The Criminalization of War. Tun Dr. Mahathir’s Open Letter to Muslims in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Yemen
IN FOCUS, 4 Dec 2017
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad – Global Research
28 Nov 2017 – We received from Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia (1981-2003) an important message, addressed to Muslims in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Yemen.
This message, however, is also addressed to the U.S. and its indefectible British ally which have relentlessly supported Saudi Arabia’s war against the people of Yemen, a criminal act tantamount to genocide under international law.
The U.S. has been instrumental in supporting the naval blockade on the delivery of food and medicine to Yemen’s starving children. In turn, the corporate media has payed lip service to the inaction of Western governments and their self-proclaimed “international community”. Both the US and Britain have sold billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia, while also advising them on the conduct of military operations. In the words of Rep. Ron Paul
“[Why does] Washington support Saudi Arabia – a tyrannical state with one of the worst human rights record on earth – as it commits by what any measure is a genocide against the Yemeni people?”
Let us endorse this important message by Tun Mahathir who in the course of the last twelve years has sought to criminalize war as well as create the required legal conditions for the indictment of the political architects of modern warfare.
The Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalize War
In 2005, after having served as Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad initiated a pathbreaking endeavor which consisted in criminalizing all acts of war. This historic initiative under the helm of Tun Dr. Mahathir resulted in the formulation of “The Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalize War”:
“Killings in war are as criminal as the killings within societies in times of peace. Since killings in peace time are subject to the domestic law of crime, killings in war must likewise be subject to the international law of crimes. This should be so irrespective of whether these killings in war are authorized or permitted by domestic law.”
The full text of the December 2005 Declaration to criminalize war is included below.
Read the Declaration carefully. It is an important document. Tun Mahathir “has a dream” that one day all wars will be abolished. The signatories of the December 2005 Declaration share Tun’s resolve to criminalize war.
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Open letter from Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad to the Muslim community in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Yemen
The Kuala Lumpur Declaration to Criminalize War
Text of Declaration
15 December 2005
THE Kuala Lumpur Global Peace Forum of concerned peoples from all five continents
UNITED in the belief that peace is the essential condition for the survival and well-being of the human race,
DETERMINED to promote peace and save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,
OUTRAGED over the frequent resort to war in the settlement of disputes between nations,
DISTURBED that militarists are preparing for more wars,
TROUBLED that use of armed force increases insecurity for all,
TERRIFIED that the possession of nuclear weapons and the imminent risk of nuclear war will lead to the annihilation of life on earth.
To achieve peace we now declare that:
- Wars increasingly involve the killing of innocent people and are, therefore, abhorrent and criminal.
- Killings in war are as criminal as the killings within societies in times of peace.
- Since killings in peace time are subject to the domestic law of crime, killings in war must likewise be subject to the international law of crimes. This should be so irrespective of whether these killings in war are authorized or permitted by domestic law.
- All commercial, financial, industrial and scientific activities that aid and abet war should be criminalised.
- All national leaders who initiate aggression must be subjected to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
- All nations must strengthen the resolve to accept the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and institute methods to settle international disputes by peaceful means and to renounce war.
- Armed force shall not be used except when authorised by a Resolution passed by two-thirds majority of the total membership of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
- All legislators and all members of Government must affirm their belief in peace and pledge to strive for peace.
- Political parties all over the world must include peace as one of their principal objectives.
- Non-Governmental Organisations committed to the promotion of peace should be set up in all nations.
- Public servants and professionals, in particular in the medical, legal, educational and scientific fields, must promote peace and campaign actively against war.
- The media must actively oppose war and the incitement to war and consciously promote the peaceful settlement of international disputes.
- Entertainment media must cease to glorify war and violence and should instead cultivate the ethos of peace.
- All religious leaders must condemn war and promote peace.
To these ends the Forum resolves to establish a permanent Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur to –
IMPLEMENT this Initiative.
OPPOSE policies and programmes that incite war.
SEEK the cooperation of NGOs worldwide to achieve the goals of this Initiative.
Signed by:
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
Prof. Francis A. Boyle
Dr. Helen Caldicott
Mr. Matthias Chang
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky
Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi
Mr Denis J. Halliday
Dato’ Mukhriz Mahathir
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar
Dato’ Michael O.K. Yeoh
Mr. Hans-Christof Von Sponeck
From Left to Right: Francis A.Boyle, Helen Caldicott, Denis J. Halliday, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Hans-Christof Von Sponeck, Michel Chossudovsky, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
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Copyright © Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Global Research, 2017
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