Pierre
Genevier
813 E. 4th
Place
Los Angeles,
CA 90013-1882
Email:
p_genevier@yahoo.com
Dr. Ismael
Gaspar Martins, Angola
Mr. Stefan
Tafrov, Bulgaria
Mr. Martin
Belinga-Eboutou, Cameroon
Mr. Juan
Gabriel Valdes, Chile
Mr. Wang
Yingfan, China
Mr.
Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, France
Dr. Gunter
Pleuger, Germany
Mr. Mamady
Traore, Guinea
Mr. Adolfo
Aguilar Zinser, Mexico
Mr. Munir
Akram, Pakistan
Mr. Sergey
Lavrov, Russian Federation
Mr.
Inocencio F. Arias, Spain
Mr. Mikhail
Wehbe, Syrian Arab Republic
Sir Jeremy
Greenstock, United Kingdom
Mr. John
Negroponte, USA
Mr. Jan
Kavan, President of the General Assembly
Copy: Mrs.
Catherine Bertini, UN Secretariat
Los
Angeles, April 7, 2003
Object: Proposals made to Country Leaders and
International Organizations (I.O.) Chiefs, Letter sent to US Personalities and
3 I.O. Managers, Response from the UN Secretariat, and War with Iraq.
Dear MM. Ambassadors,
I take the liberty of writing you to present two proposals I made
to the UN Secretariat (and other I.O.s) and to country Leaders. One of these two proposals could have
lead to a peaceful solution of the Iraqi crisis. I also would like to forward you several letters and documents
related to the proposals and my legal case, to discuss the recent response I
received from the UN Secretariat, and to make few more remarks on theses
subjects and the actuality.
The two proposals and their impact on 'your' effort to maintain
peace and to fight poverty.
The first proposal (att. 5) is a computer project proposal whose objective
is to develop a computer system and a codification of statistics that would
improve the transfer and integration of statistical data at the worldwide
level. In September 1997, I submitted
the proposal to a European cooperation program, and later presented it to more
than 150 countries. Many experts around
the world (from both I.O.s and countries) wrote to express their interest or to
give their support and comments. In
att. 5, the summary description of the initial proposal presents some of its
technical benefits and in att. 4, I have explained briefly why the proposal
would have a significant impact on the fight against poverty. You will also easily see that it would strengthen the cooperation and
coordination among the different UN agencies (and more generally among all
I.O.s)!
The second proposal is more a management (or governance) proposal
since its objective is to establish an age limit of 65 for country Leaders and
I.O. Chiefs. I first explained the
importance of paying careful attention to the time factor and of 'respecting'
the 65 years limit for ‘leaders’ in a letter addressed to G8 Leaders (except
France) and I.O. Chiefs on April 2000 (att. 6). Later I gave more arguments (scientific,
good sense, ethical, ) to justify the proposal, and explained why it would have
a significant impact on our effort to maintain peace and to fight poverty
around the world. Last year on May 29th 2002 (att. 3, page 2), long
before anyone had started talking about a possible conflict with Iraq, I had
mentioned the possibility of a war and the fact that this proposal could
prevent it.
In att. 2, you will find a summary of the arguments I had
presented in my previous letters and in att. 3, I made few other remarks on
these subjects. I would like now to add
a new argument that take a special dimension in the present international
context (I had assumed it was obvious).
Some leaders use (d) their position (and ‘power’) to cover their
‘dishonesty’ or to avoid prosecution for the frauds they organized or the crimes
they committed. This is true for Mr.
Saddam Hussein, of course, but it is also true for some Leaders of democracy
like Mr. Chirac who uses the immunity associated with his position to avoid
talking to the justice or simply to avoid any prosecution. By staying in ‘power’ as close as possible
to their death, some leaders simply give themselves lifetime impunity!
Moreover, since in our information (and ‘more democratic’) society
the public opinion plays a increasingly important role, the efforts made to
cover the ‘dishonesty’ of high level politicians or high level civil servants
take often outrageous proportions and lead to ‘crimes’ that can be even more
serious than the one they are intended to cover (I will give examples of this
below)! The establishment of an age
limit of 65 for Leaders is then more than pertinent, because it would,
independently from the other benefits already given, encourage Leaders to pay a
more careful attention to what they do, or otherwise they would be at risk to
be prosecuted during their ‘retirement’ years, and it would also limit the
damage made by the efforts to cover sometimes lifetimes of dishonesty, crimes
or frauds.
There is no doubt that the two proposals concern directly (or fall
within the competence of) the UN Secretariat, particularly its management, Mr.
Annan (65), Mrs. Frechette, … Making
these proposals is not at all easy, not 'free' and not without risk. They
represent many years of professional experience gained in different work
environments and countries, and many years of research work made under
difficult condition. Because of their
international import and some of their benefits (not welcome by 'some'), they
created me many serious difficulties in the different countries where I lived
in and are therefore part of my legal case.
The UN Secretariat (Mr. Annan, the UN Chief Statistician, …) had/has no
excuse for not answering my letters and ignoring my proposals and work, the
recent answer does not correct the problem.
The UN Secretariat’s response and the ‘Role of the UN
Secretary-General’.
Indeed, the response from the UN Secretariat to my letter of
January 14 2003 (att. 1.2, 1.1) is not at all ‘appropriate’, but clearly
consistent with the previous answer or more precisely previous absence of answer. First it says ‘thank you for sharing your
thoughts’. The proposal to improve
the transfer of statistics was supported in writing by international
organizations experts (from the EC, CIS, ILO, UNESCO, UNIDO, …), by countries
experts (National Institute of Statistics directors from England, Norway,
Romania, … ) and by politicians (at least 2 G8 Leaders had sent their
encouragements), therefore it should be considered as more than ‘my thoughts’,
even if I had the idea and it was judged to be an ‘innovative idea’!
