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IRAQ: Humanitarian Agencies Prepare Relief Efforts

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Mar 18 2003 (IPS) - International humanitarian agencies are preparing a major emergency deployment for assisting refugees, in the countries neighbouring Iraq.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has 30 emergency response units on stand-by to deal with any influx of refugees that may be caused by the imminent United States-led war on Iraq.

The units consist of field hospitals, clinics, and water and sanitation services, and ”can provide assistance to upwards of one million people in a period of one month,” said IFRC Secretary- General Didier Cherpitel.

The contingency planning of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), meanwhile, initally foresees relief efforts for 600,000 refugees in the case of a conflict in Iraq.

But UNHCR spokesman Ron Redman said the plans could change, depending on the way events unfold.

High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers pointed out to the UN Commission on Human Rights that more than 100,000 Iraqis have sought asylum in other countries in the last three years, while Iraqi nationals already comprise the biggest group of asylum- seekers in industrialised countries today.

”The IFRC also intends to boost the capacity of its member Red Crescent Societies in the region by providing logistics and telecommunications support to their efforts to provide shelter to 250,000 people or more: 100,000 in Iran; 80,000 in Turkey; 25,000 in Syria and 25,000 in Jordan,” said Cherpitel.

”Additional relief items for 20,000 people are available from regional stocks,” he added.

The IFRC secretary-general warned that a conflict in the region could have disastrous consequences for the most vulnerable segments of the population, especially due to the suspension of the UN oil-for-food programme.

”This is why we are placing so much emphasis on pre- positioning emergency stocks in neighbouring countries for any outflow of displaced people,” he added.

The oil-for-food programme was disrupted after the UN adopted a decision Monday in New York to withdraw its weapons inspectors and other personnel from Iraq.

The oil-for-food mechanism, which made an exception to the economic embargo imposed on Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, allowed Iraq to sell food under UN supervision in exchange for funds to go towards covering the basic needs of the population.

The Geneva-based IFRC coordinates the humanitarian activity of 178 national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world.

The IFRC and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), depositaries of the conventions on international humanitarian law that regulate the treatment of prisoners and civilian populations in armed conflicts, make up the International Movement of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Last week, ICRC Director-General Angelo Gnaedinger and Iraqi authorities discussed the relief efforts that would be carried out in that country in case of an invasion.

Gnaedinger informed Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri of the ICRC’s intention to maintain a team of international and local staff in Iraqi territory to carry out ”life-saving activities” during the conflict.

Until recently, the ICRC had a staff of 400 in Iraq, including 35 foreign nationals from 12 different countries.

Luubers said Tuesday that ”any large-scale relief operation for Iraqis should be paid for through a refocusing of the existing Iraqi oil-for-food programme.”

Executive Director of the UN children’s fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, also complained that the Iraq crisis had ”virtually blocked out every other emergency in the world.

”Donors have been reluctant to commit resources to other major humanitarian emergencies because they’re uncertain how much they might be asked to do for Iraq,” she said.

The UNHCR will need around 60 million dollars to finance its plans to assist 600,000 refugees. That figure forms part of the total of 123 million dollars that the UN estimated, last February, would be needed for the relief efforts of nine UN humanitarian agencies and the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) in Iraq.

Of the 60 million dollars sought by the UNHCR, the agency has received 19.5 million so far. But it has already spent 25.8 million on procurement, transport and storage of non-food items in the region, said Redman.

”Emergency stocks” needed to assist 300,000 refugees have been ”pre-positioned” by the UNHCR around the region, including Iskenderun, Turkey; Kermanshah, Iran; and Aqaba, Jordan, he added.