Re: internal human rights situation as condition for lifting sanctions?

["andrew loucks" <loucksah@DELETETHISmcmaster.ca>]

Certainly the press and government spokespeople have sometimes explicitly
and often implicitly used Iraq's human rights record as justification for
sanctions, distrust, etc.  But these have no legal basis as far as I can
tell.

The conditions for lifting sanctions are fairly clearly outlined in
paragraph 22 of Security Council resolution 687 of April 1991:

"22.  [the Security Council] Decides that upon the approval by the Security
Council of the programme called for in paragraph 19 above and upon Council
agreement that Iraq has completed all actions contemplated in paragraphs 8,
9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 above, the prohibitions against the import of
commodities and products originating in Iraq and the prohibitions against
financial transactions related thereto contained in resolution 661 (1990)
shall have no further force or effect;"

The "programme" referred to is for the administration of compensation: the
initial and not-so-humanitarian impetus for oil-for-food.  Paragraphs 8
through 13 simply outline the disarmament requirements.  Though this
paragraph does not explicitly mention the prohibition of exporting to Iraq,
I assume this is meant to be included in "transactions".  Why would they
only lift half of the sanctions?  Anyway, what I read from this paragraph -
and what I think anyone who can read English should be able to read - is
that when Iraq fulfills disarmament obligations (which are murky and not
very clearly defined) the sanctions are lifted.  Albright and others have
tried, on occasion, to throw in Kuwaiti POW's (not unlike what the US did
for years with Vietnam) and other stuff into the mix, but the fact of the
matter is pretty obvious from 687.  Iraq disarms or is disarmed and
continues to pay its (somewhat politically constructed) debts under a UN
administrated plan, then the sanctions are lifted.

Just one last note: it seems to me rather odd that one could cite the
violation of Iraqis' political rights (including the most basic of rights,
the right to life) by their own government as justification for the
violation of Iraqis' social and economic rights (also including the right to
life) by one's own government.  But I'm sure most people on this list share
my sense of confusion.

Andrew Loucks
The Global Movement to End the War
against Iraq - www.leb.net/globalmewi
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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-----Original Message-----
From: Harriet Griffin <harriet.griffin@environmental-change.oxford.ac.uk>
To: 'soc-casi-discuss@lists.cam.ac.uk' <soc-casi-discuss@lists.cam.ac.uk>
Date: May 8, 1999 9:14 AM
Subject: internal human rights situation as condition for lifting sanctions?


Does anyone know whether internal (i.e. Iraqi government) abuses of
sections of the Iraqi population (e.g. Shi'a, Kurds) have been used as a
justification of maintaining economic sanctions, or whether the
cessation of such persecution has been cited in UN resolutions as a
pre-condition for the lifting of sanctions?

I would be most grateful for any insights.

Harriet

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