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[casi] Iraq - water - chlorine - sanctions




[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]

Greetings List, particularly Colin, Ghazwan and Boris,

As a member of the CASI list from its early days I have noted recent exchanges on the subjects of  
water, chlorine and sanctions. I have now had a quick look at some of the downloaded CASI postings 
this subject over the years.
I think it would be fair to say "no" to Ghazwan's question:
quote: Would you accept that the UN "frustrated"  the efforts of the Iraqi government to get 
chlorine, imported or donated, to be used in water treatment plants?  "frustrated" or "banned" 
resulted in the death of thousands and thousands of people. unquote.

"The UN" as such cannot be blamed. But certain national interests could be blamed at specific 
periods for delaying the rehabilitation of water systems/supplies. Our CASI records show that many 
UN agencies  and others were trying to get adequate supplies of treated water to all in need of it. 
And, of course,  chlorine without a sustained supply of electricity or without delivery systems to 
all, does not alone help a nation's people at risk.

To be fair, I think we could accept the UN Sanctions Committee is not an agency of the UN nor is it 
in that sense a part of its administration. Composed of government representatives under the 
authority of the Security Council, the Sanctions Committee would deliberate specific requests for a 
country or region against the backdrop of current international tensions and the force of opinion 
and influence of any or more of its members at specific times.

Paul Conlon's book exposes problems encountered during one period.
At different times, for different countries  and for different (changing) vested national interests 
as expressed by strong or weak personalities, different majority decisions could be taken. The 
whole topic could interest a keen PhD student.

Roy Skinner
Switzerland


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