UN Census and Elections for Iraq (UNCEI)

We the undersigned, Iraqis and friends, are deeply concerned about the continued violence and the possibility of the return of dictatorship to Iraq. We believe that a strong democracy is the best policy against the sectarian violence and the only guarantee against the return of the dictatorship, and that democracy cannot survive without accurate and reliable population census and fair and transparent elections. We are writing to respectfully urge you to put the situation in Iraq on the formal agenda of the United Nations Security Council, and to use your good offices to support the passage of a binding resolution requiring the direct UN oversight over a division-neutral general population census to be held as soon as possible, and over parliamentary elections in the future in order to assure the accuracy and continuity of democracy. The urgency of instituting a census is highlighted by the large displaced Iraqi population; a UN supervised census and issuing of UN identity documentation which allows for name change for security reasons will help distribute badly needed aid to the displaced population. The importance of UN oversight over future elections is self evident; the existence of so much inter- and intra-sectarian violence makes it imperative to have the highest level of fairness and transparency in future elections. We also believe that the temporary UN assumption of the role of occupation in the political process in Iraq is the logical intermediate stage in the withdrawal of military occupation forces; an important goal of all parties involved in Iraq. We believe that the above humanitarian, moral and security reasons are more important than self-serving political analysis and for this we sign the petition and urge your immediate action. Thank you.For more details, presentation and background please contact Faisal@Montrealiraqi.com