UNITED NATIONS, March 28: Calling for sanity and a quick end to the US-led invasion of Iraq, US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson on Thursday urged the United States, Britain and Iraq to take proper care of their prisoners of war, whether the PoWs were being held in Iraq, Afghanistan or Cuba.

Speaking to reporters following a meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, at UN headquarters here, he appealed for a quick delivery of humanitarian aid to Iraq.

“People need not continue to die. There must be some sanity. There must be some civility ... It is not too late to stop the slaughter,” Mr Jackson said.

He said five million people in Iraq were now short on food and water.

Jackson said that the international human rights law such as the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of PoWs and civilians in time of war must be applied to all according to a single standard.