United for Peace and Justice is an endorsing partner of the Poor People’s Campaign, an innovative effort to connect issues of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation and the war economy. UFPJ endorses the PPC’s request below asking the UN to hold the U.S. accountable for war crimes.
Dear Movement Family,
Today we joined faith leaders, including denominational and national leadership, with moral advocates across the country in requesting that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights hold our government accountable for violating the UN Charter and escalating us toward war with Iran. This afternoon we formally requested a meeting with High Commissioner Bachelet. As the request began:
“We write gravely disturbed, indeed outraged, by the death that is occurring because of our President’s rogue actions in the Middle East. His willingness to bypass congressional approval, violate international law, pardon convicted war criminals, implement harsher sanctions and abandon existing peace deals, sets a dangerous precedent that can have continued lethal and destabilizing results.
The US President’s order to carry out a lethal drone strike violated the UN Charter’s prohibition on the use of force. The assassination of General Qassim Suleimani represented an act of war against a country with whom the United States was not at war. Trump’s claim of imminent danger from Suleimani is unfounded and must be investigated.
The threat to add new sanctions to Iran, and to involve the NATO military alliance, all indicate that the threat of war remains very real. Furthermore, we know that the majority of impact from these sanctions will be on the poor.”
We know that in the words of Rev. Dr. King “war is the enemy of the poor.” We must say no to war and militarism.
Join us in our request. Sign here. Share it widely as we humbly and whole-heartedly work to keep our country from war and our world from the dangerous precedence of immoral and unaccountable leadership. Our people across the world are hurting, and it’s gone on far too long.
We know that together we can and must revive the heart and soul of this nation.
Forward together,
Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, President of Repairers of the Breach
Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis, Director of the Kairos Center
Co-Chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