(att. 5 contains only some of the letters received)
Concerning the proposal to establish an age limit of 65 for
country Leaders and I.O. Chiefs, the recent decision of Dr. Brundtland not to
seek another term mainly because of her age is a clear ‘indirect’ support to
the proposal. And several other
personalities had also 'stressed' (or at least mentioned) the importance of
paying a careful attention to this 65 years limit. The Secretary-General (who is also the Chairman of the CEB
committee) ignored the letters of UN agencies experts, country experts and
country Leaders, and the position taken by Dr. Brundtland. And he ignored the link between these
proposals and the fight against poverty and the effort to maintain peace in the
World, although I had clearly 'pictured' these links and the many benefits they
would bring to everyone.
Moreover, my letter of January 14 (att. 1.1) raised some legal
issues that the UN cannot ignore since one of its agencies, the WIPO,
encourages the protection of intellectual property, another one, UNOHCHR,
defends human rights, and a third, HCR, helps the refugees around the
world. The idea behind the project
proposal was said to be ‘innovative’,
the UN Secretariat cannot let France rob me everything I have and lower me down
in front of the international community and possible employers, to steal me
more easily the intellectual work realized to present this ‘innovative’ idea, not on such an
important proposal. Or let the
different countries refuse me the asylum to make it impossible for me to obtain
justice.
It was clearly explained in my documents that the 'political'
evaluation of the proposals and work is necessary to determine the violation of
article 3 (the 'degrading treatment') by France. Moreover, this evaluation, the international import of the
proposals and the well-founded of my remarks on the legal issues raised by my
case or on the exaggerated corruption in France help to understand my
difficulties (persecutions, ) and to appreciate the 'credibility' of my asylum
demand. No one better than those who
have the responsibility to decide on these matters can give a just point of
view on these issues and understand my difficult situation. The UN Secretariat should have (have had) a
point of view on the 'technical' proposal (to improve the statistical
information system), management proposal (65 limit for leaders) and legal
issues (legal help system,).
The letter of the public inquiries unit also state ‘I must
advise you that in order for any proposal to be considered by the members of
the United Nations, an item must be first presented by an official
representative of the member state,…’.
This is not true since according to the UN charter, the Secretary
General has the responsibility to ‘bring to the attention of the Security
council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of
international peace and security’.
My letter and its attached documents explained that my proposals and
remarks were one of the reasons why I was persecuted in France
and was asking for asylum in the US.
When you know that Mr. Chirac is 70 and Mr. Jospin was 65 last years and
that they were both candidate at the Presidential election, it is clear that
they would not present the proposal on the age limit before the UN!
The UN Secretary-General should have understood why France did not
want to talk about or present my proposals to the International Community. It was obvious that, if both Mr. Chirac and
Mr. Jospin had talked about the age limit proposal (or the other proposal),
they could not have run for President.
And I had explained in my letters the other 'national' political and
legal issues of my case (exaggerated
corruption in France, 'implication' of Mr. Chirac in several frauds, unfair
legal aid systems,). Mr. Annan had the
resources to ask for an additional evaluation, if necessary (the UN don't
hesitate to pay high-level experts for this kind of work). He had the possibility to discuss the
proposals with the CEB committee for coordination. And he had the responsibility to bring the issues raised
to the attention of the Security Council since it was obvious that it was
related to 'the maintenance of international peace and security' (the
situation in Iraq, Israel,, confirms this).
To ask me to contact the US Mission is not appropriate either,
because I had mentioned that I was having difficulties related to my refugee
status with the INS and the social services!
Moreover, since my letter of January 14 was addressed to the US
President, and other high level US officials, it would not be surprising to
hear that the US mission at the UN was also informed. And finally, everyone
agreed that the military pressure imposed by the US was useful to obtain the
Iraqi cooperation, therefore you cannot expect those who must push for war to
give also the solution to make peace!
You also can note that the response (att. 1.2) is made on behalf of Mr.
Annan although my letter was send to Mrs. Frechette! And it does not say who has transferred it to the Public Inquiries
Unit, and who has ‘read and noted’ it, therefore no one, but the acting chief,
is really responsible for this answer and given his position, he has probably
no expertise in these matters!
In my letter of January 14 (att. 1), I had mentioned the
'unethical' behavior of Mr. Annan, and I would like now to look at his
work. The UN Internet page called ‘The
Role of the Secretary-General’ says: ‘The Secretary-General is a
symbol of the United Nations ideals and a spokesman for the interests of the world’s
peoples, in particular the poor and vulnerable among them’. Mr. Flemming Larsen's words are very clear
when he says: 'It is also true that never before has the gap between the
rich and the poor been as wide as it is today.
And the gap is continuing to widen' (see att. 1). Mr. Annan who cannot ignore this fact,
should have paid a much more careful attention to proposals that are obviously
in the interest of the poor and very poor (especially when they are supported
by many experts). He could have also
paid attention to my personal situation that is extremely difficult for many
years now although I have made the effort to defend a project (beneficial for
I.O.) that received many letters of support!
The internet page also says: ‘The secretary General would fail
if he did not take careful account of the concerns of Member states, but he
must speak and act for peace, even at the risk, from time to
time, of challenging or disagreeing with those same member states’. Mr. Annan did not act for peace,
since he indirectly promoted the impunity of leaders responsible of serious
crimes by admitting the part of responsibility of the UN Secretariat,
particularly the Peace Keeping Operation Dept. he headed, in the Rwanda
massacre without assuming any consequence for himself, and simply saying 'I
am sorry'. He shows no respect for
the new generation and the poor by not respecting the age limit of 65. Introducing the idea of ‘conscience of the
world’ and establishing the International Criminal Court or a special tribunal
for Rwanda is of relative importance, if the Secretary-General, himself, shows
very little 'conscience', as Mr. Wolfensohn wrote 'what use law books if the
judges are corrupt'!
