By Patrick Debrest
A mission from the French human rights association "Enfants du monde, droits de l'homme" visited Iraq from February 8 to 16. Its aim was to monitor the situation of Iraqi children one year after the Gulf War, especially in the areas of health and nutrition.
In a communiqué published on its return, the delegation said: "Despite an astonishing effort of reconstruction, the health and nutritional situation in the country is getting worse. The disorganisation of the system of water purification and of water treatment, linked to the systematic destruction of Iraq's energy infrastructure, continues to lead to the development of illness carried by water pollution. To this must be added the infantile diseases provoked by the absence of vaccines. And this in a context of a critical shortage of medicines and medical equipment.
"The shortage of food and the prohibitive prices bring with them chronic malnutrition. This latter now affects one child in 10, or nearly 500,000 children under five years old; 100,000 children are already dead because of the blockade. UNICEF estimates that 340,000 are currently threatened.
"The country is cut off from the world. The embargo affects all the sectors essential to human survival. Iraq can no longer pursue its effort of reconstruction if the sanctions are maintained. And only the lifting of the blockade will allow the avoidance of a human catastrophe."
At the very moment when the imperialist powers are deciding on new sanctions against Libya, this testimony is significant — the "sanctions" taken against states weigh first and foremost on the peoples concerned, in particular the poorest and weakest.
According to the information gathered, there are 253 central water-purifying installations in Iraq, each of them treating a minimum of 10,000 cubic metres of water a day. There are more than 1100 smaller treatment units, mainly in the rural areas. These latter suffered for the most part only "collateral" damage during the war, but they have nonetheless been virtually paralysed by difficulties in electricity supply. In March 1991, they were functioning at only 20% of their prewar global capacity. This figure is now 50% for the central network and 60% for Baghdad. But 75% of the rural installations are still out of action.
The quality of water has also slightly improved, thanks in particular to stocks of chlorine provided by UNICEF and the partial re-establishment of the capacity for water treatment. But almost all this chlorine has been used in Baghdad, the other towns continuing to use untreated water. Beyond this, the destruction of nearly 80% of the means of civil transport makes the distribution of water by tankers impossible. The situation in the south, particularly in Basra, is absolutely catastrophic: the eight water purification installations in this region have been completely destroyed by the war and its aftermath, and remain unrepaired due to lack of spare parts, chlorine and electricity.
The consequences for children's health are a considerable increase in illness originating from absorption of polluted water (diarrhoea, gastro-enteritis, typhoid and even cholera). There has also been an increase, due to lack of vaccines, in infantile diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. Malnutrition affects more than one child in five in the south of the country and one in 10 in the country as a whole: 500,000 children under five are affected. The mortality rate for under fives has doubled in a year.
Before the war, Iraq imported about 70% of its food. The current system of rationing does not even ensure half of the prewar level of consumption. Food prices have multiplied by between 20 and 40 times.
Iraqi children are experiencing grave psychological problems stemming from the war (fear, anguish, anxiety and so on), and the country's education facilities have been gravely damaged.
The authors of the report conclude: "In terms of this mission, it seems to us that the word 'embargo' only reflects imperfectly the reality of the sanctions affecting Iraq. The country is cut off from the world, no international flight can land at Baghdad, the only link with the outside world being the land road linking Baghdad and Amman. That is why the word blockade is more appropriate to describe the organised suffocation of the country, notably in the food and medical areas.
"To our knowledge, this is the first time that sanctions against a state in a time of peace have been applied to sectors vital to human survival, and this in flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter. The human cost of this policy is very high; the everyday difficulties, the suffering and the powerlessness of an entire people before devastating diseases and malnutrition cannot be calculated; but the growth of the infant mortality rate reveals it in all its horror ...
"No improvement of the situation can be counted on: on the contrary, to avoid inexorable deterioration, there is only one solution; the lifting of the blockade."
[From International Viewpoint.]