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| '''United Nations sanctions against Iraq''' were imposed by the ] in 1991 following ]'s invasion of ] in 1990, and continued until the US-led ] because of the failure of ] to satisfy the UN conditions for lifting them. | '''United Nations sanctions against Iraq''' were imposed by the ] in 1991 following ]'s invasion of ] in 1990, and continued until the US-led ] because of the failure of ] to satisfy the UN that the conditions for lifting them had been met. | ||
| ==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
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| ==Effects of the sanctions== | ==Effects of the sanctions== | ||
| The sanctions literally crippled the Iraqi economy during the time they were imposed, much of Iraq’s infrastructure ran into disrepair from lack of materials and Iraq's power to be an aggressor was all but destroyed. The initial purpose of the sanctions, and of all diplomatic sanctions, was to force Iraq’s hand in cooperation with the United Nations and possibly cause a change in it's previously historic aggressive foreign policies and alleged abuse of human rights. The sanctions continued until such time had passed that the United Nations saw the growing humanitarian crisis and initiated the Oil-for-Food Programme. | |||
| According to UN estimates, a million children died during the trade embargo, due to malnutrition or lack of medical supplies. Among other things, ], needed for disinfecting water supplies, was banned as having a "]" in potential weapons manufacture. A 1998 ] report found that the sanctions had resulted in an additional 90,000 Iraqi children dying per year since 1991. On May 10, ], appearing on '']'', ] (then ] Ambassador to the United Nations) was presented with a figure of half a million children under five having died from the sanctions: Albright, not challenging this figure, infamously replied: "We think the price is worth it." | According to UN estimates, a million children died during the trade embargo, due to malnutrition or lack of medical supplies. Among other things, ], needed for disinfecting water supplies, was banned as having a "]" in potential weapons manufacture. A 1998 ] report found that the sanctions had resulted in an additional 90,000 Iraqi children dying per year since 1991. On May 10, ], appearing on '']'', ] (then ] Ambassador to the United Nations) was presented with a figure of half a million children under five having died from the sanctions: Albright, not challenging this figure, infamously replied: "We think the price is worth it." | ||
Revision as of 20:10, 11 September 2005
United Nations sanctions against Iraq were imposed by the United Nations in 1991 following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and continued until the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 because of the failure of Saddam Hussein to satisfy the UN that the conditions for lifting them had been met.
Introduction
On August 6 1990 the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 661 which imposed stringent economic sanctions on Iraq, providing for a full trade embargo, excluding medical supplies, food and other items of humanitarian necessity, these to be determined by the Security Council sanctions committee. After the end of the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi sanctions were linked to removal of Weapons of mass destruction by Resolution 687.
Effects of the sanctions
According to UN estimates, a million children died during the trade embargo, due to malnutrition or lack of medical supplies. Among other things, chlorine, needed for disinfecting water supplies, was banned as having a "dual use" in potential weapons manufacture. A 1998 UNICEF report found that the sanctions had resulted in an additional 90,000 Iraqi children dying per year since 1991. On May 10, 1996, appearing on 60 Minutes, Madeleine Albright (then Clinton's Ambassador to the United Nations) was presented with a figure of half a million children under five having died from the sanctions: Albright, not challenging this figure, infamously replied: "We think the price is worth it."
Denis Halliday was appointed United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Baghdad, Iraq as of 1 September 1997, at the Assistant Secretary-General level. In October 1998 he resigned after a 34 year career with the UN in order to have the freedom to criticise the sanctions regime, saying "I don't want to administer a programme that satisfies the definition of genocide". Halliday's successor, Hans von Sponeck, subsequently also resigned in protest. Jutta Burghardt, head of the World Food Program in Iraq, followed them. According to von Sponeck, the sanctions restricted Iraqis to living on $100 each of imports per year.
Oil for Food
Main article: Oil-for-Food Programme
Iraq was later allowed under the UN Oil-for-Food Programme, introduced in 1996, (under Resolution 986) to export $5.2 billion (USD) of oil every 6 months with which to purchase items needed to sustain the civilian population. After an initial refusal, Iraq signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in May 1996 for arrangements for the implementation of that resolution to be taken. The Oil-for-Food Programme started in October 1997, and the first shipments of food arrived in March 1998.
Thirty percent of the proceeds were redirected to a Gulf War reparations account.
In 2004/5 the Programme became the subject of major media attention over corruption, as Iraq had systematically sold allocations of oil at below-market prices in return for some of the proceeds from the resale outside the scope of the programme. Individuals and companies from dozens of countries were implicated.
End of the sanctions
The sanctions regime was ended on 22 May 2003 (with certain arms-related exceptions) by paragraph 10 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483.
External links
- John Pilger, The New Statesman, 4 October 2004, on why we ignored Iraq in the 1990s
- David Edwards, Zmag, 3 March 2000, Interview with Denis Halliday
- John Pilger, Impact of Iraq sanctions
- Since 1998, EPIC was the political arm of the anti-sanctions in the U.S., The Education for Peace in Iraq Center