The most exciting decision of the 18th Triennial International Congress of WILPF held in New Delhi, India, was approval of an international delegation to both North and South Vietnam from the Congress.

Katherine L. Camp, president of the U.S. Section, was approved to head the delegation which included Marguerite Loree of France, Patricia Shannon of New Zealand and Lois Hamer, Sadie Hughley and Pat Samuel of the United States.

An action program against the Indochina War by sections around the world was also approved. Post cards to President Nixon urging him to set the date for total withdrawal of all U.S. forces are to be sent to the U.S. Section’s Washington office to be presented at the White House on Mrach 8, International Women’s Day.

Also, other sections will be asked to join the U.S. Section in holding rice and tea dinners on March 8 with preceeds to go to the Meternal And Child Welfare Center in Hanoi, sponsored by the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDE) which the International WILPF is supporting.

The Congress also adopted resolutions calling for an end to nato and all military pacts; immediate steps towards complete disarmament, and a solution of the conflict in the Middle East on the basis of the the 1967 U.N. Resolution.

The 140 Congress attenders included observers from the Soviet union, Hungary, Thailand, Nepal, Amnesty International and WIDF. Anna de Araya of Chile and Alice Appea of Ghana reported new sections of WILPF forming in their countries.

Elections to the International Executive resulted in six new members, including Kay Camp and Naomi Marcus, U.S. Section vice president. Since Elise Boulding felt unable to continue as chairman, Ellen Holmgaard of Denmark was chosen in her place with Kay and Eleanor Romberg of Germany as vice chairman.

The final Congress Statement contained many of the conclusions reached in commission discussions. Most controvwersial of these was, perhaps, the statement on World Revolution which many sections had discussed in advance. Final wording is :

“A society that is military and exploitive generates movements for rapid change towards social justice. It is a human right to resist injustice and to be neither silent witness nor passive victim of repression. We recognize the inevitability of violent resistance by the opposed when other alternatives have failed even though we recognize that violent creates more problems than it solves.

“The WILPF has a duty to make the public aware of the problems of the opposed and exploited; to analyze the structure of power in the society and the use made of it; to study and work towards developing methods for the effective use of non-violent means, to engage oursilves actively in non-violent movements for change.”