PRESS CONFERENCE ON IRAQ HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

PRESS CONFERENCE ON IRAQ HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

Access to vulnerable Iraqi populations, lawlessness and the need to ensure security were among the issues raised by representatives of several

non-governmental organizations at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Mexico and Pakistan.

The organization had yesterday participated in an “Arria Formula” meeting of the Security Council.  Designed to promote openness and transparency, the Arria Formula allows a Council member to invite outsiders, including individuals and organizations, to informal meetings held outside of the Council chambers.

Briefing correspondents on the outcome of yesterday’s meeting, Kathleen Hunt of CARE International said she had stressed with Council members the need to take concrete action to urge the warring parties to discharge their duties to ensure a degree of security so that ordinary people could go about their lives.  She also called on the parties to the conflict to act immediately to preserve the Iraqi infrastructure.

CARE International had done much work repairing damage from the last Gulf War, specifically on power-generated water pumps, she said.  The reports coming out of Iraq were extremely alarming.  CARE had not had access to the entire country and needed immediate access to wider areas of the country to ascertain where electricity had been shut down, and where water pumps were not operating.  Water was essential for the use of dry food rations. 

International human rights law was also a concern, she said.  Humanitarian workers needed to function independently and use their expertise as humanitarians to identify the people most in need.  Pictures of lawlessness were extremely worrying.  Humanitarian workers needed to move among the various communities in safety.  She feared that the poorest segment of the population, already impoverished following years of war and sanctions, would suffer most unless they had access to humanitarian relief.

Discussing the situation in the northern part of Iraq, Andrew Johnson of Save the Children Alliance said that two thirds of Iraq’s population depended on the “oil-for-food” programme.  In northern Iraq, some 60 per cent of the population lived in poverty, with about 20 per cent living in extreme poverty.  Low-income families had only two to three weeks of life-saving rations.  Those with no income were living on a day-to-day basis.  Many Government workers had not been paid since January.

Before the last Gulf War, some families had a cushion, he said.  As a result of war and sanctions, many families were now living under extreme distress and depended on the oil-for-food programme for their existence.  The pre-conflict situation was often forgotten.  In several towns in the north, burnt-out tanks and collapsed buildings had made it difficult to move around.  Fresh mines laid by the Government and cluster bomblets also made access difficult.  In southern Iraq, specifically Um Qasr, the local hospital had run out of water and was suffering from a staff shortage. 

Access was his organization’s primary concern, he said.  In some towns, Iraqis were without electricity and water.  The effect of insecurity on children

was also a major concern.  In that regard, education provided a measure of protection.  The fact that children were in school prevented their participation in gangs and looting. 

Amnesty International’s representative, Yvonne Terlingen, said she had raised with Council members her concern about the number of civilian casualties.  Coalition forces had not always observed the principle of proportionality required under Geneva Conventions.  The attacks on a television station and the Palestine Hotel, for example, must be properly investigated. 

She said she was as much concerned about Iraqi forces that had resorted, with official backing, to acts of perfidy by disguising themselves as civilians to surprise soldiers.  The use of cluster bombs, weapons that were inherently indiscriminate, had had a huge impact in killing innocent citizens.  Some Council Members had been sympathetic to her call for a moratorium on such weapons. 

It was extremely difficult to assess the human rights situation in Iraq, she added.  There were many different reports.  The fear of reprisals was a huge concern.  The United Nations, in particular the Security Council, was positioned to do something about the human rights situation in Iraq now, rather than later.  The United Nations and the Security Council must take steps to establish an effective, well-funded human rights monitoring mechanism.

Another issue was that of impunity and accountability, she added.
A number of people were being arrested.  Members of the current Government would have to be brought to trial.  One concrete step was a United Nations commission of experts.  Such a commission had carried out important work before the Yugoslavia tribunal had been established.  If the decision to establish a commission were taken immediately, the commission could be operating within a few months.

The United Nations had to have an important role in Iraq, she said.
The most useful contribution it could make was in the area of human rights and the rule of law.  The occupying powers under the Geneva conventions could only carry out temporary operations and could not take measures that permanently affected the Iraqi population.  One obligation was to keep Iraq’s legal structures in place.  Iraq was party to a number of major human rights conventions.  Whoever was in charge had to make sure that the provisions of those conventions were applied and made a reality.  Human rights had to be at the centre of reconstruction efforts, with the United Nations playing an important role.

Nicola Reindrop of Oxfam International said her organization had been working outside of the country, supporting the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as the key United Nations agency.  Oxfam was prepared to assist inside Iraq as soon as the security situation permitted.  From the Iraqi border, the situation was fluid and uncertain and the conflict continued.  She called upon all warring parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect Iraqi citizens.  The warring parties had the responsibility to refrain from indiscriminate attacks and to preserve the infrastructure.
The growing threat from civil disorder had huge implications for civilians and the provision of humanitarian assistance.  Coalition forces must demonstrate readiness to undertake their obligations under international humanitarian law. 

She said it was critical that appropriate humanitarian assistance was provided to civilians in need.  As soon as security allowed, that must be done by civilian humanitarian organizations.  Aid for civilians was best delivered by impartial humanitarian agencies under international leadership.  Aid provided by the military was not always appropriate, well targeted or reaching the most vulnerable. 

On the future of Iraq, she said the Iraqi people must be at the heart of the country’s reconstruction.  The United Nations should play the key role in facilitating the political transition.  Any interim authority would not be seen as credible if it were seen as hand picked by an occupying power.  The United Nations must be given a clear leadership mandate and establish an Iraqi transition government.  It should not play a subordinate role and not be set up to fail.  A clear achievable Security Council mandate was critical.

Asked about the response from the United States administration to the position of the non-governmental organizations, Ms. Reindrop said the debate was continuing.  The United Nations would play an important role.  It was not clear that the debate in the United States had been fully resolved. 

Ms. Hunt said that the United States Administration knew the position of non-governmental organizations and had every intention of including the
United Nations.  It was not entirely clear, however, what the final plan would be.  The dialogue that had begun some 12 years ago had brought a closer understanding on the various positions.  There had been progress in understanding the landscape of difficulty facing humanitarian workers.

Asked whether the coalition forces could have prevented lawlessness,
Ms. Reindrop said she was not in a position to comment on the rights and wrongs of military strategy.  It was clear what the obligations of occupying power were regarding international law.  Any potential occupying power had to have plans in place to ensure that it could deliver its obligations to provide law and order.

Responding to another question, she said the various humanitarian agencies did not need a Security Council mandate to provide assistance to Iraq.  The United Nations should be entitled to play its humanitarian role.  The United Nations was best placed to enable a transitional political authority.  A
hand-picked authority would not have authority or credibility.  That required a Security Council mandate.  The United States continued to be unclear about the precise role it expected the United Nations to play.

Were the deleterious estimates of the consequences of the war as great as had been predicted? a correspondent asked.  Compared to projections,
Ms. Reindrop said it was premature to make an assessment.  The insecurity being experienced by the Iraqi people could not be overestimated, however.  It was too soon to make a grand assessment.  While they were not seeing hundreds of thousands of people crossing borders as per contingency planning, it was too soon for the grand wrap of who was right and who was wrong.

Mr. Johnson added that humanitarian workers had not been able to access two cities, Mosul and Kirkuk, because of the mines laid by the Iraqi Government.  Given the fact there had been no access in and out of those cities, and the heavy bombardment, some people would be in a very serious situation.

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