits collective punishment , and the 1977 additional protocol, which states explicitly that "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited";
WHEREAS the effects of the sanctions on people in Iraq far outweigh any original rationale for them;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance condemn the sanctions against Iraq and urge the Government of Canada to use its influence to bring an end to them urgently;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance lobby the Government of Canada to resume its diplomatic relations with Iraq.
3. PROTECTING THE CANADIAN DOLLAR
Submitted by: CAW Local 199 Fight Back Committee
WHEREAS there are proposals by certain groups and individuals calling for the adoption of a common North American currency (probably the US dollar);
WHEREAS such a decision wold involve surrendering Canadian control over its monetary policy, thus making it even more difficult to protect the social and other conditions of people in Canada;
WHEREAS the adoption of a common currency would considerably limit Canadian sovereignty in general;
WHEREAS an independent foreign policy is critical to Canada’s assuming a positive role in assuring world peace;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance oppose the adoption of a common North American currency and support efforts to inform the Canadian population about the threat to Canadian autonomy, security and living standards that would result from such a step.
4. ARMS TRADE
Submitted by: Professionnel-le-s de la sante pour la survie mondaile/Health Professionals for Global Survival
WHEREAS Canada is selling military hardware and small arms to foreign police and military organizations that are well known to be systematically abusing human rights, exacerbating violent conflict and civil war;
WHEREAS the basic rights to health, education, housing and employment are ignored and/or undermined by many of the recipients of Canadian military exports;
WHEREAS according to 1997 statistics, Canada was ranked the seventh largest arms and military hardware exporter to third world countries;
WHEREAS, in 1998, Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, Israel, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Turkey and Venezuela purchased Canadian military hardware, even though the practice of torture by their police and/or military was reported that year by Amnesty International to be widespread, systematic, frequent and officially sanctioned;
WHEREAS between 1990 and 1998, the Government of Canada permitted military exports to numerous undemocratic and repressive regimes, such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Brunei and Qatar, which have never had democratic elections; Bahrain, where the legislature has been dissolved by decree since 1975; Kuwait, where women still do not have the right to vote or stand for election; Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Kenya, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon and Singapore, where women held less than 5% of the seats in their parliaments in 1999; China, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, where unions, strikes and collective bargaining are strictly prohibited; and India, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Tanzania, Singapore, Mozambique, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka, where central governments spend more on their militaries than on health care and education combined;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance facilitate a campaign to urge the Government of Canada and Canadian corporations not to export military goods and technology and/or small arms to countries that are involved in or under imminent threat of hostilities, the governments of which have a persistent record of seriously violating human rights.
5. NATO AND CORPORATE GLOBALISATION
Submitted by: Peace Alliance Winnipeg
WHEREAS the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) through its 1999 war against Yugoslavia violated international law;
WHEREAS NATO has been charged with serious war crimes by many experts in international law for its aggression against Yugoslavia;
WHEREAS NATO committed aggression against Yugoslavia to implement the Rambouillet accord that would have compelled the privatization of public assets and natural resources;
WHEREAS NATO appears to be acting in the interests of corporations based in powerful countries and to have used its bombing of Yugoslavia as a warning to any country that might resist corporate domination;
WHEREAS Canadian Peace Alliance policy calls for the dissolution of all military alliances;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance facilitate a campaign to expose the ties between NATO, militarism and corporate globalisation and the reasons why Canada should withdraw from NATO and why NATO should be dissolved;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance campaign support the strengthening of alternative forums such as the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to carry out realistic programs to increase security from war, especially disarmament;
6. CANADIAN INVOLVEMENT IN THE US NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENCE (NMD) PROGRAM
Submitted by: the Quebec section of the Canadian Peace Alliance
WHEREAS the Government of Canada may be asked to support the US National Missile Defence (NMD) program, to be operated by the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD);
WHEREAS NMD is a unilateral initiative of the United States that no other major country supports;
WHEREAS NMD is part of a United States plan to dominate space by "integrating Space Forces into warfighting capabilities" (as outlined in United States Space Command document "Vision for 2020");
WHEREAS NMD would be a step towards the deployment of weapons in space, create uncertainty and distrust, destabilize international relations and lead to a new arms race;
WHEREAS NMD would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, signed by the United States, and run counter to Canada’s commitment as a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to promote complete nuclear disarmament;
WHEREAS these Treaties are cornerstones of the international non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament regimes long supported by Canada;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance undertake a campaign to urge the Government of Canada to:
- declare its objection to the National Missile Defence program of the United States, and to the weaponisation of space in any form; and
- play a leadership role in banning nuclear weapons and missile flight tests.
