Impact of the 9-Year Sanctions War on the People of
Iraq
From UN Reports
Iraq "has experienced a shift from relative affluence to massive poverty.
In marked contrast to the prevailing situation prior to the events of 1990-91,
the infant mortality rates in Iraq today are among the highest in the world,
low infant birth weight affects at least 23% of all births, chronic
malnutrition affects every fourth child under five years of age, only 41% of
the population have regular access to clean water, 83% of all schools need
substantial repairs. The ICRC states that the Iraqi health-care system is
today in a decrepit state. UNDP calculates that it would take 7 billion US
dollars to rehabilitate the power sector country-wide to its 1990 capacity." -
UN Report on the Current
Humanitarian Situation in Iraq, submitted to the Security Council, March
1999
"The increase in mortality reported in public hospitals for children under
five years of age (an excess of some 40,000 deaths yearly compared with 1989)
is mainly due to diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition. In those over five
years of age, the increase (an excess of some 50,000 deaths yearly compared
with 1989) is associated with heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer,
liver or kidney diseases." Approximately 250 people die every day in Iraq due
to the effect of the sanctions. - UNICEF, April 1998.
"The Oil-for-Food plan has not yet resulted in adequate protection of
Iraq's children from malnutrition/disease. Those children spared from death
continue to remain deprived of essential rights addressed in the Convention of
Rights of the Child." -- UNICEF,
April 1998.
"32 percent of children under five, some 960,000 children are chronically
malnourished - a rise of 72 percent since 1991. Almost one quarter (23%) are
underweight - twice as high as the levels found in neighboring Jordan or
Turkey." - UNICEF,
November 1997.
"There is no sign of any improvement since Security Council Resolution
986/1111 ["Oil for Food"] came into force." - UNICEF, November 1997.
"One out of every 4 Iraqi infants is malnourished. … Chronic malnutrition
among children under five has reached 27.5%. After a child reaches two or
three years of age, chronic malnutrition is difficult to reverse and damage on
the child's development is likely to be permanent." UNICEF and
World Food Programmed (WFP), May 1997
"Iraq's health system is close to collapse because medicines and other
life-saving supplies scheduled for importation under the 'oil-for-food' deal
have not arrived. … Government drug warehouses and pharmacies have few stocks
of medicines and medical supplies. The consequences of this situation are
causing a near-breakdown of the health care system, which is reeling under the
pressure of being deprived of medicine, other basic supplies and spare parts."
World Health Organizations (WHO), February 1997.
"4,500 children under the age of 5 are dying each month from hunger and
disease. … The situation is disastrous for children. Many are living on the
very margin of survival."-UNICEF, October
1996.
"Since the onset of sanctions, there has been a six-fold increase in the
mortality rate for children under five and the majority of the country's
population has been on a semi-starvation diet." - WHO, March 1996.
"Famine threatens four million people in sanctions-hit Iraq - one fifth of
the population - following a poor grain harvest...The human situation is
deteriorating. Living conditions are precarious and are at pre-famine level
for at least four million people. … The deterioration in nutritional status of
children is reflected in the significant increase of child mortality, which
has risen nearly fivefold since 1990." - UN FAO, September 1995.
"Alarming food shortages are causing irreparable damage to an entire
generation of Iraqi children". - UN
FAO and WFP, September 1995.
"Sanctions are inhibiting the importation of spare parts, chemicals,
reagents, and the means of transportation required to provide water and
sanitation services to the civilian population of Iraq. … What has become
increasingly clear is that no significant movement towards food security
can be achieved so long as the embargo remains in place. All vital
contributors to food availability - agricultural production, importation of
foodstuffs, economic stability and income generation, are dependent on Iraq's
ability to purchase and import those items vital to the survival of the
civilian population." - UNICEF,
1995
