Council of Europe Condemns unilateral use of force against Iraq by Council for Europe Parliamentary Assembly 4:43pm 22nd Mar, 2003   Strasbourg, 20.03.2003 - Peter Schieder, President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, today made the following statement:    "We are extremely worried about the beginning of the military attacks on Iraq. We hope that they will come to an end quickly and that casualties among the civilian population can be avoided.    There is no doubt whatsoever that Saddam Hussein is a dictator responsible for massive violations of human rights against the Iraqi people. There is no doubt that the world would be a better and safer place without him. But the response of the US government and its allies is disproportionate to the threat the Iraqi regime represented. There was no evidence for "pre-emptive self-defence".    No country, irrespective of its size or military power, has the right to so blatantly disregard the authority of the United Nations.    The unilateral use of force outside the international legal framework and without an explicit decision of the United Nations Security Council is detrimental to the authority and role of the United Nations and has to be strongly condemned. It is all the more difficult to comprehend as it comes at a moment when a majority of the international community believed that recent pressure on Iraq was working.    We continue to fully support the UN Security Council as the only authority to decide questions of peace and war in the world. International law and collective security have been, and will be, our best defence against the Saddam Husseins of this world. If we give up on collective security, we shall hand victory to those who want to spread terror." Visit the related web page
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