7. SANCTIONS
Submitted by: Peace Alliance Winnipeg
WHEREAS the most powerful countries in the world have started to emphasize the use of sanctions against less powerful countries as a means of controlling their behaviour;
WHEREAS sanctions today often contravene international laws such as the ban on the use of food as a weapon;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance call for the adoption of an international convention that would ban sanctions that harm civilians and the entire economy of a country unless demanded by the population.
8. EQUALITY OF PEOPLES IN CANADA
Submitted by: Peace Alliance Winnipeg
WHEREAS the Government of Canada’s recent total denial of non-negotiated treaty rights of the Burnt Church First Nation involved an unjustified use of force;
WHEREAS the Government of Canada’s actions in Burnt Church may have poisoned the climate for a just settlement of the First Nations’ outstanding land claims and have protected the interests of the corporations that already have privileged access to Canada’s water, forest and mineral wealth;
Whereas a just resolution of the sharing of Canada’s rich natural resources among people in Canada, especially the First Nations, requires negotiations on the basis of formal equality;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance support the immediate, peaceful and just resolution of all outstanding land claims and support existing treaty rights of First Nations;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT any new constitution of Canada must recognize the equality and inherent rights of peoples in Canada;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance support the real social and economic, not just the formal, equality of peoples in Canada as one of the best ways to make Canada a voice of peace and justice in the world.
9. THE USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM IN ARMAMENTS
Submitted by: Quebec section of the Canadian Peace Alliance
WHEREAS depleted uranium is radioactive and remains so for 4,500 million years;
WHEREAS depleted uranium, when inhaled or ingested, accumulates and is permanently deposited in the bones and kidneys, causing irreversible damage, cancer and congenital birth defects;
WHEREAS depleted uranium is used in manufacturing certain armaments;
WHEREAS three hundred tonnes of depleted uranium were left in Iraq after the 1991 war and weapons containing depleted uranium were also used against Yugoslavia in 1999, affecting the Balkan region;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance undertake a campaign to press the Government of Canada to:
- prohibit any use of depleted uranium in armaments used by the Canadian Armed Forces; and
- play a leadership role in banning the use of depleted uranium in armaments worldwide.
10. ‘CHILD SOLDIERS’ IN CANADA
Submitted by: the Quebec section of the Canadian Peace Alliance
WHEREAS members of cadet corps in Canada range in age from 12 years to 19 years;
WHEREAS the Department of National Defence (DND) supplies these cadet corps with commanding officers and military uniforms;
WHEREAS DND invites secondary school classes to visit displays and demonstrations of military training exercises, equipment and weaponry, which are presented as exciting and adventurous;
WHEREAS the age of recruitment into the Canadian Armed Forces is 17 years;
WHEREAS the United Nations (UN) discourages the recruitment of child soldiers and advocates that the minimum age of military recruits (including voluntary recruits) be 18 years;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance urge the Government of Canada to change its policies so that:
- the minimum age of eligibility for participation in cadet corps be raised from 12 years to 18 years;
- the minimum age of recruitment into the Canadian Armed Forces be raised from 17 years to 18 years;
- any and all outreach by DND to persons under 18 years of age be prohibited by law; and
- United Nations efforts to have 18 years accepted internationally as the minimum age for military service be fully supported by Canada.
11. CHILDREN AND WAR
Submitted by: Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (national)
WHEREAS the Canadian Peace Alliance deplores the increased victimization and involvement of children in armed conflict;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance encourage measures intended to:
- prevent the use of children under 18 years of age in armed conflict;
- help children who have been abducted and otherwise abused in armed conflict;
- protect children from being victimized by armed conflict.
12. MILITARY ACTION BY CANADIAN ARMED FORCES OUTSIDE CANADA
Submitted by: Quebec section of the Canadian Peace Alliance
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance press the Government of Canada to ensure that no military action by the Canadian Armed Forces be undertaken outside Canada unless sanctioned by the United Nations according to international law.
13. FORMATION OF A GLOBAL NONVIOLENT PEACE FORCE
Submitted by: Quebec section of the Canadian Peace Alliance
WHEREAS it is preferable to prevent conflicts before they become war;
WHEREAS the international community has the responsibility to work to ensure that peace reigns throughout the world;
WHEREAS more efforts are acknowledged to feed conflicts than to resolve them;
WHEREAS armies are not trained to help resolve conflicts, in fact, quite the opposite;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance endorse the creation of a Global Nonviolent Peace Force.