‘The Secretary-General is also Chairman of the administrative
Committee on coordination (ACC), which brings together the Executive Heads of
all UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies twice a year in order to
further coordination and cooperation in the entire range of substantive and
management issues facing the United Nations Systems’. As we have seen above, Mr. Annan has failed
to obtain the official position of the CEB committee members on the two
important proposals, although at least one member, Dr. Brundtland, had found
that an age limit of 65 for I.O. Chiefs was more than justified, and although a
unique system to collect the statistics and a unique codification of statistics
would strengthen the cooperation and the coordination between UN agencies. He has also totally ignored the point of
view of the UN agencies experts who had given in writing their support for the
project to improve the transfer and integration of statistics.
‘One of the most vital roles played by the Secretary General is
the use of this ‘good offices’ – steps taken publicly and in private, drawing
upon his independence, impartiality and integrity, to prevent international
disputes from arising, escalating or spreading. Since becoming Secretary- General, Mr. Annan has made use of his
good offices in range of situation including Cyprus, East Timor, Lybia, Iraq,..’ Obviously, his ‘good-offices’ for Iraq did
not work at all and he failed to discuss the age limit issue publicly, instead
of preventing an international dispute, he has created a dispute even bigger
than the Iraq conflict itself, since the Iraq crisis has divided the United
Nations Security Council (and the world), and has lead to an 'unauthorized' and
‘not fully justified’ war! He has shown
no 'independence', because he covered the French politicians bad
behavior, no 'impartiality' because he wanted to hold his position after
65, and no 'integrity', because he indirectly try to steal my research
work and innovative ideas.
‘Reform.
...Shortly after taking office, the secretary general presented a sweeping
reform package aimed at helping the United Nations to change with the times …A
new post of Deputy Secretary General was created to assist the
secretary-general in the array of responsibility assigned to his office’.
Obviously, the Deputy Secretary-General has no word to say since the
letter that is addressed to her is responded on behalf of the Secretary-General
(unless Mrs. Frechette was embarrassed by the fact that Mr. Chrestien is 69 and
Mr. Johnston is 68). Moreover, during
the past 5 years ½ I informed several concerned high-level UN secretariat
managers including Mr. Annan of my proposals and had kept them informed on the
letters of support I had received, but they never responded. Countries Leaders
(Italy, England,...), country ‘chief statisticians’ (Romania, England, Norway,...)
and I.O high level managers (OECD, Eurostat,...) responded to my letters, but
not the Secretary-General or the UN Chief statistician! It seems that no one feels he has any
responsibility at the UN. 'To change with the time' do not mean to
change 10 years after the 'time'!
‘Africa. The Secretary-General has sought to
maintain a focus on Africa and to mobilize international support for Africa’s
efforts to chart a path to peace and higher levels of development….and to
address such key questions of development as debt, governance and the spread of
diseases such as AIDS’. Obviously
he has also failed to maintain the focus on Africa since for the past three
years the focus has clearly changed, first to the middle east problem with the
intifada, then to the war on terror after 9-11 2001, and now to Iraq! How can Mr. Annan let 3 old leaders and a
group of ‘disturbed’ criminals change the direction and the 'focus' given by
the Leaders of more than 170 countries! Although an effort was made on the
Debt problem, Mr. Annan has failed to address governance issues (the leader's
responsibilities, the leader's immunity or impunity, …) by giving guidelines
like the preparation of the new generations, the long term planning, the
'respect' of the global objectives, and the establishment of an age limit for
country leaders. He has also failed to avoid the spread of the AIDS disease
that destroys Africa as already mentioned!
‘Millenium report. …The report is the most comprehensive
presentation of the UN’s mission in its 55-year history, and call on member
states to commit themselves to an action plan for ending poverty and
inequality, improving education, reducing HIV/AIDS, safeguarding the
environment and protecting peoples from deadly conflict and violence. The secretary general also strongly embraces
new information technology and sees a major role for IT in fighting poverty,
promoting human development and improving United Nations operations.’
The commitment of member states to an action plan for ending poverty and
inequality seems to be forgotten as well as protecting people from deadly
conflict. Mr. Annan, pro-war countries,
and anti-war countries forgot to talk about 'our' global objectives, I will
come back on this point in another paragraph below. If Mr. Annan sees a major role for IT, why is he waiting so long
to discuss an IT proposal that is supported by so many experts, and to use IT
to improve UN operations!
Deception, cheating, delay, dishonesty, lies… strategy and a personal experience.
We understand that the US and some other countries were very
disappointed with (the word ‘fed up of ‘ was used, I believe) the
behavior of Mr. Saddam Hussein, and, of course, ‘they’ certainly seemed to have
good reasons for that according to the information given in the press and
media. But they should not have been
surprised by his behavior or by this deception, cheating, delay, dishonesty,
lies,…, strategy, because this is a ‘treatment’ often imposed by governments
and administrations (particularly to the poor!). I will now relate to you a personal experience that is
unfortunately linked to some of the subjects I am discussing here.
In 1993, I was illegally fired by a local administration near
Paris (the Department of Essonne), and I was also threatened to have serious
problems for the rest of my life, if I did not accept to be fired
without any compensation! This could
seem a very simple (and unfortunately usual) story, if I had not work at the
time on a computer system to improve the management and the control of travel
expenses, if the wife of the President of the administration had not started to
get paid for no work exactly at the same time I was fired, if the Senator
President had not been sentenced for a fraud on his travel expenses and for
paying his wife for no work, if Mr. Chirac and several of his close colleagues
had not been accused of very similar frauds (paying employees for no work,
cheating on the travel expenses,…), and if I had not worked on the proposals I
am presenting you.
After the Senator President was sentenced for his frauds in 05/98,
I explained to my first judges that I was fired to facilitate the frauds and
mentioned the threat I had received. The
administration did not deny the accusations, and the judges gave me reason
(in 11/98) and asked the Department of Essonne (DE) to pay me a significant
compensation (about 70 000 $).
