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From: Drew W Hempel <hemp...@tc.umn.edu>
Subject: the complete sanction references?
OVERVIEW OF SPECIFIC CITATIONS FOR SANCTION MORTALITIES IN IRAQ
(This is the most comprehensive, and "hard referenced" list that I was able
to construct--about 35 specific and attainable sources listed
chronologically. I hope others find it useful and please help me to improve
it).
A BRIEF and INFORMAL DISCUSSION: In response to the recent listserve
requests for specific references on the sanctions I have spent sometime
reviewing the citations and websites. Unfortunately it has been a bit
frustrating since it's often the case that only a reference to "FAO 96"
will be made or something similarly (as a sidenote searching the FAO
webpage did not bring up any relevant Iraq sanction references!). I don't
mean to lessen the significance of stopping the obviously genocidal nature
of the sanctions but to the many who are still brainwashed into believing
the good intentions of the U.S. empire unfortunately unless specifc
citations are made (that also give the reader the ability to locate the
specific report) then not many minds will be awakened. (luckily I have made
some progress).
I appreciate the several specific citations that have been made but there
are still some important questions unanswered. Obviously the data, as well
as the first-hand observations, is more than enough for dramatic
non-violent action to be taken. Our case can only be strengthened though
by excruciating detail in data gathering. In reviewing the excellent work
done so far, I have attempted to provide the tools necessary for convincing
others of the legitimate stances against the sanctions.
In terms of the 1.5 million or 1.8 million killed by sanctions that are
cited on occasion, personally my best summation of this number has been
comprised from the WFP head (cited below) stating that 500,000 children had
died and then the '98 UNICEF report stating that more adults were dying
than children. When considering the timing of these reports then it is
clear that way over one million have been killed by the sanctions.
Although considering my recent survey of the data, one would think I'd have
a better way of determining this (over a million figure) but I don't,
besides the health accounts from the Iraqi depts. that have worked with the
UN which I personally believe as highly credible (see below). If anyone
can give me a more specific and accurate way of comprising the "1.5
million" numbers please tell me. Thanks.
12/28/98 Drew Hempel, hemp...@tc.umn.edu:
For general UN studies on Iraq see www.un.org/Depts/oip/
"Mortalitiy Rates: Despite the difficulty of conducting epidemiological
surveys in Iraq, numerous studies have documented a significant rise in
mortality, especially among children, primarily from malnutrition, disease,
and unsanitary conditions."
--Roger Normand, "Sanctions Against Iraq: New
Weapon of Mass Destruction," from the journal Covert Action Quarterly,
Spring, 1998. Normand is Policy Director of the Center for Economic and
Social Rights based in NYC (formerly the Harvard Study Team, a team of 24
doctors, public health experts, economists, lawyers, and health surveyers
from eight countries.)
>From Iraq Action Coalition--see http://leb.net/IAC. This site was used as a
source for many of the references in this list:
Following is the transcript of Denis Halliday's first public speech after
his resignation from his posts as UN Assistant Secretary General and Chief
UN Relief Coordinator for Iraq in protest of the sanctions. It was
presented on November 5, 1998 at Harvard University in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. The event was organized by the Harvard Divinity School World
Conference on Religion and Peace and the Campaign for the Iraqi People.
Transcript recorded by Chris Nicholson of the Campaign for the Iraqi
People.
"Why I Resigned My UN Post in Protest of Sanctions"
by Denis Halliday
"...The data on infant mortality is known. Whereas the World Health
Organization may not be in the position to confirm specific numbers, it
acknowledges that the monthly death rate of children under five
attributable to sanctions ranges from six to seven thousand per month, and
considers this to be an underestimate in that births in rural areas of Iraq
are often not registered, or not registered immediately, and deaths that
occur pending registration are in fact never recorded. There are many
reasons for this tragic situation of unnecessary death, including the poor
health of mothers, the breakdown in health services, generally poor
nutritional intake for lack of access to a balanced diet despite the 986
oil-for-food program, and the high incidence of water borne disease due to
the collapse of the water and sanitation system plus the electric power to
drive it, both crippled by Gulf War missile and bombing damage. The health
of mothers over many years of inadequate dietary intake and deprivation
have undermined natural immunities that low levels of breast feeding do not
counter nor is helped by the use of baby formula when mixed with water that
is not potable. The revision of basic food stuffs prior to and now under
986, the oil-for-food program has not been sufficiently balanced and
nutritious to make a significant difference."
