IRAQ: Humanitarian Workers Defy Bombs

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Mar 20 2003 (IPS) - International aid agencies jumped into action in Iraq as soon as the first bombs and missiles fell in that country, launched by the U.S. military early Thursday.

The outbreak of hostilities in the Persian Gulf immediately mobilised several Geneva-based humanitarian organisations, as well as other international bodies, like the United Nations Commission on Human rights, which is currently in session here and considering setting aside other issues to address the Iraq crisis.

The team of experts from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) deployed in Iraq, made up of 10 foreign staff and 107 Iraqis, reported immediately after the first bombardment that the situation in Baghdad was one of – relative stability".

Six of the 10 international ICRC experts who have remained in Iraq are working in the capital, Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the organisation’s director of operations, said in Geneva Thursday.

An ICRC doctor who visited the Baghdad hospitals after the bombings confirmed the figures released by the Iraqi government: one person dead and 14 injured.

However, reports in the Arab media later said that Iraq’s Foreign Ministry had tallied 10 dead and dozens of persons injured in the initial U.S. attack, which focused on the central and southern areas of Baghdad.

The United States commenced hostilities with the launching of precision- guided bombs and 40 Tomahawk missiles. The targets, admitted officials in Washington, were the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, and his top officials.

The ICRC, the institution that monitors compliance with the Geneva Conventions on protection of prisoners, the injured and the civilian population in times of war, also reported the first displacement of persons within Iraq resulting from the U.S. bombardment.

Kraehenbuehl stated that some families – though he did not give a precise figure – had abandoned their homes in the north in search of safe refuge as they faced the threat of armed attacks. ICRC staff will provide assistance, he said.

The ICRC sister organisation, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said that its camps in Jordan had received 350 people Thursday, mostly Sudanese and Somali who had crossed the border from Iraq.

The refugees, who ôarrived just hours after the first U.S. missiles struck Baghdad," were taken to the camp in Rwashed, some 50 km from the Jordan- Iraq border.

An agreement between the two institutions makes the ICRC the lead humanitarian agency in Iraq, while the IFRC is in charge of aid operations in the neighbouring countries.

The IFRC, dedicated to assisting vulnerable populations, is the most extensive humanitarian agency in the world, with national societies established in 178 countries and the collaboration of millions of volunteers.

Humanitarian assistance experts estimate that even if the Iraq conflict lasts only a brief time, it could push more than 600,000 people to seek refuge in the surrounding countries.

At the same time, the hostilities could force displacement within Iraqi borders of two million people, calculates the director of the IFRC disaster management division, Abbas Gullet.

In the short-term scenario, the number of people needing emergency medical treatment could reach a half-million.

But an extension of the conflict to the medium term would foment the movement of the Iraqi population, driving 1.5 million people to seek refuge abroad, with five to six million displaced from their homes but remaining within the country.

IFRC forecasts for a long-term conflict are particularly grim, implying that the majority of the 23 million Iraqi people would require some form of international aid.

With the possibility of this sort of humanitarian emergency in mind, the IFRC to issue an urgent appeal to the international community to help cover its financial needs: nearly 80 million dollars, by Gullet’s reckoning.

That sum would be earmarked ôto help more than 300,000 people in Iraq and neighbouring countries," said the official.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are prepared to assist some 100,000 people in Iran, 80,000 in Turkey, 5,000 at the Syrian camp of al Batma and hundreds at the Rwashed camp in Jordan.

The ICRC launched its own call for financial contributions, and for a similar sum of around 80 million dollars. The funds are needed to pay for its emergency humanitarian operations in Iraq and the neighbouring countries over the next four months.

Kraehenbuehl said that during the hostilities the ICRC will attend to treating the wounded, preventing epidemics, emergency repairs of water and sewerage systems, as well as distributing supplies to the internally displaced persons.

The ICRC has ôreminded the United Kingdom and the United States of their obligations under the Geneva Conventions, which they have both signed, to protect lives and preserve human dignity at a time when it is at greatest risk."

A similar warning was issued to the parties to the conflict by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who stressed that ôeven wars have their rules."

ôI must recall the international obligations of the parties to adhere strictly to the fundamental human rights of all," said the UN official.

The Commission on Human Rights, the maximum forum specialising in the issue at the UN, is considering setting up a special debate to address the crisis in Iraq.

José Luis Díaz, spokesman for the High Commissioner, said the regional groups had commented on the need to hold such a debate during the current period of the Commission’s session, which last until Apr 25. Díaz mentioned that it could take place as soon as next week.

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