Madrid International Seminar on the Assassination of Iraqi Academics and Health Professionals

22-23 April 2006
                   

US policy in Iraq: A War Launched to Erase both the Culture

and Future of the Iraqi people

 

* Final Resolution (24 April 2006)

 

  * Condemnation by the Conference of Rectors from Public Universities in Madrid of violence in Iraq and the assassination of Iraqi University Professors  (17 June 2006)

* Conference of the Rectors of the Spanish Universities condemn the killing of Iraqi academics (14 November 2006)

*  14 November 2006: Declaration Regarding The Widespread Violence In Iraq And The Killing Of University Professors, approved at the General Assembly of the Conference of Spanish University Rectors (CRUE)

 

• Saturday 22 April 2006: Public Session

• Sunday 23 April 2006: International Meeting on Iraq Solidarity

 

Place    -   Program  

 

The Association of Iraqi Academics estimates that more than 180 academics, from a wide range of academic and scientific fields of study from all over Iraq, have been assassinated since the US invasion in 2003. Many hundreds more have been forced into exile. Most were high-level academic staff members. The Spanish Campaign Against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI) has confirmed 162 names of targeted academics (http://nodo50.org/iraq/). The BRussells Tribunal has a confirmed list of 220 killed Iraqi academics (http://www.brusselstribunal.org/academicsList.htm) .

 

In addition, according to official Iraqi sources, 311 teachers of both sexes have been killed in Iraq during the last four months alone (The Independent, 29 March, 2006).

 

Equally, staff of the National Iraqi Medical System — a model of civic courage during 15 years of sanctions, war and occupation — are being targeted in a campaign of extortion, threats and murder. In violation of the foundations of international humanitarian law, Iraqi hospitals and clinics are being attacked and systematically raided by US occupation forces.

 

Occupation is responsible for these killings. Every week more evidence emerges of a deliberate criminal campaign 
conducted by death squads and encouraged by those who want to erase all secular and qualified layers of Iraqi society: 
academics, scientists, professionals and intellectuals; women and men who would be the foundation of the rebuilding 
of a democratic and non-sectarian society in a free and sovereign Iraq following the end of occupation.

 

Within the framework of the conclusions of the World Tribunal on Iraq, CEOSI, The BRussells Tribunal and the New York-based International Action Center (IAC), will convene an international seminar on the assassination of Iraqi academics and health professionals in Madrid, Saturday 22 April 2006. 

On Sunday 23 April will follow an international meeting of both European and US organizations with the purpose of encouraging international solidarity with Iraq. 

Iraqi guests will participate in the public session, including: 

 

The international campaign will be introduced by Dirk Adriaensens (BRussells Tribunal and organizer of the World Tribunal on Iraq, Belgium), John Catalinotto (IAC, USA) and Ian Douglas (BRussells Tribunal, UK). 

In addition, we are pleased to highlight the presence of two of the most eminent Spanish experts on the Arab world: Professor Pedro Martínez Montávez (Occupation and Sectarianism in Iraq) and Joaquín Córdoba Zoilo, lecturer at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (The Plundering of World Heritage in Iraq). 

The meeting will be opened by the Chancellor of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Mr Ángel Gabilondo, and will be closed by Ms Rosa Regás, Director of The National Library, and by Mr Pedro Martinez Lillo, Vice Chancellor for University Cooperation. Ms Cármen Ruiz Rivas, University General Director at the Spanish Education Ministry, has confirmed her participation at the Opening Session.

 Organizers

Spanish Campaign Against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI)

The BRussells Tribunal and International Action Center 

With the cooperation of

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) 

And support of

Escuela Julián Besteiro and The National Library

 

 Place

Escuela Julián Besterio, Calle Azcona, 53

 

How to get there

Subway/Metro: “Parque de Las Avenidas” (Line 7), “Diego León”

(Lines 4, 5 and 6) and “Ventas” (Line 2)

Buses: From “Callao” (Nos. 21, 53 and 74), from “Manuel Becerra” (No. 48)

 

Opening (Saturday): 10:30 am 

Entrance free / Simultaneous translation 

Further information

www.iraqsolidaridad.org / [email protected]

A War Launched to Erase both the Culture and Future of the Iraqi people

International Seminar on the assassination of Iraqi Academics and Health Professionals

 Madrid (Spain)

 

Saturday 22 April

 

FIRST SESSION

 

10:30 a.m.

Opening

Participants: Angel Gabilondo Pujol, Rector of the Autonomous University of Madrid, and Carmen Ruiz Rivas, Director General of Universities, with the Ministry of Education and Science.

 

10:50 a.m.

The assassinations of Iraqi educational and health professionals during the occupation of Iraq: Presentations of the international campaign.

