[Peace-discuss] conditions brought on by the 1990 sanctions

[Karen Medina]

---- Original message ----
>My comment: While Iraq was not a developing country, the US 
>has reduced it to such (starting with the sanctions) and the 
>availability of needed items continues to decline. So some 
of the care kits for developing countries are applicable to 
the situation in Iraq.


[[I just ran across a statement about the affect of 
sanctions. This was written in March of 2000 by a UN 
Commission:]]

Item 13: Rights of the Child, The Human Rights of Children in 
Iraq 
 

UN Commission on Human Rights
Fifty-sixth session  March 20 - April 28, 2000
Palais des Nations, Geneva  
  


Statement delivered by Arlene Flaherty, OP, on behalf of 
FI/OP addressing the Human Rights situation facing children 
in Iraq 

I speak on behalf of Franciscans International and Dominicans 
for Justice and Peace, in conjunction with the Justice 
Promoters of the Dominican Order in the United States of 
America and 75 signatories of our written statement 
(E/CN.2/2000/NG0/59).

Children are most often the most vulnerable victims in 
situations of war and conflict. Additionally, many reports 
now indicate how children and women suffer greatly when 
sanctions are imposed upon a country following conflicts. 
Their health and well-being are greatly damaged and affected 
in violation of fundamental articles of the UN Convention on 
the Rights of the Child and of the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights.

In this respect, we are gravely concerned that the UN-imposed 
sanctions and embargo on Iraq is adversely affecting the 
health and well being of Iraqi children. We are aware of the 
political issues which surround the situation in Iraq. 
However, our intention is to raise the humanitarian concerns -
 the human rights situation of children in Iraq, and not to 
address the political issues.

In a statement to the UN Security Council on March 24, 2000, 
the Secretary-General of the United Nations Mr. Kofi Annan 
declared "I am particularly concerned about the situation of 
Iraqi children, whose suffering and, in all too many cases, 
untimely death has been documented in the report prepared by 
UNICEF and the Iraqi Health Ministry last year. That report, 
which has been echoed by many other observers, showed that, 
in the centre and south of Iraq, infant mortality and 
morbidity have increased dramatically and reached 
unacceptable levels."

The UN Report on the Current Humanitarian Situation in Iraq, 
30 March 1999, compares the state of Iraq prior and after the 
events of 1990-91.

The prevalence of malnutrition in Iraqi children under 5 
years of age almost doubled and the World Food Program 
reports the monthly food basket- distributed in Iraq lasts 
only 20 days. Similarly, the World Food Program estimates 
that since 1991 access to potable drinking water has dropped 
to 50% with even lower levels available in the rural areas of 
the country. Water borne diseases and other communicable 
diseases are devastating Iraq's children. The shortage of 
drugs, supplies and medical equipment, exacerbated by the 
import restrictions by the United Nations, has crippled 
Iraq's healthcare system.

Many pediatric hospitals could be described as chambers of 
horror. The two US Dominican delegations which visited Iraq 
in 1999 and in March of this year have witnessed masses of 
children lying feverishly on uncovered hospital mattresses in 
unrelieved pain because there no bed sheets and there are no 
medicines available for their comfort. Anemic birth mothers 
wait anxiously while their. underweight newborns gasp for 
breath below oxygen tanks. Children are ravaged by rising 
cancers for lack of chemotherapy and a shortage of blood 
transfusion bags. One physician described with horror the 
death of a nine-year old leukemia patient and concluded "His 
only crime was that he was an Iraqi child." Another doctor 
surveying the sadness of a hospital ward turned to the 
visiting delegation and asked, "What have they done to 
deserve this?" It is estimated that as many as 5,000 children 
die every month as a direct result of privations under 
sanctions. The deaths and serious injuries among children as 
well as the trauma inflicted upon children by allied bombing 
sorties over northern and southern Iraq will have long-term 
consequences on the life of the individual, family, culture 
and society of Iraq. It will also have long-term consequences 
on the international community for we are all diminished and 
affected by this tragedy.

In a significant way, the lasting effects of the Gulf War and 
UN. policies such as Resolution 661 and 986, (Oil for Food), 
have had calamitous effects on Iraqi children. It is time 
that this problem be addressed through an intervention. The 
international community has made a commitment to ensure that 
every child "be brought up in a spirit of understanding, 
tolerance, friendship among peoples, peace and universal 
brother/sisterhood." How can we ensure this right for Iraqi 
children unless we address those policies and practices that 
are severely compromising their happiness and health?

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said "A United Nations that 
will not stand up for human rights is a United Nations that 
cannot stand up for itself." In the name of the United 
Nations, in the name of the Iraqi children and in the words 
of one Iraqi child, "Please do something..."

Franciscans International and Dominicans for Justice and 
Peace together with the Justice and Peace Promoters of the 
Dominican Order in the United States recommend that the UN 
Commission on Human Rights strongly urge the international 
community to lift the sanctions and embargo on Iraq and 
advocate for immediate measures to stop and reverse the 
downward pattern of life experienced by Iraqi children.