Ashraf Bayoumi: "If 5,000 children are dying each month, this means 60,000
a year. Over eight years, we have half a million children. This is
equivalent to two or three Hiroshimas." ĘĘBayoumi saw very clearly "the
disastrous effects of the sanctions on the most vulnerable sections of
society, and on children in particular. The most conservative reports of
the World Health Organisation (WHO) say between 5,000 and 7,000 people die
each month because of sanctions alone." To Bayoumi, this figure is an
"underestimate", because in many cases babies who die within a few days of
their birth are not reported. The high death toll can only be understood in
light of the inhuman living conditions. "The water is not clean, the food
is not adequate, mothers are very weak."
--interview with Bayoumi. Until last May, Ashraf Bayoumi headed the World
Food Programme Observation Unit, in charge of monitoring food distribution
in Iraq. cited in Al-Ahram Weekly 24-30 Dec. 1998 No 409 article titled
"Two Hiroshimas, twenty Lebanons" By Amira Howeidy
for UN World Food Programme studies on Iraq see
www.wfp.org/OP/Countries/iraq/content.htm
Monday, August 10, 1998: The News Channel: "Iraq Sanctions Have Killed
1.4m" BAGHDAD (Reuters)-- Nearly 1.4 million Iraqis have died as a result
of eight-year-old United Nations trade sanctions because of shortages of
food and medicine, Health Minister Umeed Madhat Mubarak was quoted as
saying on Monday.
"The long-term effect, in the view of UN humanitarian aid experts,
is likely to be an entire generation of Iraqi children stunted in their
physical and mental development." Chicago Tribune 3/24/98;
UNICEF Report, 30 April 1998 "Situation Analysis of Children and Women in
Iraq"* Health - increase of approximately 90,000 deaths yearly due to the
sanctions (more than 250 people die every day) (pg. 42) "The increase in
mortality reported in public hospitals for children under five years of age
(an excess of some 40,000 deaths yearly compared with 1989) is mainly due
to diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition. In those over five years of age,
the increase (an excess of some 50,000 deaths yearly compared with 1989) is
associated with heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, liver or
kidney diseases. É With the substantial increase in mortality,
under-registration of deaths is a growing problem." (pg. 42) UNICEF, April
1998.
for copies see ftp://www2.unicef.org/pub/iraqsa or call UNICEF reference
librarian at 212.326.7065 or email ja...@unicef.org;
"The Costs of Failure: Economic Impacts of Sanctions on Iraq", Dec. 1997
CESR;
Nearly one million children malnourished in Iraq, says UNICEF
Wednesday, 26 November 1997:
Almost one million children in southern and
central Iraq are chronically malnourished,according to survey results
published today. The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), carried out
by the Government of Iraq with the full participation of UNICEF,
looked at a range of health, nutrition and education issues --
from immunization and safe water to school enrollment rates. The survey,
which covered a total of 6,375 households throughout southern and central
Iraq last year, was followed by two further nutritional surveys in April
1997 and in October/November 1997, covering the same governorates, with the
participation of UNICEF and support from the World Food Programme.
The most alarming results are those on malnutrition, with
32 per cent of children under the age of five, some 960,000
children, chronically malnourished -- a rise of 72 per cent since
1991. Almost one quarter (around 23 per cent) are underweight --
twice as high as the levels found in neighbouring Jordan or
Turkey. "What we are seeing is a dramatic deterioration in the
nutritional well-being of Iraqi children since 1991," says Philippe
Heffinck, UNICEF Representative in Baghdad. "And what concerns us now is
that there is no sign of any improvement since Security
Council Resolution 986/1111 came into force." UNICEF, November 1997
Please email me...@unicef.org with comments or requests for more
information, quoting CF/DOC/PR/1997/60.;
Sarah Zaidi, "Child Mortality in Iraq," Lancet (London), Oct. 11, 1997, v.
350, p. 1105;
Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture, World
Food Programme, Special Report, UN FAO/WFP "Food Supply and Nutrition
Assessment Mission to Iraq" (10/3/97) Author: Abdur Rashid Chief, GIEWS
FAP, email: GIE...@FAO.ORG., Pierre Bourgeois, Acting Regional Director,
OMC, WFP, E-mail: Bour...@wfp.org;
Greater than 1.2 million have died from sanctions--Verified by the UN,
June 1997.; (as stated on Iraq Action Coalition site, specific reference
unknown).
