PRESS RELEASE

Former U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq to tour UK

9 Jan 1999. For immediate release.
For further information, please contact: Seb Wills (Tel 01223 xxxxxx)

Denis Halliday, the former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, will be touring the UK from 23rd to 28th January 1999. He will be speaking to the public, politicians and the media about the consequences of the policy of sanctions on Iraq, and possible alternative strategies.

Mr Halliday was in charge of the "Oil for Food" programme, by which Iraq is allowed to sell oil in return for essential humanitarian supplies.

Mr Halliday resigned from 34 year career with the U.N. at the end of September 1998, calling the sanctions “a totally bankrupt concept” and describing the humanitarian programme in Iraq as “only Band-Aid stuff”. He resigned because he “wanted to be in a position to speak out on sanctions and the dreadful impact that they are having on the people - particularly the children - and the future of Iraq”. Mr Halliday says “the monthly rate of sanctions-related child mortality for children under five years of age is from five to six thousand per month,” a figure he attributes to the World Health Organisation.

He will arrive in the UK on Saturday 23rd January following speaking tours in France and Italy. He will then tour the UK giving public talks and media interviews in London (23rd & 26th), Sheffield (24th), Birmingham (24th), Warwick (University) (25th) & Cambridge (27th).

Mr Halliday is available for interview. Contact Seb Wills (details below) for more information.

The speaking tour is organised by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq (CASI), a student-run humanitarian campaign based in Cambridge. As well as organising local events in Cambridge, CASI works closely with other campaign groups opposing sanctions on Iraq. Other national projects include a forthcoming National Day of Action in solidarity with the Iraqi people on 27th February 1999. CASI does not support the regime of Saddam Hussein.

A comprehensive 9 page media pack about the tour is available. For further information, to arrange an interview with Denis Halliday, or to receive the media pack, contact: