RIGHTS-IRAQ: Warning Against Use of Cluster Bombs

By Sanjay Suri Reprint | | Print |

Sanjay Suri

LONDON, Mar 18 2003 (IPS) - The British government has refused to rule out use of cluster bombs in an attack on Iraq, director of Amnesty International UK Kate Allen said Tuesday.

Holding up one of the bombs that goes into a cluster bomb, Allen told media representatives that such bombs are dangerous to the civilian population, and can remain so for a long time after they are dropped.

"Every cluster bomb has about 200 of these inside, and on average about 20 per cent of them do not explode on first impact," she said. But they remain scattered much like landmines and they can kill or injure people later.

"More than 1,600 people were killed in Kuwait by such cluster bombs after 1991," she said. Amnesty has pleaded against use of such bombs "but we have had no assurances from the Prime Minister or the Defence Secretary," she said.

"The Prime Minister has spoken of his commitment to the future security of the Iraqi people," she said. "If that is so, cluster bombs must not be used, because they will only maim and kill Iraqi civilians."

Amnesty is also asking for the international treaty on landmines to be implemented. The U.S. has not signed the agreement but Britain has. "But these landmines are stored in American ships off Diego Garcia, which is British territory," Allen said. "Any move to take them across British territory will be contrary to Britain’s obligations."

Amnesty says it is the U.S. at least as much as Saddam that is preparing use of chemical weapons in Iraq "by allowing the use of toxic chemical ‘calmatives’, ‘incapacitants’ and riot control agents such as pepper spray." Amnesty points out that indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks are prohibited under international law.

Amnesty is asking for recognition of the jurisdiction of the newly created International Criminal Court. Perpetrators of crimes under international law should be brought before this court, Amnesty says. "That should include Saddam Hussein if he is taken prisoner," said Allen.

Amnesty has presented the government a list of demands that include effective protection of refugees and following a conflict a speedy transfer of responsibility to the United Nations to oversee the rebuilding of Iraq and a restoration of rights to its people.

Amnesty has no presence in Iraq; an Amnesty team last visited Iraq 20 years ago. Aid workers from several other major organisations have also moved out of Iraq. "We have people around Iraq in Amman and also in Syria who will be on hand to offer relief and rehabilitation after a conflict," said Barbara Stocking, Director of Oxfam who also addressed the media representatives.

Any relief work that follows must be delivered through the UN, said Stocking. Military action would be unjustifiable, but if it does go ahead, essential services must not be destroyed, and the UN must take over immediately afterwards, she said.

"Under the Geneva conventions services that are considered indispensable to people cannot be attacked," she said. "This will include power facilities that affect water supply and sewage disposal."

Failure of such services means an end to water supply, and sewage spilling back into people’s homes as it did in 1991, she said. "This would obviously be unpleasant, but it would also create conditions in which cholera and typhoid would spread like wildfire."

After a war humanitarian assistance cannot be seen to be associated with the military, she said. "Aid agencies cannot get food off the back of a U.S. military lorry," she said. "It is the United Nations that must lead a relief operation. We would like the UN to take control of Iraq as soon as possible after a war. It is the only agency that has the authority to run an interim government."

There are signs that the U.S. will now support such a role for the UN, Stocking said. "They are embarrassed over what happened to the UN and there are signs the U.S. will support rehabilitation moves through the humanitarian arm of the UN and also through the Security Council," she said. "This is a good moment to push a role for the UN to play a proper part."

The UN has estimated that as many as two million people could be displaced by a war. "But some may prefer to bunker down because they feel safer, or simply have no choice to leave," said Stocking. In Afghanistan the number of refugees was fewer than estimated. In Iraq now everyone is uncertain at the moment how events will turn out.