"Nutritional Status Survey at Primary Health Centres," UNICEF and World
Food Programme (WFP), May 24 1997 PR/GVA/97/11 ;
World Health Organizations (WHO),February 1997.
for a list of WHO reports on Iraq see
www.who.int/eha/emergence/Iraq/index.htm;
UNICEF "Disastrous Situation of Children in Iraq" PR/GVA/96/035 4 October
1996 "Around 4,500 children under the age of five are dying here every
month from hunger and disease," said Philippe Heffinck, UNICEF
Representative for Iraq.;
"UNsanctioned Suffering: A Human Rights Assessment of UN Sanctions on Iraq"
CESR (Center for Economic and Social Rights, formerly the Harvard Study
Team) May 96;
"The Health Conditions of the Population in Iraq since the gulf Crisis,"
WHO, March 1996 cited in Covert Action Quarterly Spring 1998;
FAO 96 (no specific reference has been found even though the below is
stated);
IAC organizer Deidre Sinnott states "According to a 1996 UN Food and
Agriculture report, the sanctions are directly responsible for the deaths
of 1.5 million children, women, and men." in "The Perpetual Sanctions
Machine: Who is UNSCOM?" in the book "Challenge to Genocide: Let Iraq
Live", p. 41 International Action Center, NY, 1998, see www.iacenter.org.
"...as many as 576,000 children have died as a result of sanctions imposed
against Iraq by the United Nations Security Council, according to a report
by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)." (New York
Times,12/1/95) cited by Voices in the Wilderness see
www.nonviolence.org/vitw;
"More than one million Iraqis have died-567,000 of them children-as
a direct consequence of economic sanctions . . .. As many as 12% of the
children surveyed in Baghdad are wasted, 28% stunted and 29% underweight."-
UN FAO, December 1995. (cited by Iraq Action Coalition site but first
reference of "one million" not found by this researcher in the FAO report)
Technical Cooperation Programme, "Evaluation of Food and
Nutrition Situation in Iraq" Terminal Statement prepared for the government
of Iraq by the FAO, UN FAO December 1995.;
"TIME RUNNING OUT FOR IRAQI CHILDREN" press release by the World Food
Programme, The Food Aid Organisation of the United Nations 9/26/95,
"...more than 4 million people, a fifth of Iraq's population, at severe
nutritional risk...like Sudan.--Mona Hamman WFP's regional manager. "After
24 years in the field, mostly in Africa starting with Biafra, I didn't
think anything could shock me" said Dieter Hannusch, WFP's Chief Emergency
Support Officer, on his return from a 2-week assessment mission in Iraq.
"But this was comparable to the worst Scenarios I have ever seen.";
"The Status of Children and Women in Iraq" UNICEF, 1995;
State of the World's Children 1995 UNICEF;
Department of Humanitarian Affairs, U.N. Consolidated Inter-Agency
Humanitarian Cooperation Programme for Iraq: Mid-term Review, Sept. 21,
1995;
Swiss Lausanne Convention 6-29-95;
"By Semptember 1994 the volume of the food basket ... (provided)
1,770 calories per day per person. This represented 70% of the energy
required." "There has been a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases
including polio, diphtheria and measles." UNICEF 10/94;
"A later survey by a US Census Bureau demographer estimated that in 1991
alone, 111,000 Iraqi civilians had died from sanctions-related hunger and
disease - excluding deaths directly related to the war and civil
uprisings."--"Sanctions Against Iraq: New Weapon of Mass Destruction" by
Roger Normand, Covert Action Quarterly, Sp. 98, citing Beth Osborne
Daponte, "A Case Study in Estimating Casulaties from War and its Aftermath:
The 1991 Persian Gulf War," PSR Quarterly 3, n. 2, 1993, pp. 57-66;
UNICEF 4/93 "Children, War, and Sanctions" report;
"A side effect (of sanctions) ...is the...intellectual isolation in
the scienfic and medical community. This is due, in part, to the
non-availability of journals, periodicals, and textbooks." FAO 93;
New England Journal of Medicine 9/24/92
Ascherio, et. al. "Special Article: Effects of Gulf War on Infant and
Child Mortality in Iraq";
International Study Team Report: Health and Welfare in Iraq after the Gulf
Crisis, Oct. 91;
"AID agencies say Iraq is on the brink of famine," The Guardian, 9/26/91;
Harvard Study Team, "Public Health in Iraq After the Gulf War," May 1991
(Roger Normand part of study, policy director of CESR in NYC);
Report to the Secretary-General on the Humanitarian Needs in Kuwait and
Iraq in the Immediate Post-Crisis Environment, U.N. Doc. S/22366
(March 1991);
Report to the Secretary-Geneal on the Humanitarian Needs in Iraq, U.N> Doc.
S/22799 (1991).
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