Participants: John Catalinotto, representative of International Action Center in the U.S.A.; Dirk Adriaensens, member of the Executive Committee of the BRussells Tribunal, Belgium; and Ian Douglas, Visiting professor at the University of An Najah (Palestine), U.K.

 

Speaking and moderating will be Carlos Varea, coordinator of the Spanish Campaign against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq.

 

11:30 - 11:45 a.m.: BREAK

 

[Meeting with media]

 

11:45 h.

 

- Inaugural Conference

“Occupation and sectarianism in Iraq,” presented by Pedro Martinez Montávez, who holds the Emeritus Chair in Arabic at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

 

Introducing and moderating: Jose Luis Gordillo, professor of Philosophy at the Law University of Barcelona and representative of its Rector, Màrius Rubiralta.

 

SECOND SESSION

 

12:30 p.m.

 

The assassinations of Iraqi educational and health professionals: Testimonies and evaluation of their impact on Iraqi society and the future of the country

Participants: Eman A. Khamas, journalist and writer, ex- director of Occupation Watch, Baghdad, and member of the Women Will Association; Ali Abdulah, university professor of Molecular Genetics, University of Baghdad; Salem Wasfi, medical surgeon in Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery, General University Hospital in Baghdad; and Ghazwan al-Mukhtar (pending confirmation).

 

Introducing and moderating: Carmen Ruiz Bravo-Villasante, Chair in Arabic and director of the Arabic and Islamic Department at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

 

2:15 - 4:00 p.m.: LUNCK BREAK

 

SECOND SESSION (Cont.)

 

4:00 p.m.

 

The assassinations of Iraqi educational and health professionals: Testimonies and evaluation of the impact on the Iraqi society and the future of the country

Participants: Eman A. Khamas, journalist and writer, ex- director of Occupation Watch, Baghdad, and member of the Women’s Volunteer Association; Ali Abdulah, university professor of Molecular Genetics, University of Baghdad; Salem Wasfi, medical surgeon in Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery, General University Hospital in Baghdad;  Ghazwan al-Mukhtar (pending confirmation); and Ismail Kaidar Jalili, Chair and Secretary General of National Association of British Arabs (NABA), past President of Iraqi Medical Association UK  and of the British Arab Medical Association.

 

Order of interventions

 

Introducing and moderating: Joachim Guilliard, coordinator of the German Tribunal on Iraq and spokesperson for the Iraq Coordination, Germany.

 

5:00 - 5:15 p.m.: BREAK

 

THIRD SESSION

 

5:15 p.m.

 

Conference closing

“The plunder and destruction of the Wealth of Humanity in Iraq,” with Joaquin M. Cordoba Zoilo, professor in the Department of Ancient History and co-director of the Center of Higher Learning on Ancient Egypt and the Near East at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

 

Introducing and moderating: Manuel Raposo, coordinator of the Portuguese Session of the International Tribunal on Iraq, Portugal.

 

6:00 p.m..

 

Conference closing

The commitment to the Iraqi people under occupation: for a sovereign future in a democratic and integrated Iraq

Participating: Rosa Regás, writer and General Director of the National Library, and Pedro Martinez Lillo, Vice-rector of the University Extension in Cooperation with the Autonomous University of Madrid.

 

Introducing: Jaume Botey, professor of the History Sciences at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and representative of its Rector, Lluís Ferrer.

 

6:20 p.m..

 

- End the conference and leave for the commemorative demonstration on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the II Spanish Republic.

 

Final Resolution of the Madrid International Seminar on the Assassination of Iraqi Academics and Health Professionals

22-23 April 2006  

This weekend participants from 8 countries — including Iraq — met in Madrid, along with active committees working within the framework of the conclusions of the World Tribunal on Iraq and participants from Spanish universities, to discuss and hear firsthand the plight of Iraqi academics and medical professionals who struggle to live amid constant threats, physical violence, kidnappings and the operation of death squads.

 

To date, over 220 Iraqi health professionals have been murdered. The BRussells Tribunal and The Spanish Campaign Against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI) has, with the help and support of Iraqis, compiled a list of over 190 assassinated Iraqi academics.

 

During the second day of the international seminar, participants focused on what actions can be taken to bring global attention to the destruction of Iraq’s intellectual and professional resources and hold accountable those directly responsible, including occupying powers that have failed their obligations under international law to protect the lives of Iraqi civilians.

