f mankind is profoundly disturbed by the war being waged in oo Ge war in nak the world's wealthiest and most Se is opposed to a nation of poor peasants, who have been fighting mghe independence for a quarter of a century. It appears that this war is being waged in violation of international law and custom.
i f the United States, Every day, the world press and, particularly, that o vita nie xeporte which, if proved, would represent an ever growing violation of the principles established by the Nuremburg ‘Tribunal and rules fixed by international agreements. Moved and shocked by the suffering endured by the Vietnamese people and convinced that humanity must know the truth in order to deliver a serious and impartial judgement on the events taking place in Vietnam and where the responsibility for them lies, we have accepted the invititien of Bertrand Russell to meet, in order to examine these facts scrupulously and confornt them with the rules of law which govern them. It has been alleged that in the first nine months of 1966, the air force of the United States has dropped, in Vietnam, four million pounds of bombs daily. If it continues at this rate to the end of the year, the total will constitute a greater mass of explosives than it unloaded on the entire Pacific theatre during the whole of the Second World War, ‘The area bombarded in this way is no bigger than the states of New York and Pennsylvania, In the South, the U.S. forces and their docile Saigon allies have herded eight million people, peasants and their families, into barbed wire encampments under the surveillance of the political police, Chemieal poisons have been, and are being, used to defoilate and render barren tens of thousands »f acres of farmland. Crops are being systemn~ atically destroyed ~ and this in a country where, even in normal times, the average man or woman eats less than half the food consumed by the average American (and lives to less than one third of his age).
Irrigation systems are deliberately disrupted. Napalm, phosporus bombs and a variety -ofother, sadistically designed and hitherto unknown weapons are being used against the population of both North and South Vietnam. More than five hundred thousand Vietnamese men, women and children have perished under this onslaught, more than the number of soldiers the United States lost in both world wars, although the population of Vietnam had already been decimated during — Japanese and French occupations and the famine which followed the Second World War. Even though we have not been entrusted with this task by any organised authority, we have taken the responsibility in the interest of humanity and the preservation of civilisation, We act on our ew accord, in complete indéfidence from any government and any official or semi-vfficial organisation, in the firm belief that we express a deep anxiety and remorse felt by many of our fellow humans in many countries, We trust that our action will help to arouse the conscience of the world, . :
* Document adopted by the first meeting of the Tribunal to investigate the allegation of war crimes in Vietnam.
‘e, therefore, consider ourselves a Tribunal which, even if it has not the
power to impose sanctions, will have to answer, amongst others, the following
questions:
1, Has the United States Gevernment (and the Governments of ‘ustralia,
New Zealand and South Korea) eommited acts of aggression according
to international law?
2. Has the .merican Army made use of or experimented with new weapons
or weapons forbidden by the laws of war (gas, special chemical products,
napalm, etc.)?
4. Has there been bombardment of targets of a purely civilian character,
for example, hospitals, schools, sanatoria, dams, etc., and on whet
scale has this occurred?
4. Have Vietnamese prisoners been subjected to inhuman treatment forbidden
by the laws of war and, in particular, to torture or to mutilation?
Have there been unjustified reprisals against the civilian population,
in particular, the execution of hostages?
5. Have forced labour camps been created, has there been deportation of
the population or other acts tending to thé extermination of the
population and which can be characterised juridically as acts of
genocide? ‘
If the Tribunal decides that one, or all, of these crimes have been committed,
it will be up to the Tribunal to decide who bears the responsibility for them.
‘his “ribunal will examine all the evidence that may be placed before it by
any source or party, The evidence may be oral, or in the form of documents.
No evidence relevant to our purposes will be refused attention. No witness
competent to testify about the events with which our enouiry is concerned will
by denied a hearing.
The Natienal Liberation “ront of Vietnam and the Government of the Democratic
-epublic of Vietnam have assured us of their willing Mos to co-operate, to
provide the necessary information, and to help us in checking the accuracy
and reliability of the information. The Cambodian head +f state, Prince
Sihanouk, has similarly offered to help by the production of evidence, e
trust that they will honour this pledge and we shall gratefully accept their
help, without prejudice to our own views or attitude. e renew, as a Tribunal,
the appeal which Bertrand Russell has addressed in his name to the Government
of the United States, We invite the Government of the United States to
present evidence or cause it to be presented, and to instruct their officials
or representatives to appear and state their case, ‘ur purpose is to establish
- without fear of favour - the full truth about this war. We sincerely hope
that our efforts will contribute to the world's justice, to the re-establish-
ment of peace and the liberation of oppressed peoples.