But, then everything was done to protect the Senator, to rob me my
judgment and everything else I had, to keep me from getting a job, and to make
sure that the press and media would not talk about my difficulties, proposals
and work! The appeal judgment (in
05/00), full of lies, cancelled the first judgment I had obtained although I
had brought more proof of the dishonesty of the people and administration who
had fired me. The Supreme Court
confirmed the appeal judgment with a short decision full of lies and unfair
also (02/01)!
In April 98 I had informed Mr. Chirac of my project proposal and
described in which context I had worked on it (illegal dismissal, threat,
...). At first, 'he' sent me his strong
encouragement (and forwarded my documents to the government), but after 'he'
refused to intervene for the compliance with my judgment although it was an
obvious political matter and the mistakes were done to protect his dishonest
party colleague. The wife of Paris
mayor had also been paid for no work by the dishonest Senator and sentenced for
this fraud, and this scandal lead to the loss of the Paris City Hall for Mr.
Chirac's party! The Finance Minister,
Mr. Strauss Kahn, who studied the proposal and refused to support it, was
forced to resign from his post soon after, because he was suspected of serious
frauds too. Similarly, the French
European Commissionaire for Research, Mrs. Cresson (who also was accused of
paying a collaborator for no real work) refused to support the project proposal
(or to give me a job)! She also was
forced to resign (and the EC with her) as you know!
Both of these politicians never clearly explained why they refused
to support the proposal, instead they sent very stupid answers. They, like Mr. Chirac and Jospin, simply
refused to address the problem and ignored the fact that the project proposal
would improve the life of more than 6 billions people to cover one aspect of
the scandal I was victim of and to minimize their own dishonesty! After it was clear that both Mr. Chirac
and the government would not support my project proposal, and would not
even ask the administration (and justice) to comply fully with my judgment (3
payments were made all wrong), I wrote to G8 Leaders (except France) and to
I.O. Chiefs to present my work and to explain the difficulties I encountered
despite the many letters of support I had received, the evaluation of the
European experts, and the many proofs of the well-founded of my legal
request.
My letter did not stop the French administration and government
from giving me a hard time, au contraire, my difficulties increased
significantly. There has been so many
frauds in France for the past 15 to 20 years (Elf, Credit Lyonnais, Paris
region and Paris City hall frauds, Department of Essonne where I worked, Sale
of arms to Angola, affairs Mery, Lagerfeld, …) that only few politicians were
not involved in a serious fraud (some frauds mentioned had a grave
international impact as you know). My
case -related to one of these important scandals- shows the indirect
consequences of these frauds like the high unemployment level or the
'dishonesty' made to cover the frauds.
It also shows the lack of respect of some French politicians for work,
for the poor, and for the International Community.
I eventually sent a request at the ECHR in Strasbourg to denounce
the human rights violation I was victim of (article 6 'right to a fair trial',
article 3 'interdiction of torture' -degrading treatment-, ...), but
soon after my request was registered and the Senator who had fired me was
finally sent to jail in June 2001, I was sent in the street by a new mistake of
the social services (I wrote to Mr. Chirac and Jospin to ask them to reconsider
my case again, but received no response)!
So to avoid more continual persecutions, I went to ask for political
asylum in Switzerland and then Belgium.
The European Court of Human Right rendered a non motivated decision
rejecting my request, the Swiss administration refused to study my case in
detail because I could not pay the 600 CHF for the procedure, and Belgium
rendered an illegal decision that was full of lies! You can read about the difficulties I encounter here in att. 8
and 9.
Deception, cheating, delay, lies, …, is the strategy used by the different administrations in France,
Switzerland, …, to rob me everything I had and to avoid giving me justice. And unfortunately, the I.O. (UN Secretariat,
UNOHHCR, ECHR, …) whose responsibility is to remind the countries of their
responsibilities, made no effort to prevent these difficulties to take
place. 'They' refused to give a
'political' evaluation of my proposals and to give me a job despite the
encouraging technical evaluation the computer project had received, the many
letters of support sent by UN agencies experts, and my obvious difficult
situation (unemployed,). They also
refused to study properly my legal case despite the many proof of the
dishonesty of the French politicians I had brought and despite the critical
issues it raises for the community (issues related to the fight against
poverty, att. 3)! They also took my
research work and ‘innovative idea’ without giving any form of
compensation or recognition despite the many letters of support from
experts.
Deception, cheating, delay, dishonesty, lies, ..., this is what
'power' is all about. We have acquired so much knowledge,
developed so advanced technologies and systems of laws, and 'agreed' on such
high principles (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, regional human rights
conventions,...) that the only 'power' 'we' have is the 'power' to be stupid or
dishonest (and indirectly to make people's life miserable). All the knowledge 'we' have acquired, the
technologies and systems of laws 'we' have developed, and high principles 'we'
agreed on gives 'us' responsibilities, but no 'power', in fact it would
be wise to simply stop using this word 'power' when it is in reference to
government, administrations or leaders 'attribution'. At every level of the hierarchy, individuals try to show their
'power' (to be stupid or dishonest), instead of assuming their responsibility,
and this creates many of the problems we are facing today and handicap 'us' in
the fight against poverty.
There is (intellectually) no differences between Mr. Saddam
Hussein who refused to comply with the UN Security Council resolutions and the
French administration that refused to comply with the judgment I had
obtained. Both showed their 'power' (to
be stupid and dishonest) and used for one, the 'weaknesses' of the United
Nations (difficulties to obtain a consensus within the UN, lack of legal tools
to deal with this problem,), and for the other, the weakness of a poor (and
unfairness of the legal systems for the poor,) to avoid complying with the
decisions of the judges (you, UN Security Council members, and three
administrative judges and the president of the court). If your resolutions don't mean anything for
the Leaders and if administration can refuse to comply with justice's
decisions, and then have them changed because they are embarrassing, there is
no real justice.