 

We affirm the following:

 

·          The defence of Iraqi academics and medical professionals should begin by condemning the illegal war and occupation that created the situation in Iraq where assassinations are endemic and go unpunished

·          Occupying powers and their collaborators are responsible for the protection of the lives of Iraqi civilians and imputable under international law for the failure to do so

·          The assassination of Iraqi academics and health professionals is part of a conscious attempt to prevent Iraq from regaining its just independent and sovereign status

·          Defending Iraqi academics and health professionals is not separate from the necessity of being in solidarity with the Iraqi people and their national anti-occupation movement

·          Iraqis, like all people, have a right to science and education and to enjoy the inalienable rights of freedom of thought, expression, research and innovation

·          The right of families of assassinated health professionals and academics to have the killing of their loved ones investigated by an independent and competent body, and compensation paid, must be assured in all cases

 

In terms of action, delegates reaffirm their commitment to work with determination to raise at all levels the issue of the criminal destruction of Iraq’s professional and intellectual wealth. In particular, delegations committed to:

 

·          Demand that UNESCO act in defence of Iraq’s intellectuals and professionals

·          Demand that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights fulfil its duty to protect the lives and human rights of Iraqi doctors and academics, and all Iraqi civilians

·          Spread awareness of the issue of the assassination of Iraqi academics and doctors with the appreciated commitment of Autonomous University, Madrid, to transmit the key concerns of this campaign to Spanish universities, the International Federation of Universities and the Association of Arab Universities of the Arab League

·          Call upon the world’s media to understand that the killing of Iraqi academics and health professionals is a result of the occupation, not sectarian civil war

·          Continue working to build an international solidarity campaign linking Iraqi academics in exile and in Iraq with their peers in universities worldwide

·          Press national and regional parliaments to raise and discuss the criminal destruction of Iraq’s intellectual and professional class

 

The undersigned affirm that they will continue to cooperate in their denunciation of the occupation and its numberless crimes and always stand in solidarity with the people of Iraq.

 

The Iraqi delegation of witnesses

 

The Spanish Campaign Against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI)

http://nodo50.org/iraq/

 

The BRussells Tribunal

http://brusselstribunal.org

 

The International Action Center

http://iac.org

 

Women’s Will Association (Iraq)

http://iraqiwomenswill.org/

 

Iraq Solidarity Association in Stockholm

http://iraksolidaritet.se

 

Iraq Tribunal Initiative, Germany

http://iraktribunal.de

 

Tribunal-Iraque (Portugal)

http://tribunaliraque.info

 

The National Association of British Arabs

http://naba.org.uk

 

Medical Aid for the Third World

http://m3m.be

 

STOP USA (Stop United States of Aggression), Belgium

http://stopusa.be

 

Iraqi Patriots in Media and Culture

 

Plaforma Aturem la Guerra de Barcelona

 

Condemnation by the Conference of Rectors from Public Universities in Madrid of violence in Iraq and the assassination of Iraqi University Professors

 

Statement by CRUMA  

Conference of Rectors from Public Universities in Madrid, Madrid, 12th June, 2006

IraqSolidaridad (www.iraqsolidaridad.org ), 15th June, 2006 

After the compromise acquired by the team of Madrid Autónoma University Direction on the occasion of the International Seminar about the killing of University Professors and Health Personal in Iraq, A War Launched to Erase both the Culture and Future of the Iraqi people, organized in Madrid last 22nd and 23rd April [1], and at the proposal of the Rector of the mentioned University, Mr. Ángel Gabilondo, the Conference of Rectors from Public Universities in Madrid  (CRUMA) has approved in its meeting of 12th June, 2006, an institutional statement condemning the killing of Iraqi University Professors and the situation of violence that Iraq is going through.


The Spanish Campaign against Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (SCOSI) wishes to express its gratitude to the Rectors of Madrid Universities Complutense, Autónoma, Alcalá de Henares, Politécnica, Carlos III and Rey Juan Carlos I, as well as its satisfaction for the approval of this document, a first step towards the institutional condemnation —in the Spanish State and at international level— of this campaign of killings against Iraqi University Professors, another particularly grave facet of the situation of violation of Human Rights, defenselessness and violence that the Iraqi people is suffering as consequence of the occupation by US and its allies.

 

This document has been addressed for its approval to the Conference of Rectors of the Spanish State Public Universities (CRUE). [Note by SCOSI]

 

Document approved in the Conference of Rectors from Madrid Public Universities (CRUMA), Complutense, Autónoma, Alcalá de Henares, Politécnica, Carlos III y Rey Juan Carlos I, in its meeting held in Madrid, 12th June, 2006

 

On generalized  violence in Iraq and the killing of Iraqi University Professors

 

Iraq suffers a horrible situation of indiscriminate and generalized violence that is  growing day by day affecting all and sundry of the sectors in Iraqi society. Together with the destruction of the basic living conditions of its population, this critical spiral of terror is giving rise to an internal process of destruction that brings the Iraqi society at the edge of its definitive collapse. Iraq, a country founded on the enriching coexistence of communities that was formed throughout its millenary History, faces today its effective extinction in a crash of sectarian violence. The systematic killing of University Professors has a particular importance for the future of the country.

