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U.N. Embargo on Iraq Remains Flawed, Groups
Say
Wed Aug 7,10:13 AM ET
Thalif Deen,Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS ( news
- web
sites), Aug 6 (IPS) - The 12-year-old U.N. economic embargo
against Iraq is flawed because it has severely hurt the Iraqi people
while sparing the country's leaders, a coalition of 12
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said Tuesday.
"The United States and the United Kingdom, who use their veto
power to prolong the sanctions, bear special responsibility for
perpetuating the sanctions against the wishes of the vast majority
of the 15-member Security Council," the coalition said.
In a study released on the 12th anniversary of the embargo, the
coalition says that while the government of Iraq bears a large
responsibility for the suffering of its people, the Security Council
is in clear breach of its obligations under international law,
"especially by failing to provide protection to children who have
suffered disproportionately under sanctions".
The study comes amid growing reports that the United States is
planning to attack Iraq in a bid to remove leader Saddam Hussein (
news
- web
sites). Last week, Iraq invited the U.N.'s chief weapons
inspector to the country for technical talks, a move many people
interpret as an attempt to delay an attack.
The NGO report says several independent studies, including one by
the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF ( news
- web
sites)), have "amply documented a substantial rise in mortality
of children, five years of age and below, and credible estimates
suggest that at least 400,000 of these young children have died due
to the sanctions".
The coalition, which includes Save the Children UK, Global Policy
Forum, the Arab Commission for Human Rights, the Quaker U.N. Office
and the Institute for Policy Studies, says the existing
"comprehensive economic sanctions" must be lifted and replaced with
"targeted sanctions".
In war-ravaged countries such as Afghanistan ( news
- web
sites), Liberia and Angola, the Security Council has penalized
political leaders by freezing their foreign bank accounts, denying
visas for overseas travel and cutting them off from export revenue
sources.
"We all know that Saddam Hussein is a criminal. But sanctions
against an entire people is not the way to get rid of him," Jim Paul
of the New York-based Global Policy Forum told IPS.
Paul said the United States is wrong to act as if it has the
moral authority to do what it is doing against the Iraqi people.
Of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security
Council, only the United States and Britain have taken a hard line
against lifting sanctions.
The other three members, Russia, France and China, have indicated
their willingness to lift sanctions conditionally - and on
humanitarian grounds.
The sanctions were imposed by the Security Council on Aug. 6,
1990 to punish Iraq following its invasion of neighboring Kuwait.
Following strong protests by humanitarian organizations, the
Security Council eased the embargo under an "oil-for-food" program
introduced in April 1995.
The program permitted Iraq to import food and relief supplies by
using oil revenues - while being monitored closely by the United
Nations.
But while Iraq has sold about 54.4 billion dollars worth of oil
under the program to date, only 23.5 billion dollars worth of
humanitarian and relief supplies have arrived in the country so far.
"This is less than 200 dollars per Iraqi per year," the study
said, pointing out that the much-trumpeted program "has failed to
resolve the humanitarian crisis, much less provide a long-term
solution for Iraq".
According to Paul, "the oil-for-food program has only
strengthened the Iraqi leadership because it is the government which
imports and distributes the food for the people".
Hans Von Sponeck, a former U.N. assistant secretary-general, who
until two years ago headed the oil-for-food program, said that six
years of revisions to sanctions policy have repeatedly promised
"mitigation" of civilian suffering.
But four months ago, he said, UNICEF reported that more than 22
percent of the country's young children remain chronically
malnourished.
At a summit meeting of the League of Arab States in Beirut last
March, all 22 members, including Kuwait, called for the de-linking
of economic and military sanctions against Iraq.
"If the economic embargo on Iraq is not in (Arab states)
interest, then in whose interest is it?" asked Von Sponeck.
The coalition also argues that the Security Council has clear
obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law,
which provide means to assess its sanctions record.
A number of policy papers by U.N. agencies and bodies, as well as
studies by legal scholars, have determined that the Council is in
"serious violation of its responsibilities in the case of Iraq".
The coalition's study said, "The Council has committed both
procedural and substantive violations, by failing to conduct regular
assessments of the humanitarian impact of the sanctions, and by
directly violating a number of important rights, including the
rights of children to protection and the right to life itself."
The coalition also said that if Iraq is to return to normalcy,
and to be persuaded to agree to international accords, it must be
freed from constant military pressure, threats and intimidation.
"The Security Council's decisions, not unilateral action by one
of two powerful states, must prevail," it added.
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