The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
> Conflicting news was verbally expressed by a returning United Nations'
> [Customer Services ?] employee called 'Paul' recently at Cardiff
> International > Airport, as he stated there is plenty of food in Iraq.
> Please could CASI members locate that person via contacts and request
> that he enlarge on such information for those seriously concerned ??
Thanks A. Allen,
The situation, as I understand it, is one characterised by:
(i) sufficient calories delivered to houses under oil-for-food; but
(ii) a badly damaged public health system.
My understanding comes primarily from (a) the Secretary-General's
oil-for-food reports (available on the UN Office of the Iraq Programme
homepage at www.un.org/Depts/oip); (b) the UN Humanitarian Panel report
(also available on the OIP homepage).
You will note that the Red Cross report to which you were responding also
supports this view:
> >But the Red Cross report said the program had not done its job. “It has not
> >halted the collapse of the health system and the deterioration of water
> >supplies,“ the report said.
It goes on to mention another big debate in the OIP recently:
> >Baghdad has repeatedly complained that most of its purchases have not
> >reached the country, blaming U.S. and British representatives at the U.N.
> >sanctions committee for delaying them.
On the OIP website you will find a copy of S/1999/1086, a 23 October 1999
letter from Kofi Annan to the Security Council
(www.un.org/Depts/oip/reports/sg991086.pdf). It notes that more holds as a
percentage of contracts attempted have been placed on electrical (65.5%),
telecommunications (100%), water and sanitation (53.4%) and oil spare
parts (43%) contracts than contracts in any other sector. It is clear
that electricity and water and sanitation are vital to public health
(without electricity one cannot pump clean water, refrigerate food or
vaccines; without clean water or properly treated sewage public health is
fundamentally compromised).
The telecomms category is less obvious. In introducing the Phase VI 180
day report of the Secretary General (to mark the end of Phase VI of
oil-for-food), Benon Sevan, the New York head of the Office of the Iraq
Programme, said that
In terms of telecommunications, I should like to emphasize the
necessity for the Council and its Committee to address this
long outstanding question, as it has significant implications for
other sectors, in particular the efficient distribution of food
and medicine. (http://www.un.org/Depts/oip/reports/bvsnov17.html)
Finally, regarding the oil industry: as Iraq cannot borrow internationally
to finance current humanitarian purchases, its ability to purchase these
items is constrained by its ability to pump oil for export. Increasing
this ability allows Iraq more money.
In conclusion: the public health problem does not seem currently to be
primarily the result of inadequate caloric provision to households. It
does seem to depend more on an infrastructural collapse. My sense is that
this is in part the case because infrastructure can be used by both
civilians and the military, making hawks on the Security Council like the
US and the UK more prone to blocking these sorts of contracts (and the
Government of Iraq possibly more prone to trying to slip contracts past
the Sanctions Committee). You will notice, for example, that the "green
list" of humanitarian items established under SCR 1284 does not mention
infrastructure.
Best,
Colin Rowat
***********************************************
Coordinator, Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq
http://welcome.to/casi
***********************************************
393 King's College www.cus.cam.ac.uk/~cir20
Cambridge CB2 1ST tel: +44 (0)468 056 984
England fax: +44 (0)870 063 4984
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq
For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk
Full archive and list instructions are available from the CASI website:
http://welcome.to/casi