No one (not even the Security Council) had asked Mr. Saddam
Hussein to give 1 billion dollars to the United Nations to help the poor in
Zimbabwe, China or South America, although he could have easily done that,
according to some specialized magazines his fortune was estimated at 2 billions
dollars! He was just asked to 'cooperate
with the UN inspectors' to get rid of his weapons of mass destructions, and
instead, he 'kicks them out', and he shoots at coalition airplanes! In my case the decision of my first judge
was not at all outrageous (about 70 000 $ was granted, the prejudice in lost
salaries only was more than 120 000$) when you know the difficulties I
encountered and when you know about all the frauds that took place in the
administration (particularly the fact that several employees were paid for no
work) or about the Lagerfeld scandal for example, a French industrial who
obtained from Mr. Chirac's minister, a tax deduction greater than what he had
asked for (for more than 500 000 $, never seen before at the French
'IRS')!
To prevent future conflicts and to defeat poverty 'you' absolutely
must bring more justice in the world, and promote a society of
'responsibility', instead of a society of 'power'. 'We' must remind everyone of his responsibility, starting first
with 'our' Leaders that are often taken as example. The Saudi foreign minister suggested that Mr. Saddam Hussein
should step down to avoid the loss of innocent lives, and I believe he is
right. Mr. Saddam Hussein is very good
at asking his people to go fight against an enemy that is obviously much stronger
than Iraq, but would not do the simple effort of going into exile to save the
lives of his people! He is over 65 and
he has a cancer (according to his French doctor), the word 'life' does not have
the same meaning for him than for a 15 years old girl or boy! Every one of you can understand that, and
'you' can make sure that this situation will never happen again.
Issues of the War with Iraq and ‘our’ Global objectives.
The disarmament of Iraq was the official 'advertised' issue behind the Iraq crisis, but
it was not (and can not be) the only problem. The position taken by the US,
England, …, that wanted to start an arm conflict as quickly as possible, and
the position taken by France, …, that wanted to give more time to the UN
inspectors to finish their work, cannot be explained by their perception of the
importance of Iraq’s disarmament since it seems everyone really wanted to
achieve it! Moreover, this issue of
disarmament is consistent with ‘our’ global objectives, with the effort made by
the US and Russia to diminish their nuclear armament, and with the effort made
by countries in general to ban the use of chemical and biological weapons, so
'we' must look at some other issues to understand better the different
positions of the Security Council members and of other 'actors' of the crisis.
The control of the Iraqi oil fields was an underlying issue that has been
widely ‘discussed’ by the press, the media and even Mr. Saddam Hussein. This issue was said by many to explain
certain countries’ position, it is obvious that if the US win the war rapidly
they will be in better situation to control the oil of Iraq than they were
before the war. Similarly if there had
been no war, the Russian and the French would have been in a better position to
negotiate oil contract with the Iraqi government. But we should not forget the effort made by rich countries
(including the US) to help poor countries, and the additional effort that
should be made. It does not make
sense to give billions of dollars to help poor countries and at the same time
to start a war just to rob a poor country (even if it is obvious that some
people and US companies will benefit financially from the war)!
The Israeli and Palestinian conflict that was presented as an issue of the
Iraqi crisis cannot explain either the different positions when 'we' known that
the quartet US-UN-Europe-Russia has agreed on the ‘road map’ for a peace
process between Israel and the Palestinian.
It appears then that these three (often discussed) issues alone do not
explain the great difference in the point of view defended by the different
'actors' of the Iraqi crisis, but they did (hyper) simplify the debate for the
people of the world who followed the discussion on TV or through the
newspapers. The main argument used to
justify the war was that the weapons of mass destruction of Iraq represents a
serious threat to the United States, England and more generally to the
world. And the September 11 2001
tragedy was also often used to ‘picture’ the kind of damage that weapons of
mass destruction could create, if they were to be used by terrorist as
determined as Al Qaeda members.
This was/is, of course, a serious argument, but disarming Iraq
only would not have ensured that in 2, 3 or more years Iraq would not have
tried again to acquire this kind of weapons, particularly if Mr. Saddam Hussein
were to stay the President of the Country.
If the 12 years of embargo have not changed Mr. Saddam Hussein’s mind on
the subject, there were very little doubt that he would not have changed it
after he had accumulated more anger, humiliation, and hate toward the US and
international Community that forced him to destroy his weapons. And the possibility to leave inspectors for
an indefinite period of time in Iraq and to continue an embargo that would help
to control that no new weapons are either manufactured or imported, was not
very realistic since it would have hurt the Iraqi people and not been assured
of success since the UN inspectors were already kicked out of the country one
time.
The contradiction between a ‘long lasting embargo’ and ‘our’
global objectives,
fight against poverty,…, was an important underlying issue that certainly could
have explained the position of the countries that wanted to go to war
quickly. We cannot on one hand gives
money, new technologies, and new knowledge to poor countries to defeat poverty
and speed up development, and at the same time continue indefinitely an embargo
(on one country) that do basically exactly the opposite since it creates
poverty by forbidding trade and exchanges, and by slowing down technical
progress! Although this was an
important problem (of the crisis), it was not clearly explained by the 'pro-war
countries', probably because a clear explanation would have forced them to talk
about ‘our’ global objectives, particularly the fight against poverty that a
war slows down tremendously!
The contradiction between war and ‘our’ global objectives was also an important underlying issue of
the crisis that may have explained the position of 'those' who opposed war, but
if it was so, why did not they explain it more clearly? Perhaps because some of those who were in
favor of peace did not want to put 'our' global objectives as the main issue of
the crisis or did not want the public to focus on the terrible situation of the
world and to notice the little effort that are made to change this situation or
to tackle 'our' global problems. It is
clear that not enough efforts are made (apart from the debt relief initiative,
and some individual initiatives) to defeat poverty by both rich and poor
countries. In a recent speech in
Greece, Mr. Kohler mentioned that despite the 'UN target 0,7 % of GNP for
official development assistance, the average level of development assistance is
only 0.22 % of GNP in OECD countries'!
