On 12 March 2003, eight days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, in coalition with Greenpeace, called upon UN member states to convene a General Assembly ‚emergency special session‘ (ESS), under the terms of the Assembly’s own ‚Uniting for Peace‘ resolution, in the hope that the UN „unites as a whole to defend its founding principles and stop the impending attack on Iraq“.  By 18 March 2003, the US was making clear to UN member states that, „Given the current highly charged atmosphere, the United States would regard a General Assembly session on Iraq as unhelpful and as directed against the United States“. UN members were also warned that: „the staging of such a divisive session could do additional harm to the UN“.

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