LEGAL ACTIVITIES RELATING TO THE INVASION OF IRAQ STATEMENTS/ APPEALS:

International Appeal against the Pre-emptive Use of Force
Signed by 350 Jurists and Lawyers from 40 countries.

International Commission of Jurists:
Press Release: "This Illegal War must be conducted Lawfully - The ICJ condemns the illegal invasion of Iraq in the clear absence of Security Council authority -this constitutes a great leap backward in the international rule of law."

Canadian professors of international law
(31 signatures) in English and in French.

Canada: Lawyers Against the War

Asian Lawyers Statement
Signed by 1200 lawyers

British and French Lawyers Statement

European Lawyers: Appeal to the European Governments and the UN Security Council by European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights.

US Lawyers: Joint news release, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy and Western States Legal Foundation, March 18, 2003, "Lawyers' Groups Condemn U.S. War on Iraq as Contrary to U.N. Charter."

For the following documentation, please check the website for the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA)

• Norwegian lawyers letter to Government of Norway : attached in two formats
• Australian Lawyers Statement
• Germany: IALANA German Section

Legal Actions Begun

February 14, 2003 Posted: 11:10 AM EST (1610 GMT)
CNN shares an AP reports on Feb. 14, 2003 from Boston, Massachusetts -- A group of U.S. soldiers, parents of soldiers and six U.S. House members filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday seeking to stop the president from launching a war against Iraq without a declaration of war from Congress. The lawsuit seeks an immediate injunction against Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to prevent them from launching an invasion of Iraq. To see more on this issue, click here.

Attorney: John Bonifaz, Boston
Plaintiffs: Reps. John Conyers, D-Michigan, Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio; Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Illinois; Jim McDermott, D-Washington; Jose Serrano, D-New York; and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

Other plaintiffs include Nancy Lessin (stepmother of a marine), a member of the Massachusetts National Guard who was recently activated, an Air Force Reservist from Massachusetts, and a U.S. Marinestationed in the Persian Gulf.

Resignations of Diplomats and Officials on Legal Grounds

Resignation of US Political Counselor, John Brady Kielsing, from US Embassy in Athens:

"Adviser quits Foreign Office over legality of war " - A senior legal adviser to the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, has quit the Foreign Office because of a difference over the legal advice sanctioning the war against Iraq, by Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor, Saturday March 22, 2003, The Guardian.

Robin Cook, Leader of the UK House of Commons and former Minister of Foreign Affairs has also resigned. Legal Commentaries against the war on national radio: Prof. John Currie of University of Ottawa on CBC (Canada's National Public Broadcaster)