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POLITICS: Officials Urge U.N. to Extend Iraq Oil for Food Plan
Haider Rizvi
- Aware that hunger and disease alone could kill thousands more in Iraq because of continued sanctions, U.N. officials are urging the Security Council to extend its ‘Oil for Food’ programme for another six months.
The five-year-old scheme that allows Iraq to bypass the sanctions to sell some of its oil for food and other humanitarian goods is scheduled to expire Monday, just as inspectors begin their much-discussed search for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.
"While, understandably, the current discussions are focused on the resumption of weapons inspections, all concerned (should) also focus attention on the humanitarian dimension," Benon Sevan, executive director of the U.N.’s Iraq Programme, told a Security Council meeting on Tuesday.
Under the programme, Iraq is permitted to sell a limited amount of oil to buy humanitarian goods every six months. The scheme was established in 1995 after a number of U.N. agencies and international humanitarian groups documented enormous human suffering, including massive increases in child mortality and widespread epidemics due to lack of food and drugs caused by economic sanctions.
Soon after briefing the Security Council in a closed-door meeting, Sevan said he was hopeful that many members favour extending the plan. "I am very happy that they all support fully the secretary-general’s appeal that at this time, while attention is focused on the return of inspectors, the human dimension should not be forgotten."
Wang Yingfan, China’s U.N. ambassador, hinted that the Council would grant the extension. "Many delegates have expressed their concern about the humanitarian situation (in Iraq)," he said.
Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector who arrived in Baghdad this week to begin work, also noted that sanctions are affecting Iraqi civilians daily. "There is a new opportunity and we hope that opportunity will be well-utilised so that we can get out of sanctions," he said.
Despite his optimism about the outcome of the Security Council consultations, Sevan said he is displeased that current contracts under the programme protect suppliers but not the Iraqi government.
"They (the suppliers) get paid the moment we certify," he said, "but Iraq has no resort in seeking replacement. Iraq is purely dependent on the goodwill of the suppliers."
Because of those contracts, he said, Iraq has received substandard products: medical supplies with "a short shelf life"; high protein biscuits and milk that fail quality-control tests, and other foods that are of an "inferior quality to that contracted".
Iraqi oil exports have declined this year, added Sevan, partly because production has dropped as the country awaits delivery of spare parts. "It’s not just sufficient to approve spare part contracts," he said, "but also the time to arrive."
Under the programme, Iraq is allowed to use 60 percent of the oil proceeds to buy humanitarian goods. A fact sheet issued by the programme says it has many "achievements" in the areas of food, nutrition, transportation, water, sanitation, agriculture, education housing and telecommunication.
For example, it says chronic malnutrition among children under the age of five had dropped by 32 percent since 1996.
Since the programme began, Iraq has earned about 57 billion dollars in oil revenues and has spent about 23 billion dollars on goods that actually arrived, according to Harper’s magazine, a respected U.S.-based monthly newsmagazine.
"This comes to about 170 dollars per person, which is less than one half the annual per capita income of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere," said Harper’s.
It quoted Iraqi diplomats saying that last year’s amount was well below "what the U.N. spends on food for dogs used in Iraqi de-mining operations (about 400 dollar per dog per year on imported food, according to the UN."
"The Oil for Food programme was never intended to be a substitute for normal economic activity," says the fact sheet. "As long as the comprehensive sanctions remain in force, there is no alternative to the programme for addressing the humanitarian situation in Iraq."
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POLITICS: Officials Urge U.N. to Extend Iraq Oil for Food Plan
Haider Rizvi
- Aware that hunger and disease alone could kill thousands more in Iraq because of continued sanctions, U.N. officials are urging the Security Council to extend its ‘Oil for Food’ programme for another six months.
(more…)
Print
|
POLITICS: Officials Urge U.N. to Extend Iraq Oil for Food Plan
Haider Rizvi
- Aware that hunger and disease alone could kill thousands more in Iraq because of continued sanctions, U.N. officials are urging the Security Council to extend its ‘Oil for Food’ programme for another six months.
(more…)
Print
|
