Twelve actions for twelve years of sanctions on Iraq

Originally prepared for the UK National Week of Action: 3-11 August 2002, updated subsequently.

[A pdf version of this entire document is available here. It's ideal for printing out and distributing to anyone you know who might be interested!]

1 - Write to your MP

2 - Meet with your MP

3 - Join or form a group

4 - Write a leaflet

5 - Hold a stall or vigil

6 - Arrange a speaker meeting

7 - Call for a humanitarian assessment

8 - Write to a newspaper

9 - Invest (symbolically) in Iraq

10 - Donate to a charity working in Iraq

11 - Inform one other person

12 - Keep yourself informed

On 6 August 1990, the United Nations imposed comprehensive sanctions on Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait. The Gulf War followed, after which sanctions were reaffirmed by the terms of the ceasefire, and linked to weapons inspections and disarmament. Since then, economic sanctions have been largely responsible for a humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq. In 1999, a UNICEF report stated that sanctions had contributed to the deaths of half a million Iraqi children. Today, twelve years after their imposition, the burden of sanctions remains immense. The ‘oil for food’ programme has provided limited humanitarian relief, but it has not been an adequate substitute for normal economic activity. Iraq needs income to repair its shattered infrastructure; restrictions on foreign investment, foreign exchange and exports other than oil continue to prevent this reconstruction.

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