Duty to disobey

WHEN Germany's leaders were convicted at the Nuremburg war crimes trials in 1946 of crimes against peace and humanity, their convictions were based on Germany's violations of the 1928 General Treaty for the Renunciation of War, known as the Pact of Paris or the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

This international treaty outlawing war was signed and ratified by 63 nations including the US, Britain, France, Germany and Japan.

The Nuremburg judgement, which is now the world's premier customary war law, made it clear to the civilised world that warfare is illegal and that the waging of an aggressive war is the greatest evil known to mankind.

"The solemn renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy necessarily involves the proposition that such war is illegal in international law - and that those who plan and wage such a war with its inevitable and terrible consequences are committing a crime in so doing.

"War is, essentially, an evil thing - its consequences are not confined to the belligerent states alone, but affect the whole world. To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime, it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

Having clearly identified that the planning and waging of war is the world's worst crime, the judges at Nuremburg went on to identify that the responsibility for such crimes and for their prevention lies with the individual, not with the state.

It is not good enough for anyone to say that they were only following orders or obeying the law. In matters of warfare and armed conflict that affect the whole world, everyone has an overarching duty to humanity to identify when a government instruction or law is wrong, to disobey illegal commands and to do all they can to prevent war and its horrific effects.

Since 1946, every human being has had a legal duty to break national laws and disobey their government to prevent it from waging a war of aggression.

Although a person may not harm or kill another, we are all legally obliged by the Nuremburg law to take non-violent direct action to stop our government from starting a war.

The world has moved on since 1946 and the Nuremburg law was incorporated into statute law with the signing of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998.

At the time of writing, 99 nation states, including Britain, have ratified this international criminal law by incorporating it into their domestic legislation.

Parliament enacted The International Criminal Court Act in 2001 and introduced the universal crimes of "genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes" and "conduct ancillary to such crimes" into the criminal law of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

On September 1 2001, for the first time in our long and turbulent history, British citizens became criminally responsible in law for the actions of their government.

By introducing the crime of "conduct ancillary to genocide" and defining ancillary conduct as "aiding, abetting, counselling, procuring, inciting, attempting, conspiring, assisting or concealing the commission of an offence," Parliament made sure that anyone with even a minor role in the commission of such heinous crimes can be held to account in court as a principal offender.

This means that not only is it the world's most serious crime for Tony Blair and Britain's political, civil and military leaders to plan and authorise war against Iraq but it is a serious crime for British citizens to support such a war.

It is a criminal offence under section 52 of the International Criminal Court Act for armed forces personnel to follow the illegal orders of their officers, for police to refuse to investigate or prosecute these crimes, for manufacturers to supply weapons and armaments, for journalists to write and editors to publish pro-war articles, for Inland Revenue officials to demand tax from taxpayers - and it is even a serious crime for taxpayers to pay tax to a government that is using it for the criminal purposes of waging war or committing genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.

The only circumstance where it is legal for a government or an individual citizen to take up arms and fight is where a country has suffered an armed attack, an invasion or an occupation and the purpose of fighting is self-defence and the ejection of enemy forces.

When the people of the US and Britain come to understand the law, they will realise that the only people who are operating legally in relation to the war with Iraq are those Iraqi freedom fighters who are attempting to eject occupation forces from their country.

When US and British political leaders violate the laws against war, it is down to the people to enforce the law, to remove Bush and Blair from power and to ensure that they answer for their crimes in court.

It is now everyone's duty to stop the violence and end the killing by informing MPs, civil servants and the police of these facts so that they can carry out their legal duty to halt the crimes that are taking place, prevent the crimes that are planned to take place, investigate the crimes that have taken place and prosecute all those responsible for the war with Iraq.

• Chris Coverdale is a lawyer and spokesman for Action Against War.