14. NUCLEAR WEAPONS ABOLITION
Submitted by: Ontario-Quebec branch of Veterans Against Nuclear Arms (formerly the Toronto branch)
WHEREAS the recently concluded Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference 2000 has not allayed concerns as to whether the Nuclear Weapons States, Canada, and others, despite some declaratory concessions to the world movement for abolition, are fully committed to an immediate scheduled process to abolish nuclear weapons and to an international treaty.
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance
(a) continue to focus on the abolition of nuclear weapons, and
(b) facilitate a grass roots "nuclear watch" program, participating in, or initiating, public actions at war shows, military hardware bazaars, nuclear facilities, and nuclear "hot spots" generally across Canada, calling for abolition of nuclear weapons.
15. THE IMPORTATION OF PLUTONIUM (MOX) FUEL BY CANADA
Submitted by: Canadian Voice of Women for Peace
WHEREAS the Government of Canada and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) are proceeding with plans to import plutonium (MOX) fuel to be used in CANDU reactors in Chalk River, Ontario, despite the recommendation of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (SCFAIT) in December 1998 that the plan be scrapped;
WHEREAS the burning of plutonium (MOX) fuel does NOT eliminate plutonium, but rather promotes its use and increases the risk of plutonium being diverted from ‘peaceful’ use to weapons production;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance conduct a campaign to:
- inform the public of the environmental and economic costs of using plutonium (MOX) fuel in nuclear reactors; and
- continue pressuring the Government of Canada and AECL to:
- halt the importation of plutonium (MOX) fuel into Canada; and
- disallow the transportation of plutonium (MOX) fuel in Canada and in Canadian air-space.
16. MILITARY EXPORTS TO THE US
Submitted by: Professionnel-le-s de la sante pour la survie mondiale/Health Professionals for Global Survival
WHEREAS the Government of Canada has never placed any restriction on military exports to the United States of America and the USA is the only nation for which Canadian manufacturers and dealers are not required to obtain military export permits;
WHEREAS the USA appears to have no restrictions on the resale of purchased military goods and small arms to countries and military organizations that are known to abuse human rights;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance press the Government of Canada to require export permits for the sale of military goods and small arms to the US government and US-based corporations;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance lobby the Government of Canada to require end-use permits for the sale of military goods and small arms to the US government and US-based corporations.
EMERGENCY RESOLUTIONS
1. MILITARISM IN COLOMBIA
Submitted by: Peace & Disarmament Committee, CAW Local 199
WHEREAS the US government’s "Plan Colombia" will give $1.3 billion (US) in additional military aid and more US personnel to the Government of Colombia under the pretext of enforcing Washington’s "War on Drugs";
WHEREAS this is part of a wide US military strategy to intervene in internal conflict on the side of the Colombian state, armed forces and their paramilitary death squads, which have been responsible for the deaths of over 35,000 people over the last decade;
WHEREAS the US sanctions aerial spraying campaign to eradicate coca and poppy crops over hundreds of square miles of the countryside is having a devastating impact on the health of people in Colombia;
WHEREAS the Government of Canada has allowed the export of helicopters that could be used as weapons to the Government of Colombia;
WHEREAS numerous popular organizations in Colombia, and the main guerilla forces, have expressed support for a political solution to the conflict;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Peace Alliance press the Government of Canada to oppose US involvement in the Colombian civil war;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT this campaign support a political solution to the conflict in Colombia and urge the Government of Canada to do the same;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the campaign oppose the export of weapons and military goods from Canada to the Government of Colombia; the involvement of US and/or Canadian forces and Canadian security companies in the Colombian civil war; and the US-backed aerial spraying of herbicides.
2. A JUST SOLUTION TO THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
Submitted by: Peace Alliance Winnipeg
WHEREAS the aggression in the last month by Israel’s military forces against Palestinian women, men and children has resulted in over one hundred deaths and thousands of wounded;
WHEREAS the Palestinian Authority has called for an independent investigation into the conflict;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Canadian Peace Alliance support an immediate and lasting cease fire and an independent investigation into the circumstances leading to the use of force by the Government of Israel against Palestinian civilians;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Canadian Peace Alliance communicate these positions immediately to the Government of Canada and to the Security Council and Secretary General of the United Nations;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Canadian Peace Alliance support a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from occupied territories such as occupied East Jerusalem as called for by UN Security Council resolution 242 and the application of the right to return of the Palestinian people who have been forced from their land and homes.
October 2000