At the 212th General Assembly (2000), the Presbyterian Church (USA) reiterated its call for the immediate end to the sanctions regime against Iraq. Protesting both the behavior of the Iraqi Government as well as the continued economic sanctions against it, the church underscored the suffering of innocent Iraqi civilians and the need for a peaceful resolution based on diplomacy rather than war. While there has been some effort by the international community to alleviate the suffering through the Oil for Food Program, the church noted that "it had largely failed to support the humanitarian requirements of the population."

The sanctions against Iraq are estimated to have cost the lives of half a million Iraqi children under the age of five, a million and a half men, women and children. In 1999, UNICEF estimated that the children of Iraq were dying at twice the rate they were 10 years ago. Richard Garfield, Professor of Clinical International Nursing at Columbia University, states that "in times of crisis, governments and families mobilize resources especially to protect young children. So, the data on Iraq is important not only in terms of the life chances of 22 million Iraqi people, but as a remarkable condemnation of the international community and the Iraqi Government. It is the only instance of a sustained large increase in mortality in a stable population of more than 2 million in the last two hundred years."

The causes of these deaths include lack of clean water and high quality foods and inadequate medical supplies. Since the Gulf War, calorie intake has dropped by 32 percent due to lack of food, and chronic malnutrition affects one in four Iraqi children under the age of five. The infant mortality rate is one of the highest in the world.

Twenty-three percent of all babies born in Iraq are underweight, and only 41 percent of the population has routine access to potable water. In addition, the infrastructure needed to support the society has been decimated. Industry, agriculture, communication and transportation sectors that were destroyed in the Gulf War remain in chaos. According to a recent report by the UN Sub-commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the sanctions in Iraq have created a humanitarian disaster equivalent to the worst catastrophes of recent history.

In an effort to help the population survive the crisis, the Oil for Food Program was instituted by the Security Council, but it has done little to alleviate the suffering. In September of 1998, Denis Halliday, former United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, resigned saying, "We are in the process of destroying an entire society. It is as simple and as terrifying as that. It is illegal and immoral." On February 13th of 2000, Hans von Sponeck, Halliday's successor as Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, also resigned, saying he could not be associated with a program that prolonged the sufferings of the people and which had no chance to meet even the basic needs of the civilian population.

History of Sanctions

On August 6, 1990, the Security Council passed resolution 661, which imposed multilateral comprehensive economic sanctions on Iraq. This resolution banned all imports and exports to and from Iraq with exceptions made for supplies intended strictly for medical purposes and, in certain circumstances, food. Also in 1990, the Security Council passed resolutions 665 and 670, which imposed marine and air blockades on Iraq.

After the Gulf War, the Security Council adopted resolution 687, which authorized the continuation of the sanctions with the same exemptions for humanitarian goods. Imports of petroleum from Iraq were permitted in order for Iraq to pay for imports of food and medical supplies. At the same time, the resolution also included a comprehensive arms embargo and established a commission of experts, United Nations Special Committee (UNSCOM), to monitor and destroy any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

In 1991, the Security Council passed resolutions 706 and 712, authorizing the sale of up to 1.6 billion worth of petroleum and petroleum products by Iraq every six months. The resolutions were never implemented. Resolution 986 was passed by the Security Council in 1995, and permitted the sale of $2 billion of Iraqi oil every six months. The money from the sale of the Iraqi oil would be placed into a bank account controlled by the United Nations. More than one-third of this money went towards reparations and administrative costs.

It was not until December of 1996 that the Oil for Food Program began. The program was instituted as a temporary measure but is now still in effect. In 1998, Resolution 1153 was passed to increase the amount of oil Iraq was allowed to sell. Resolution 1284, passed in 1999, permitted Iraq to sell oil for humanitarian goods with no cap on the amount. However, because of Iraq's aging oil equipment and the inability to replace it, it makes little difference.

What Caused the Disaster?

Both the international community and the Iraqi Government are to blame for the current situation. The Iraqi Government could do more to mobilize its resources to protect the most vulnerable of its society. However, the sanctions on Iraq are the most comprehensive sanctions ever imposed on a country, and they were put into place with no monitoring capacity whatsoever. One public health expert explains that, "It was like locking up the prisoner, throwing away the key and not wondering if he was going to feel well in the cell without food or medical care."

Many countries in crisis experience a lack of food and medicine. These are what are thought of as necessities for survival or short-term assets. However, long-term assets, such as communications systems, roads and most importantly educational levels among mothers and skill levels among bureaucrats, physicians, and teachers are the strongest predictors of the ability of a society to recover and support its population. Iraq has experienced a loss of both long-term and short-term assets from the war, which destroyed its infrastructure, and from the comprehensive sanctions.

The British and US Governments, despite the continued suffering of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women, and children, have not been willing to ease the sanctions. And, although unity has to be attained in the United Nations for their establishment, only one member of the Security Council can prevent their removal. Only the Oil for Food Program has been provided for access to food, medicine and other humanitarian goods and the program has proved to be a failure.

Why Isn't the Oil for Food Program Working?

Through the Oil for Food Program, Iraq has experienced by far the biggest dollar value of humanitarian assistance in an emergency program. However, the Oil for Food Program was developed with no component for evaluation. It was conceived as a short-term measure, but has since been extended. Despite the considerable amount of resources put into the program, the amount of improvement in nutritional conditions was insignificant in the two years following its implementation. It was only as recent as 1999 that modest improvement has been seen.