It was obvious that a war would destroy Iraq and would cost the US
and the other country involved billions of dollars. Some experts estimated the cost of war for the US at 100 billions
dollars. When you know that rich
countries have together committed about that amount, 100 billions dollars, in
debt relief to help more than 50 poor countries, the 'economic reality' of the
war is disproportionate, and it stresses that very little efforts are really
made to solve the other problems like poverty, environment! Poor countries did not complain about this
fact either, perhaps because they also could have done more efforts in the
direction of good governance and ethical leadership (few days ago a 'coup'
changed the government in Bangui)! Mr.
Saddam Hussein also preferred to explain to the Iraqi people that the US wanted
the Iraqi oil than explaining that the war would slow us down in 'our' fight
against poverty or in the realization of 'our' global objectives!
The impunity
(or immunity) for country
Leaders was another important underlying issue of the Iraqi crisis
that was not clearly discussed. It is
obvious that Mr. Saddam Hussein who has made wars to his neighbors, committed
crimes against his own people, violated several UN resolutions, showed very
little interest for the International Community concerns and objectives (which
should be in itself a sufficient reason for asking him to step down), and
showed very little respect for the new generations and the poor by holding on
to his position after 65, should be judged and punished or at least accounted
responsible in some way for his crimes. But, there is no international legal
tool 'to explain this' to the people of the world (and Iraq) or to force him to
step down.
The countries who opposed war like France were ready to give Mr.
Saddam Hussein a total impunity (and the possibility to do again what he had
done in the past!) although they knew that he had behaved (s) in total
contradiction with 'our' global objectives and had refused to comply with the
UN resolutions several times (and if they did not want to give him the impunity
(or immunity), they certainly did not address the issue publicly to try to
resolve this problem!). This sensible
issue explains well, at least partly, the strong positions of certain
defendants of peace like the position of France. The French President who is strongly suspected to have
'participated' in several of the many corruption scandals that took place in
France during the past years, has always managed not to talk to the justice and
succeeded in avoiding any prosecution (even after a petition was signed by 30
'deputes' to have him judged by a high court).
Mr. Chirac and some other politicians have strongly defended the
immunity of the French President. In
fact, the immunity given to the President is seen by many as the reason why he
decided to run for president again although he was 70. By staying President as long as possible, he
also diminishes the possibility to be prosecuted on certain frauds because of
the 10 years prescription for certain offences (Mr. Mitterand had done the
same, France is now judging the Elf Scandal, 7 years after Mr. Mitterand's
death although he was one of the main 'instigators' of the frauds, see att.
10). In his effort to cover his
dishonesty Mr. Chirac has, I believe, committed 'crimes' much more serious than
the frauds he is accused of, since he has shown no respect toward the new
generations and the poor, he has shown a bad 'governance' example to poor
countries, and he has hurt many people around the world by not supporting (or
at least presenting) the proposals I
made although many experts (and himself) had expressed their interest or send
their encouragements in writing!
The Pope (82) who has
also strongly spoken in favor of peace, supports also indirectly the impunity
for Leaders by holding on to his position of Pope at 82 and by refusing to
assume any responsibility for the rapes of children by Catholic priests,
although he is himself showing absolutely no respect toward the new generations,
and although he is very sick, he barely can walk or ‘talk’. The Catholic Church, that has made many
efforts to cover the scandalous behavior of some of its priests, shows also
little respect for the 'justice of the people' in general. It promotes Charity that is exactly the
opposite of justice, and it talks more often about the justice of God (which
has become a more than obscure concept in a time of insider trading frauds,
intellectual property frauds or other corporate frauds) than about human rights
or children rights. (Please understand that I am not against religions, but the
behavior of religious groups has been more than questionable 'lately'!).
Finally, Mr. Annan who has often mentioned that war should be used
as the last resorts and that a war would be 'illegal', if it was not
supported by the UN Security Council, has also, as we have seen above, promoted
the impunity for Leaders when he admitted publicly the responsibility of the UN
in the Rwanda Massacre, and particularly of the Peace Keeping Operation
Department he headed at the time, and just said 'I am sorry', instead of
resigning from his post. He has talked
about the idea of 'conscience of the world', but has shown himself very
little 'conscience', and shows now very little respect for the new generations
and the poor by holding on to his position after 65! What means 'illegal', if it is 'legal' to have a part of
responsibility in the massacre of 800 000 people, and to continue on with your
work as usual!
On the other hand, the US has demonstrated that its justice, Press
and Media can be very hard on its President with the advertised public trial of
Mr. Clinton. The US constitution also
prevents its President to stay more than 8 years in office, which is indirectly
a form of age limit much stricter than the 65 years age limit I am proposing
since Mr. Clinton who is in his mid 50 cannot be President anymore, and Mr.
Bush, if he is reelected, will not even be able to stay President until
65! So, this 'impunity' issue explains
partly the position of the US that often mentioned that one its goals was to
get rid of Mr. Saddam Hussein. If force
(power) is all that matter for Mr. Saddam Hussein, he cannot complain about the
fact some one stronger than him is using force to oust him. Justice and reason are supposed to prevent
this use of force, but they should be applied to 'everything' and
everyone!
The 65 years age limit for country Leaders and I.O. Chiefs was also another important underlying
issue of the crisis, but it was certainly not discussed although I had
addressed my proposal to all Leaders in December 2001, and I made the effort to
write to the UN Secretariat recently as you have seen, (I also forwarded a copy
of my letter to the UN Ambassador for Germany and to the press). In my letter of December 2001 (att. 3, page
5), I had explained that 'Every time there is a conflict somewhere in the
world, the International Community, particularly International Organizations,
helps both sides to solve their dispute. To do that, they use logical and good
sense arguments, and scientific studies exactly as I have done to justify the
respect of this rule. So why should any
Leader or country part in a conflict listen to your arguments or good sense,
if, yourself, you don’t even accept the most basic arguments justifying a very
simple rule that would improve the situation of the world.' We now have a clear example of my
explanation.
