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Date sent: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 14:21:46 -0700
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: CANADIAN CHURCH LEADERS' LETTER TO P.M. ON NATO BOMBING OF
YUGOSLAVIA
CANADIAN CHURCH LEADERS' LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER
ON THE NATO BOMBING OF YUGOSLAVIA
April 13, 1999
The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A OA6
Dear Prime Minister,
We write to you as leaders of Christian churches, appealing to you to
press for an immediate, unilateral moratorium on the NATO bombing
campaign. We are conscious of the heavy responsibilities you are carrying
on this difficult question, and of the serious debate that took place in the
House of Commons. Nevertheless, we appeal to you to replace the current
strategy with renewed diplomatic efforts to reach a negotiated solution.
Our church colleagues in the Vatican, in churches throughout Europe and
Russia, and particularly in the Balkans have appealed to NATO, to the
Serbs and to the Albanian Kosovars to stop all military action and begin
dialogue immediately. They also appealed to all parties to restrict
themselves to non-violent means to achieve a just settlement to the
conflict, as well as to protect vulnerable people. We join them in that
appeal.
Our concern has been deepened by our church partnerships in the region
and by our knowledge of people caught in the situation. It has been
heightened by our experience of Holy Week and Easter, when we
celebrated again the mystery of One who suffered and died so that all
people everywhere should experience God's gift of reconciliation, justice,
and peace. To spurn that offered gift in favour of violence is morally and
spiritually wrong.
As Christians, we believe that all human persons constitute one world-
wide family. All people, within and beyond our borders are our
neighbours. Therefore, we have a responsibility to do our utmost to
protect fellow human beings when they are in great danger of human
rights violations or of being caught in the path of warring parties. As a
consequence of that responsibility, we have in principle supported
Canada's interventionist role in defence of human rights and in
peacebuilding. In the present case, we can not support the means.
In principle, we also support Canada's determination to see that human
rights violators are vigorously prosecuted under international law. The
moral issue for people and for states committed to peace and human rights
is finding the means that will help build, and not undermine, the conditions
that undergird peace and security for people and effective respect for their
human rights.
We recognize that in the present situation in former Yugoslavia every
course of action, including non-violent and diplomatic means, will produce
tragedies. The challenge is to do the difficult work of finding the means
that are best suited in this particular situation to the restoration of peace
and justice. NATO bombing has only escalated the tragedy and created a
starker humanitarian catastrophe.
We urge you to give leadership in seeking a wider range of diplomatic
alternatives. For example: we believe it is urgent to shift the political
focus of diplomacy out of NATO and into the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), whose membership includes all of
NATO, as well as Russia and all the other states affected by this crisis.
Canada needs to take advantage of its hard-won position on the Security
Council, calling on it to perform the central overseeing role in the
diplomatic and humanitarian response to the crisis. Canada's formal
commitment to human security makes diplomatic activism along these
lines plausible. Our role in NATO bombing undermines it.
Our church members, like many other Canadians, are stepping forward to
offer their support to people displaced by the bombing and by Serbian
military action They are also standing by to receive refugees who choose
to come here. They tell us how much they appreciate the government's
efforts to protect displaced people in the affected region, as well as to
offer refugees a place in Canada if they choose to come. But we also want
to convey to you the horror people have expressed to us as they have
witnessed the effects of these military actions on men, women, and
children.
You who bear the heavy burden of governing are faced with the difficult
recognition that, while a great good was sought, in fact a great evil has
been done. In this moment we urge you as the Prime Minister of our
country to stop, reconsider, and carefully change direction.
Sincerely,
The Most Rev. Michael G. Peers
Primate, Anglican Church of Canada
Msgr. Peter Schonenbach, PH
General Secretary, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
Archbishop Hovnan Derderian
Primate, Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Orthodox Church
Dr. Helmut Harder
General Secretary, Conference of Mennonites in Canada
Bishop Telmor Sartison
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
The Right Rev. Seraphim
Bishop of Ottawa and Canada, Orthodox Church in America
Gale Wills, Clerk
Canadian Yearly Meeting
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
The Rev. Dr. William Klempa
Moderator of the 124th General Assembly, The Presbyterian Church in
Canada
The Very Rev. Bill Phipps
Moderator, United Church of Canada
[PEN-L:5429] (Fwd) CANADIAN CHURCH LEADERS' LETTER TO P.M. ON NATO BOMBING
ts99u-1.cc.umanitoba.ca [130.179.154.224] Sat, 17 Apr 1999 00:00:53 -0500
