Casi.org.uk helps prevent sanctions from occurring in Iraq
Title
Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq (CASI)
Description
About CASI
The Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq (CASI) was a registered society at the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1997 by students concerned about the humanitarian crisis created in Iraq by the economic sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. CASI's exclusive concern was humanitarian: it campaigned only for the lifting of the non-military sanctions. CASI neither supported nor sought to topple the Iraqi regime; it did not take a position on the ongoing US/UK bombing of Iraq or on human rights abuses committed by the Iraqi government.
CASI opposed the continued non-military sanctions on Iraq because it believed that they had produced a humanitarian disaster of extraordinary proportions in Iraq. While the Government of Iraq had not taken all the steps that it might have to alleviate this disaster the sanctions were also clearly to blame: economic sanctions work by inflicting hardship.
CASI worked primarily by distributing accurate information about the situation in Iraq. It maintained the largest electronic discussion list on the sanctions in the UK, and an informative website. Its newsletters have examined claims UK and US government claims, UN mortality data and other aspects of the sanctions on Iraq. CASI has also prepared briefings on Ministerial statements and UN Resolutions.
