1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing the President, Congress, and other 
  1.3             national and international officials to immediately 
  1.4             lift the economic sanctions against Iraq. 
  1.5      
  1.6      WHEREAS, United Nations sanctions against Iraq, originating 
  1.7   with Security Council Resolution 661, were imposed to demand 
  1.8   that Iraq withdraw its forces from Kuwait, and to "restore the 
  1.9   authority of the legitimate government of Kuwait," and these 
  1.10  objectives have been fulfilled, therefore, no legal grounds can 
  1.11  be claimed for continuing enforcement of the sanctions; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, punishing Saddam Hussein for his human rights 
  1.13  violations is appropriate, punishing innocent Iraqi people for 
  1.14  Saddam Hussein's human rights violations is inappropriate; and 
  1.15     WHEREAS, the sanctions against the people of Iraq violate 
  1.16  Geneva Convention Protocol I, which prohibits starvation of 
  1.17  civilians as a method of warfare and the denial of food to the 
  1.18  civilian population whatever the motive; and 
  1.19     WHEREAS, the sanctions against the people of Iraq violate 
  1.20  the Geneva Convention's prohibition of collective punishment, by 
  1.21  banning the importation of supplies needed for the sustenance of 
  1.22  the country, including medical equipment, machines and tools for 
  1.23  industry and agriculture, chlorine for water purification, 
  1.24  fertilizers and pesticides for agricultural production, and 
  1.25  educational workbooks; and 
  2.1      WHEREAS, various United Nations organizations have 
  2.2   documented that over 1.2 million innocent Iraqis, mostly 
  2.3   children under the age of five, have died due to the scarcity of 
  2.4   food and medicine due to the sanctions; and 
  2.5      WHEREAS, UNICEF has reported that 960,000, 32 percent of 
  2.6   all children of Iraq under the age of five, are chronically 
  2.7   malnourished.  This is a 72 percent increase from before the 
  2.8   implementation of the sanctions.  Chronic malnourishment causes 
  2.9   permanent stunting of physical, emotional, and mental growth; 
  2.10  and 
  2.11     WHEREAS, the current Oil for Food program does not provide 
  2.12  for the purchase of adequate food and medicine to keep the 
  2.13  people of Iraq on their feet, nor does it provide them with 
  2.14  adequate resources to reconstruct the country's water sanitation 
  2.15  systems that were destroyed during the Gulf War; and 
  2.16     WHEREAS, the people of the State of Minnesota have a moral 
  2.17  obligation to oppose human rights abuses; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.18     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.19  that it goes on the record condemning economic sanctions as a 
  2.20  form of genocide and demands the immediate lifting of the 
  2.21  economic sanctions against Iraq. 
  2.22     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.23  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.24  memorial and transmit them to the President of the United 
  2.25  States, the President and the Secretary of the United States 
  2.26  Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of 
  2.27  Representatives, the United States Secretary of State, and the 
  2.28  Secretary-General of the United Nations.