Neither Mr. Chirac, Pope Jean Paul II, nor Mr. Annan who spoke
strongly in favor of peace, and used logical, good sense, and other arguments
to encourage the US and Britain to avoid going to war, were ready to listen to
reason when it comes to their resignation due to the fact that they have passed
(or were close to for Mr. Annan) this 65 years limit! Despite their old age and poor record as Leaders, they would not
have given up one day as President, Pope, or Secretary General to avoid
a War in Iraq. They have spoken for
peace, but they did not act for peace, therefore no one should be
surprised that their effort has had very little success, and that the US,…, has
found them not credible and sincere. In England one minister resigned because his country could not
obtain the UN support for the war, but none of these three men (that I have
contacted) would have even explained to the public that someone had 'argued'
(and others 'agreed') that limiting the age for leaders could help to maintain
peace, to fight poverty, and to avoid a war with Iraq!
The dangers of the
war and the unacceptable results of the war.
The ‘departure’ of Mr. Saddam Hussein and the establishment of a
new government in Iraq are a
form of justice for certain, and it was certainly presented as such by the ones
in favor of the war (for some arresting or killing Mr. Saddam Hussein for having
weapons of mass destruction is perhaps comparable to arresting Al Capone on tax
fraud). But 'they'/'you' should be careful not to achieve exactly the
opposite. Punishing one well-known
leader for his grave crimes should not be used to overlook the dishonesty of
others whose frauds (sometimes initially not as 'serious') may have an even
greater impact on the humanity's problems.
Moreover, conflicts usually take all the attention of the public
opinions, and affect the effort made in other areas (like human rights, …).
By stressing the crimes of the Iraqi Regime and Leader, the US, England, …, diminishes
(indirectly)
the seriousness of the different corruption scandals or frauds in rich
countries like Elf, sale of arms to Angola, Enron,…, that have a disastrous
impact on poverty (we now know that 'corruption is a core poverty issue'). The French scandals are significant of a
grave general corruption problem in France that has both national and
international consequences. The Elf
case for example (att. 10) that is now judged by French judges had
serious consequences in some African countries that, we know, are in difficult
situation already (AIDS, poverty,..).
Anyone can easily see that the politicians and executives involved in
this scandal will not be punished for the prejudice they created to the poor in
Africa although there is no doubt that the outrageous corruption process did
hurt the African people. ('You' can, by
giving me -a poor- justice, indirectly 'point out' this reality.)
In 1998, the war in Kosovo that started just after the corruption
scandal leading to the resignation of the European Commission, immediately took
the attention of the public and little was said (and for some done) about the
dishonesty of the 'European officials' (Mrs. Cresson is now only
prosecuted for one of the frauds). The
timing of the war was even questioned because the problem in Yugoslavia had
existed for a long time! Here,
similarly the 'public discussion' or 'televised' debate to justify or prevent
the war with Iraq, and then the military reports or briefings, take all the
attention of the public in rich countries, and minimizes the debate on the lack
of integrity of some political leaders and of some corporate executives, and
therefore lowers the financial resources invested to solve the problem.
Mr. Fleming Larsen wrote in his
12/02 speech that '…A few years ago, the member countries of the OECD -the
rich club- agreed on an international anti-bribery convention. But there has been little follow-up partly
because of a lack (fairly modest) financial resources needed for the OECD to
put in place a peer review process without which it is just too tempting for
individual countries to continue to ignore problem.' ! When you see how 'easy' it was for the US to
engage a 100 billions dollars spending or more to do a war with Iraq (to
destroy one country or to liberate the Iraqi people), it makes no doubt that
absolutely no effort was/is made to find the money to set up an effective
anti-corruption system in rich countries (that would help billions). The very 'little interest' shown for my
computer project proposal by some politicians, particularly in France,
demonstrates also that some would 'rather break their leg' than supporting a
project proposal that would help to fight corruption.
The war should not be used either to forget about the two
proposals I am presenting you. The
project proposal to improve the transfer and integration of statistical data at
the worldwide level has only benefits, this is why so many experts
responded to an ‘individual’ to express their interest. Not realizing this project (was and) would
be a crime against humanity. And the
proposal to establish an age limit of 65 for Leaders is an important proposal
that takes on an even greater signification when we look at the Iraqi Crisis
and problems in Israel and Palestine.
G8 Leaders and I.O. Chiefs, particularly France and the UN secretariat,
should have paid a more careful attention to these proposals because they
perfectly understood their many benefits for the people of the world. They also perfectly understood the remarks
made in my April 2000 letter (att. 6), but some preferred to look at their own
interest rather than the people's interest.
Soon after I presented my first
remarks on the age limit in April 2000 (att. 6), Mr. Chrestien (69) who
had just passed this 65 years limit, called for an anticipated election (that
eventually lead to his reelection). I
am sure that Mr. Chrestien had very good reasons for that, but I also have the
strong feeling that he thought that by calling for an anticipated election, he
was limiting the chance that the press and media talk about this subject before
the election and therefore that this age issue be used against him. Mr. Chirac (70) also called for an
anticipated election when he turned 65 in 1997, for him unfortunately this
election lead to a change of majority and government (he did not resign!). This shows that these two men were/are very aware
that it is ethically wrong to continue at the highest position of a country
after this age limit, and that they tried to get an early (unfair) public
approval to avoid a possible public debate and to 'feel better'.
In my letter of January 14th
(att. 1.1), I mentioned that 'in our information society and given the
situation of the world (billions of poor, deadly diseases,) information is also
a weapon of mass destruction that kill everyday (much more than Mr. Saddam
Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction); not talking about the establishment of
an age limit for leaders is good example of this fact’. Today I would like to add a new example to
this fact. Weather your are for the war
with Iraq or against the war, I believe that everyone of you agree that some of
the war reports made by the Iraqi Leaders, Saddam Hussein or his minister of
information, are lies. By giving wrong
information to the Iraqi people and soldiers about the military situation, they
try to avoid that the soldiers change side or decide to stop fighting against
an enemy that drops thousands and thousands of bombs on them. By doing so, they simply send thousands of
soldiers to a sure death; information is without any doubt a terrible weapon of
mass destruction! (Perhaps the UN
Security Council should be authorized to give official and ‘independent’
military report to the people of a country at war.)