The primary reason the oil for food program is not working is that it provides only day-to-day necessities, not the resources necessary to rebuild critical infrastructure. Nutritional conditions do not improve simply by giving people food. While rations from the Oil for Food Program are adequate to sustain the current nutritional conditions, nutrition levels still have not risen in proportion to the resources provided by the program. There are several factors involved in this. First, electricity production has only improved very slowly. While it declined 50% from 1990 to 1996, it has only recently increased by 8%. Since the implementation of the Oil for Food Program, demand for electricity has increased 40%. There are more power outages now than occcurred in the worst years of low electricity. Secondly, water pumping is key to water and sanitation in a country with topography like Iraq's. Without reliable electricity, the pumps break. Therefore, many people are reluctant to install new pumps until the electricity has normalized. This has resulted in almost 5,000 breaks in the pipes in the past eight years; in the 1980's there were only two. In addition, the literacy rate has dropped because of the gradual decrease in the quality of schooling. The overall literacy rate among adults has gone from 80 to 50 percent. This lack of proper electricity, water and education has significantly contributed to the lack of progress through the Oil for Food Program.

The latest head of the Oil for Food Program recently said that, "The Sanctions Committee precautionary hold on an "excessive" number of purchasing contracts was seriously hindering the humanitarian program. American and British representatives on the Sanctions Committee hold up everything they suspect, however remotely, to be of dual use." The list of suspect goods runs from heart and lung machines to wheelbarrows, from fire-fighting equipment to detergent and from water pumps to pencils.

UN Report and US Response

According to the recent report by the UN Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the idea that the economic sanctions can pressure a civilian populace to put pressure on its government in order to initiate change simply does not apply to regimes where decision making is not democratic. "There is simply no pathway through which civilian pressure can bring about change in the government." In some cases it helps the ruling regime. The government can unite the people against a common enemy by using the sanctions as a scapegoat. Further, the government and ruling class can actually benefit from the sanctions, while the middle class is eliminated, and the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. Humanitarian exemptions "only mitigate the situation at a micro-level, and do not constitute a resource flow that can compensate for dramatic overall economic recession." According to the report, the current sanctions violate international law and some "would go as far as making a charge of genocide." The report states that, "the sanction regime against Iraq has as its clear purpose the deliberate infliction on the Iraqi people of conditions of life (lack of adequate food, medicines, etc.) calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." The report states that it does not matter what the goals of the sanctions are. Once it was clear that thousands of civilians were dying and the security council continued the sanctions, "the deaths are no longer an unintended side effect - the Security Council is responsible for all known consequences of its actions."

In a response to the report, George Moose, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, stated that, "the report's characterization of the purpose of the sanctions is wrong, as is its characterization of their effects . . .Oil for Food works."

What Can Be Done?

While many countries are now in favor of lifting the sanctions, the United States and Britain continue their pressure within the UN Security Council to maintain them. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has called for an exploration into ways of sending aid to the Iraqi people, as well as assisting the churches and people of Iraq. It has directed the Stated Clerk to advocate for the people of Iraq through letters to the US and Iraqi Governments, as well as to the United Nations.

However, much more effort is needed. Many are unaware of the almost weekly bombings of Iraq that have killed scores of innocent civilians. Most are unaware of the suffering caused by the sanctions. It is easy, in our comfortable society, to forget about the suffering of those in distant countries. However, it is our responsibility to become educated, educate others and speak out for justice.

Suggested action:

Write or call the White House expressing your support for the lifting of the UN economic sanctions and the US-imposed embargo against the people of Iraq. Emphasize the following:

*The almost nine-year-old economic sanctions against Iraq continue to devastate civilian population, while doing little or nothing towards weakening President Saddam Hussein's power or contributing to the elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. UNICEF's most recent surveys indicate that despite incremental caloric increases resulting from the food-for-oil program, an estimated 4,500 children continue to die every month as the result of economic sanctions.

*Sanctions have created broad social and economic problems, including the deterioration of the educational system, an increase in crime and domestic violence and the loss of women's economic and social rights. A political culture by enforced isolation has created intense xenophobia and extremism among the younger generation of Iraqis. Whatever their feelings about Saddam Hussein or Iraq's regime, most in the Arab world consider the sanctions to be unjust. Punishing the people for the actions of their government contributes to escalating anti-U.S. and anti-Western sentiments throughout the Middle East.

Learn about the situation in Iraq and educate yourself and others concerning the horrible suffering of the Iraqi people caused by the sanctions and the continued bombing.

Write a Letter to the Editor at your local newspaper.

There is almost no media coverage of the horrible devastation of the Iraqi people. We must make an effort to get the information into the news.

General Assembly guidance:

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has expressed concern about the economic sanctions on Iraq, since the 208th General Assembly (1996), when it called upon the United Nations to:
"ensure that the procedures for providing the humanitarian exemptions [to the sanctions] do not hinder the flow of goods [and] medicines necessary to address the nutritional and health needs of the people [of Iraq]; increase the allowed oil sales to levels sufficient to allow the rebuilding of the humanitarian, social infrastructure of the society while assuring that Iraq does not rebuild its military capacity; consider lifting the embargo on all but military-related goods."

As the economic sanctions on Iraq continued, it became evident that the situation of the Iraqi people would only become worse unless there was a complete lifting of economic sanctions and a massive and immediate aid program.

Therefore, the 210 General Assembly (2000) called for :
"The ending of all economic sanctions against Iraq that make it difficult or impossible for essential items to reach the people of Iraq, such as food; medicine, medical and hospital supplies."

"The maintaining of safeguards, such as military sanctions, that are designed to prevent the government of Iraq from acquiring or developing the means of mass destruction in such a manner as not to prevent the delivery of items mentioned above."

"Presbyterians to support the people of Iraq through their prayers and advocacy."

"The government of Iraq to redirect its resources from developing and deploying instruments of destruction to enterprises that will benefit the Iraqi people."