 

Last 14th April, 2006, the General Director of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, denounced the killing of Iraqi University Professors from the beginning of the occupation of this country in April, 2003 (Press Release, n° 2006-31). In October, 2005, the Iraqi High Education Ministry acknowledged the killing of 146 University Professors in that period of time. Currently, the number of Iraqi University Professors killed surpasses already the amount of 180, as different credible sources vouched for, among them the Iraqi University Professors Association. Last 8th May, the Iraqi newspaper az-Zaman reported on a circulating new list of 461 Intellectuals, Scientifics and Academics threatened to be killed. 

A revision of the  available list of professors killed [2], allows to understand the magnitude of the problem: Professors of all Universities of the country, pertaining to all academic fields, are being killed, the biggest part of them high skilled figures in their specialization, heads of Departments and members of the new university bodies democratically elected. 

Besides this systematic campaign of killings of Professors, two carbombs exploded for the first time last 24th April in Al-Mustansiriya University, in Baghdad, causing death to five students.  

Facing these facts, the Conference of Rectors from Madrid Public Universities (CRUMA) agrees on the following:

 

1.       To express their extreme consternation and their severe condemnation for the terrible and generalized violence that the Iraqi society is suffering, and specifically the one affecting the Iraqi University Professors, preventing the future cultural and scientific development of the country, that is bringing about a massive exodus of Iraqi Professors as well as the collapse of the University as institution.

 

2.      To promote before the competent international bodies the denunciation of these facts and the adoption of specific steps to protect the Iraqi University Professors community, in particular UNESCO, the International Federation of Universities and the Arab Universities Association in the frame of the League of the Arab States.

 

3.      To address the Spanish Government and urge that it demands the Iraqi authorities and the countries with military forces deployed in Iraq to fulfill their obligations related to the protection of Iraqi citizens, and in this particular case, of the University Professors community, and ask for  a reliable investigation in the assassination campaign against Iraq’s academics.  

 

Ángel Gabilondo Pujol, Rector of Madrid Autonoma University

María Jesús Sastre Arranz, Rector of Complutense University, Madrid

Virgilio Zapatero Gómez, Rector of Alcalá de Henares University

Javier Uceda Antolín, Rector of Politécnica University, Madrid

Gregorio Peces-Barba Martínez, Rector  of Carlos III University, Madrid

Pedro González-Trevijano, Rector of Rey Juan Carlos I University, Madrid   

Notes by IraqSolidaridad and the BRussells Tribunal:  

1.       See IraqSolidaridad: http://www.iraqsolidaridad.org/2006/agenda/seminario_declaracion.html  (Spanish) and http://www.brusselstribunal.org/SeminarMadrid.htm#resolution (English) .

2.      See IraqSolidaridad: http://www.iraqsolidaridad.org/2004-2005/docs/represion_11-11-05.html  (Spanish) and http://www.brusselstribunal.org/academicsList.htm (English)

3. See BRussells Tribunal: www.brusselstribunal.org/Academics.htm  for the campaign against the assassination of Iraq's academics. 

*  14 November 2006: Declaration Regarding The Widespread Violence In Iraq And The Killing Of University Professors, approved at the General Assembly of the Conference of Spanish University Rectors (CRUE)

The Conference of the Rectors of the Spanish Universities ( http://www.crue.org/ ) firmly condemns the killing of Iraqi Academics in a document approved in the meeting they held last 14 November, 2006.  

 

The document was introduced by Professor Ángel Gabilondo Pujol, the Rector of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, taking into consideration a parallel condemn made by the Rectors of the six Madrid Public Universities before summer ( http://www.iraqsolidaridad.org/2006/docs/represion_15-06-06.html ).

 

In this extremely important document, the Chancellors express "[…] their deeply consternation and their absolute condemnation of the terrible and widespread violence exerted against the whole Iraqi society and specifically against the Iraqi professors, investigators, teachers and intellectuals from all the Universities in the country. This is a very serious outrage against the cultural and scientific future of Iraq, which provokes both the massive forced exile of the professors and the collapse of the University as institution."

 

In the declaration, the Spanish Rectors declare their involvement in "[…] promoting the denounce of these facts before the Spanish government and before all the International incumbent organizations and to compel those organisms to take all the advisable measures to protect the Iraqi academics."

 

According to Iraqi sources, more than 210 professors have been killed in Iraq from the beginning of the USA occupation in April, 2003. These academics came from all fields of studies and from all the universities in the country, as it is stated by the Spanish Campaign against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI, Spanish Acronym), a platform of Spanish organizations that last 22 April in Madrid held an International Seminar on this issue, sponsored by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the National Library.

 

From the beginning of the current university year, around 20 academics have been killed in Iraq, including the President of Iraqi Teachers, Isam al-Rawi, who was killed last 30 October.

 

Few days ago, on 13 November, more than a hundred of civil servants of the Ministry of Superior Education were abducted in the ministry building in Bagdad. Up to now more than 20 are still held.