-Caveat Lector- http://www.zccf.org.ae/e_TitleDescription.asp?Tid=368 Former UN Humanitarian Coordinator speaks at ZCCF.
Mr. H.C. Graf Von Sponeck, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (1988-2000) and a member of International Development Association and the International Organization for Peace and Future Research, Stockholm Mr. H.C. Graf Von Sponeck, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (1988-2000) and a member of International Development Association and the International Organization for Peace and Future Research, Stockholm was hosted by ZCCF to speak on “Iraq: Twelve years of Sanctions, Justified Punishment or Illegal Treatment”. “I did not resign from my post because of pressure from any quarter but it was in protest to the Security Council’s policy that didn’t provide justice to Iraq. On the contrary, it led to imposing sanctions.” Mr. Sponeck revealed. He asserted, “Iraq has accepted unconditionally Un resolution 1441 of November 8, 2002. The fact the Iraqi authorities have done so without linking their acceptance to the lifting of economic and financial sanctions show the seriousness of their intent to cooperate. UN arms inspectors have returned to Iraq and are about to résumé their work. They must be allowed to do this work unimpeded by the Iraqi authorities as well as international community. Governments in the region should carefully monitor this resumed inspection process and on that basis participate, directly or indirectly in the assessment of inspection incidents in order to deprive any party of the opportunity to misrepresent realties on the ground. He called upon the Security General of the Arab League and the President of the European Commission to join hands in monitoring the delicate implementation of UN resolution 1441 to prevent by all means of war against Iraq that would have far reaching consequences not only for the Iraqi people but for the Middle East and the Global Community as a whole. He maintained that the Arab League and its individual members such as the UAE government should shoulder a heavy responsibility to go beyond the conclusions of the march 2002 Beirut Summit. This implied that they consistently and strongly spoke about against the continuation of comprehensive economic and financial sanctions against Iraq and took an unambiguous position against a unilateral presumptive military strike against Iraq. Talking about the profile of the human conditions in Iraq of 12 years of sanction and international repression, he said, ”It show a society that has been disabled in all aspects of life. The civilian population remains largely dependent on government handouts and its traumatized by lack of opportunities to leads a normal life and more recently by the prospects of war. The decimated middle class has been forced to fight for survival by all means. Youth cannot prepare for adulthood because of a defunct educational system. The physical neglect and the unresolved issue of depleted uranium, particularly in southern Iraq”. He added, “In 1990, 56/1000 children under five died in Iraq. In 1999 child mortality had risen to 131/1000 children under five. A survey carried out by UNICEF in 2000 showed that the increase in child mortality in Iraq was the highest of 188 countries surveyed. Had the trend in Iraq’s child mortality of the 1980s continued in 1990s the mortality rate would have been 25/1000 a difference of 104 children? In 1987 Iraq received a UNESCO award for have raised literacy to 80%, in 1995 according to UNICEF literacy had fallen to 55%. It is furthermore reported by this UN agency that in 2000 23.7% of children (31.2%) were girls and 17.5% were boys!) the education curriculum has not changed in twenty years; teacher training is severely neglected. Years of increasing evidence to this effect has not resulted in UN policy changes on Iraq. The red line of demarcation between what could be defended as unavoidable collateral damage and disregard of fundamental human rights and humanitarian laws has been ignore by the united Nations, the very institution created to guarantee justice and protection in accordance with articles 1 and 55 c of the UN charter. Exclusion of Iraqis constitutes not only a double standard in the application of international law but a serious violation of such law.” He added. The former UN Humanitarian Coordinator maintained that the Arab League and its individual members such as the UAE government shouldered a heavy responsibility to go beyond the conclusions of the March 2002 Beirut Summit. This implied that they consistently and strongly spoke out against the continuation of comprehensive economic and financial sanctions against Iraq and took an unambiguous position against a unilateral pre- emptive military strike against Iraq. He added,”At time of Iraq’s invasion into Kuwait many of Iraq ‘s social and economic indicators were similar to those of the most highly industrialized countries, for example in the sectors of health, education and communications. The Gulf war brought this to a sudden end. UN Under Secretary General Maati Ahtisari, visiting Iraq in early March 1991, indicated, nothing that we has seen or read had quite prepared us for the devastation which ad befallen the country. The recent conflict has wrought near apocalyptic results. Iraq has for some time to come been relegated a pre-industrial age.” Mr Sponeck said, that a mixture of national pride and hope to return to political normalization after the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, in fulfillment of resolution 661, explains the Iraq governments reluctance to accept a sanction-based humanitarian programme which was to be financed entirely from Iraqi resources but under UN control. The UN reacted by launching international appeals for contributions to finance what amounted to emergency health and feeding progammes. Five appeals during the period January 1992 to March identified requirements valued at $1.4 billion. A miserly international community however donated only $419 million or a mere 32% of the needed resources. Replying to a question whether Islam or oil had any relevance to this issue he said that oil was closely rated to the whole issue. The US was keen on controlling the energy resources of Iraq. As far as Islam was concerned he thought it was too biased to be against Islam. It aimed at imposing a certain kind of values. In his opinion it was a mixture of oil wells and marketing a vision that said that the right way of living was the one that was conceived in Washington. Commenting on Kofi Annan’s statement that Hebron operation was malicious and spiteful against the Jews, he said the Secretary General ought to be more careful in choosing words. He thought Kofi Anan was undergoing a lot of pressures and was facing great challenges. He deplored his decision to cancel the Jenin fact-finding committee’s mission due to Israel’s refusal. He described it as a weakness of the Secretary General. He called upon him to be more resolute and firm and a critic of wrong Israeli policies. Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article have to stand on their own merits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many genera- tions. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. 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