The representatives of the various Protestant and Orthodox Churches met in Paris in recent days to discuss the role of the United Nations and respect for international law in the aftermath of the war in Iraq. The meeting took place at the beginning of the work of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches for International Affairs (CCIA), convened to examine the “road map”, the peace plan worked out jointly by the UNO, USA, European Union and Russia to try to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Expressing once again firm condemnation “for the American intervention in Iraq” and “for the occupation of the country”, the director of the CCIA, Peter Weiderud, declared that “the role of the Churches was a success. They ought not to replace the politicians, but promote and support peaceful solutions”. Of a different view is the President of the Protestant Federation of France (FPF), pastor Jean-Arnold de Clermont who promoted the meeting in Paris: “We failed to make our voice sufficiently heard and prevent the war in Iraq. Undoubtedly more should have been done and done more rapidly”. The pastor affirmed the urgent need for “a theological reflection on what we consider good and evil” and “a clarification of the concept of ‘right of interference’, i.e. the right of States and NGOs to challenge governments or exercise pressure in the event of crisis”.
