Oppose the War, Aid the Victims

Date: 20 March 2003

Union Aid Abroad is today launching an emergency appeal for assistance to the innocent Iraqi and Kurdish victims of war.

The ACTU and its overseas aid agency Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA today condemned in the strongest terms the joint military offensive against Iraq.

"The Howard government, acting without the support of the Australian public, has joined a pre-emptive assault on Iraq, even though options for peaceful negotiations for disarmament are not exhausted," said Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA's Executive Officer, Peter Jennings.

"We recognise that Saddam Hussein's regime is a brutal dictatorship, but this war is unlikely to bring real freedom to the Iraqi and Kurdish peoples. We call on the United Nations and the international community to ensure that disarmament occurs peacefully".

Union Aid Abroad urges the Australian government to confront the real and complex causes of terrorism: the dramatic gap between rich and poor; the ongoing conflict in Palestine; and US unilateral intervention. Instead of defending US interests, the Australian government should be advancing the goals of peace, equity, justice and greater economic equality throughout the world.

The victims of the US led war will be the women and children of Iraq. The UN estimates that over 500,000 will be killed or seriously injured in the first few weeks of fighting. Without either medicines or electricity, hospitals will be unable to function. Without electricity, neither the water or sewerage systems will operate - the impact on the civilian population, especially children, of the subsequent diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera and hepatitis will cause even more deaths.

Union Aid Abroad is today launching an emergency appeal for assistance to the innocent Iraqi and Kurdish victims of war. Funds collected will be delivered via Norwegian People's Aid and Swiss Workers Aid, labour movement aid agencies working with workers and their families in Iraq. They are preparing to support camps for people displaced by conflict to the Suleimaniya area in northern Iraq.

To make a tax-deductible donation, please ring:-

1800 888 674 (free-call - business hours)

(02) 9264 9343

web: www.apheda.org.au

Or mail to Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA Level 3, 377 Sussex St Sydney 2000

For further information

Contact:	Peter Jennings
Union:	APHEDA Union Aid Abroad
Phone:	02 9264 9343
Contact Mobile:	0409 047 353
Fax:	02 9261 1118
Email:	apheda@labor.net.au
WWW:	http://www.apheda.org.au

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