Statement On Iraq Sanctions By Women Strike For Peace
--December 1997

We are calling for an end to the systematic destruction of the people of Iraq through the U.S.- UN sanctions. Since they were implemented in 1990, the sanctions have caused the death of 1.4 million Iraqis including over 750,000 children under five years of age. Many of the children who have survived have been stunted from malnutrition, according to 1995 report by the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. UNICEF reported in October 19, 1996 "More than 4500 children under the age of five are dying each month from hunger and disease." And on May 9, 1997, Iraq's Health Minister Umeed Mubarak, said that the mortality of children under 5 has gone from 540 deaths per month before the embargo to the current 5,600 per month mainly due to collapse of the health and sanitation system.

An editorial of the New England Journal of Medicine (4/27/97) stated, "Economic sanctions are, at their core, a war against public health. Our professional ethics demands the defense of public health. Thus, as physicians, we have a moral imperative to call for the end of sanctions."

Much of Iraq's infrastructure was destroyed during the Gulf War. The physical structures which were not destroyed by the bombing are deteriorating because there are no materials for maintenance and repairs. The water and sanitation systems remain in a critical state, inoperable throughout the country. "The sanctions have thrown Iraq, once renowned throughout the Middle East for its modern health care system back to 17th century levels," stated former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, recently returned from his 7th fact--finding trip to Iraq. "People are dying from preventable diseases."

Kathleen Kelly, one of the founders of "Voices in the Wilderness", the Chicago group that has organized medical relief for Iraqi children, said: "The U.N. and the U.S. are waging biological warfare against the civilian population of Iraq…When you destroy the water purification, sewage treatment, and medical care systems of a country and then, deny it the technical and economic means to restore those systems, it isn't necessary to directly introduce biological disease organisms; they are already present in untreated water and sewage."

The U.N. sanctions created a "661 Committee" which decides what food or medical products from the sale of oil, Iraq is allowed to import. A recent request for 100 ambulances was denied by the Committee. Chlorine to purify water cannot be bought by Iraq. The Committee has been responsible for stopping most the "dual use" goods, which can be used for civilian or military purposes.

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, after recently returning from Iraq, said: "The hidden nature of the war being waged against Iraq is tragic. Editorials seldom appear and we see no front page stories even though these sanctions have caused the deaths of more than one million people, constituting one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time."

The Clinton Administration's stated position, carried over from the Bush Administration, is that it will oppose lifting the sanctions regardless of what the Iraqi regime does, as long as Saddam Hussein stays in power. Iraq believes, with good reason, that American inspectors will not be objective or impartial and that compliance with the U.N. resolutions is almost irrelevant since the U.S. veto in the Security Council could perpetuate the sanctions indefinitely.

Iraq has legitimate grievances which should get public airing. Iraq feels that it has complied with U.N. Resolutions. In fact, huge stocks of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons have been destroyed by U.N. inspection teams during seven years of sanctions, according to the Clinton Administration. But each time the U.N. Security Council, which has to vote on renewing sanctions every few months, seems to be on the verge of rejecting the sanctions, the inspectors report some alleged Iraqi violation and Washington uses this claim to push for continued sanctions. "It is no longer acceptable for the Iraqi people to be held hostage to the United States," said AlKhaleej of the United Arab Emirates. "It's as if the United States has condemned Iraq to a slow death." It is why Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahaf stated that there was no alternative but to "stop dealing with or cooperating with the elements who are blocking the way toward lifting sanctions."

There is growing worldwide resistance to the sanctions. Even the countries whose governments supported the U.S.-led Gulf War in 1991 now want to end the sanctions and start doing business with Iraq. On October 23, France, Russia and China were joined by Egypt and Kenya in voting against new US-sponsored sanctions on Iraq. The Arab League voted unanimously in opposition to military action against Iraq. And many Arab countries boycotted the annual Middle East-North Africa Economic Conference troubled by the double standard expressed by the indiscriminate American support for Israel, which they regard as having reneged on its deal with the Palestinians.

The sanctions must be ended. The Iraqi people should be provided with the necessities of life -- food, medicine, and clean water. The presumed U.S. government policy of using the sanctions as pressure on the Iraqi people to overthrow Saddam Hussein has not worked and is totally immoral. The U.S. should not use food as a weapon. The sanctions have shattered civil society, the economy and the educational system. We call for humanitarian intervention by the world community.

The sanctions violate international law: the Genocide Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (adopted by the U.N. General Assembly 12/09/97 …"Starvation of civilians as a means of warfare is prohibited." The sanctions also violate: The Genocide Convention, 9 December 1948; World Declaration on Nutrition, FAO/WHO, 1992; Constitution of the World Health Organization, 1946; Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948; Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

We call for a nonviolent, diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis with full participation in the settlement by the government of Iraq. Chapter IV of the UN Charter which deals with dispute settlement offers such an opportunity. It outlines procedures such as negotiations, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement or other peaceful means.

WOMEN STRIKE FOR PEACE
110 Maryland Ave., NW Suite 102
Washington, D.C. 20002
Phone: (202) 543Ñ2660
Fax: (202) 544Ñ9613

Please convey your feelings on this to:

President Bill Clinton
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington DC 20500
(202) 456-1414
president@whitehouse.com

Ambassador Bill Richardson
United States Mission to the United Nations
799 Unityed Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017

Return to the Index of Synapse 43, Spring 1998