The war gives a victory to Mr. Bin Laden!
The September 11 2001 tragedy was often used to justify the high level
of threat that posed Iraq's weapons of Mass destruction. US and British officials often used the
arguments that, if 20 terrorists armed with knifes could kill as many people
and create as much damaged as they did in New York and Washington on 9-11,
other (as determined) terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction could
easily make an incredible amount of victims and greater damages. The war with Iraq that started then partly
because of this arguments, gives an indirect victory to Mr. Bin Laden who has
succeeded with his horrible crime to threat and destabilize the US, England, …,
to divide the international community, and to hinder the focus on 'our' global
objectives.
The International Community and 'you' should not let Mr. Bin Laden
enjoy such a victory and keep 'us' from focusing on the terrible situation in
which live billions of poor and on the different objectives that were set
during the meeting of Head of State in September 2000 (these objectives were
far to modest already, and we may not even reach them!). Yes, the US and the other countries must
find and punish Mr. Bin Laden and his 'associates' as soon as possible, but
this should be, for a long time now, only a large-scale international criminal
investigation. If the International
Community, the UN General Assembly, the Security Council, do not start again to
focus as soon as possible on 'our' global objectives (fight against poverty,
protection of the environment, education, fight against AIDS, …), the war with
Iraq will have given a total victory to the terrorists around the world. It is important to mobilize the public
opinion on 'our' global objectives, just like 'you' have succeeded in
mobilizing the people for or against this war in the past 8 months.
Conclusion.
To win the support of their public opinions, politicians tends sometimes
to (hyper) simplify the problems they are trying to solve or to overlook
certain issues that may cause them a 'personal prejudice'. This fact created partly the Iraqi crisis, I
believe. Two groups of countries had a
very different point of view on the solution of one problem, because they could
not clearly identify the basic issues behind the problem they were trying to
solve, and to discuss them in their debate.
Four important underlying issues of the crisis (the contradiction
between a long lasting embargo and 'our' global objectives, the contradiction
between the war and 'our' global objectives, the impunity or immunity for
country Leaders, and the establishment of a 65 age limit for country Leaders
and I.O. Chiefs) were overlooked although they explain well, at least partly,
some of the different points of view expressed during the crisis.
Since the International Community and the Security Council Members
remain divided on the war, the two proposals I am presenting you become even
more important. The proposal to limit
at 65 the age for Country Leaders and I.O. Chiefs (that addresses indirectly
the 'impunity' issue) would be a small move that would ask very little
from each country and International Organizations, but it would be of great significance
for the world, and would have a serious impact on your effort to maintain peace
and to fight poverty as we have seen.
It would be a first step toward making Leaders more responsible for what
they do, and it would demonstrate 'their' will to show greater respect toward
the new generations and the poor and to listen more to reason to solve the
problems of the world.
The computer project proposal would give a chance to international
organizations and countries to work together on the development of one
software and a classification of statistics that would speed up the transfer
and facilitate the integration of statistical knowledge, which is so important
in many areas of the society and economy.
It would have an impact on the fight against corruption by making the
comparison between countries easier and by simplifying the search for
statistics. And would have a tremendous
impact on development and on ‘our’ fight against poverty, because it would
allow poor countries to access to the latest state of the art statistical
information systems and show that we can develop systems for poor country at
almost no cost for them (att. 4).
Of course, I wish that Mr. Annan, who was closely 'associated'
with several tragedies (Rwanda, Srebrenica, and now Iraqi), would show the
example and resign immediately to stress the importance of the age limit
proposal for Leaders. I wish that Mr.
Chirac would admit that France has had in the past years an exaggerated number
of corruption scandals (for the 'Country of Human Rights'), and that
France was very unfair with me when it stole my judgment and refused to support
my proposals. I also wish that Mr.
Chirac ordered the French government to pay the compensation I deserve for the
grave prejudice I suffered. Finally, I wish that the Pope would also show the
good example for the world, and remind everyone that many people don't even
have a life expectancy at birth of 50 (or even 40 in some countries). (But after the many efforts I already made,
I doubt that they will do that, if 'you' do not encourage them to do so.)
You have understood, I am sure, that the 'political' evaluation of
my two proposals has an impact of some aspects of my legal case (violation of
article 3 by France, credibility of my asylum demand,…). I encountered many difficulties for the past
ten years (and continue to have many undeserved difficulties) although I was
(am) working in the interest of the international community (the letters of
support I received prove that), so it would be very unfair for me and for the
people of the world who would benefit from my two proposals and from the very
special experience I gained while working on them, to deny me justice and
recognition for my work.
With my project proposal,
I demonstrated that I could present 'you' a meaningful strategy to improve
International Organizations (including UN agencies) operations in two important
areas (IT and Statistics) and to strengthen the cooperation and coordination
between I.O.s., and that I could give a new direction to tackle the problems of
poverty and development (att. 4). With
my second proposal, I demonstrated that I was not afraid to address an
important (even if unpopular for some) management issue that would have a significant
impact on 'our' global objectives.
According to att. 7, I was given the refugee status (even if some
question this), so I have no country and cannot present my two proposals
through an official representative of a member state, but you may allow me to
submit them directly to 'you', accept to inscribe them on the UN agenda as soon
as possible, and ask for a vote of the UN membership for the benefit of
everyone on earth. Given the nature of
my work, only ‘you’ can really encourage France to give me justice and to pay
me a compensation for the grave prejudice I suffered, and only you can
recommend me for an appropriate position to continue my effort. I remain
Yours sincerely,
Pierre Genevier
Enclosed are
a list of attachments (1 page) and 10 attachments (77 pages).