The United Nation Sanctions Regime on Iraq - Assignment Example

Running header: UN sanctions on Iraq Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: UN sanctions on Iraq Chapter 1 Sanction is the act of giving approval, blockade, authoritative authority and penalty to a country. The United Nations leading preoccupation has been protection and promotion of human rights. This was agreed after Second World War in 1945. The founding Nations of UN resolved that, the horrors of wars should never be allowed to occur again. They declared some years later that, human rights and human dignity respect should be the foundation of justice, peace and freedom. The human rights network has continued to be developed; this is to ensure its primacy as well as being able to confront human rights violators. United Nations General Assembly has several inter-governmental bodies which deal with human rights issues. One of the main bodies of UN is General assembly. UN is usually made up of 192 Member states. It has several commissions like the Commission on Human Rights. It usually reviews and takes action to the matters concerned with violation of human rights. It makes recommendations while planning international human rights declarations as well as drafts1. UN was supposed to manage crises, prevent and warn of any abuses, assist the states during political transition times and rationalize the programs of human rights. An all-inclusive economic sanction was imposed by UN Security Council against Iraq. This was on August 6, 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait. After Iraq withdrew from Kuwait, the UN council did not lift the sanction until 2002. This sanction had a lot of impact on people of Iraq especially women and children. It resulted to economic and health crises in Iraq. This continued up to 1997 when the Oil-for-food program started; this program gave US and UN full authority to control the oil sales in Iraq. This was a relief to the people of Iraq although the humanitarian crises and sanction continued. UN as an international body was supposed to provide and guarantee safety to Iraq people in all aspects including food security. However, UN declined to give humanitarian assistance to people of Iraq and instead putting sanctions to them. In this case, UN seems to be not a guarantor of humanitarian support to the people of Iraq. The assistance from UN came seven years later in 1997; this was when the UN oil-for-food program started. This was after the pressure mounted from affiliate countries like France and Russia. This calls for a guarantee by the UN on people in case of wars or disturbances rather than imposing sanctions unnecessarily2. Sanction was kept as a leverage of pressing Iraq by UN to disarm themselves from weapons of mass destruction. It also meant to force Iraq meet some minimum reforms that the UN suggested it must change in its government. This sanction continued despite the harsh impacts it had on people of Iraq until 2002. UN was demanding for some minor reforms within the government of Saddam Hussein who was the President of Iraq at that time. It was compelling Iraq to accept monitoring and inspection of its arms, they were alleged to be WMD’s or weapons of mass destruction3. It was also blocking the import of materials for making those weapons of mass destruction. Although not identified to be the main reason, the presence of Saddam Hussein as the president of Iraq also contributed significantly to the execution of this sanction. The sanction was meant to compel Saddam Hussein to get out of power. According to UN reports, he was misusing money and exporting oil for his own benefits. This sanction was not justified under any circumstances. This was mainly because it targeted the innocent people of Iraq who suffered considerably. It was meant to make US gain full authority over Iraq’s oil industry as well as its sales4. Imposition of sanctions by UN Security Council to a country depends on several factors. The sanctions processes are aimed at removing circumstances that may be a threat to international peace and security. It is also meant to remove any threat that may come along mainly due to breach of international security and peace. They also include trade measures and controls of the goods that may be a threat to international security and peace. It goes ahead to include services and finances contributing to that circumstance like military. The items that can contribute to conflict include missile programs, weapons of mass destruction and military goods and services. They are as well factors which contribute to the imposition of sanctions. The measures require the member states of UN to ban such trade absolutely. However, if not the case, then the permit is allowed but under specified conditions. Other goods that lead to the imposition of sanction include drugs, paramilitary and military items. Items associated with nuclear, chemical, biological weapons, and weapons delivery system like missiles, are also a subject to sanction imposition. Other conditions leading to sanction is having any relation with terrorism activities or groups like Al-Qaida. UN Security Council has also listed some countries like Iran, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC Congo, Sudan and others. Any country wanting to engage in trade with those countries, must examine the information in sanction website to verify whether it should engage in trade with them5. This is a way of identifying if they are subject to financial sanctions. Punishing Saddam Hussein did not require targeting the Iraq Country and its people. It would have been advisable to get Saddam Hussein as an individual and punish him rather than punishing the whole of Iraq Country. Targeting Iraq as a country only led to suffering of Iraq people. It led to death of many children and humiliation of Iraq’s economy. Arresting and prosecution of Saddam Hussein was the advisable way of punishing him; in fact, this is exactly what happened later on November 5, 2006. If this would have been done earlier without imposing sanctions, then the suffering of Iraq people including children would not have happened. The economy of Iraq would not have collapsed due to the sanction. Eventually, the sanction was seen to affect and target the people of Iraq rather than Saddam regime6. Chapter 2 After the imposition of sanctions by UN to Iraq, the health status of the country declined significantly. The short-term effects included maternal and peri-natal mortality. It also resulted to an increase in morbidity and mortality especially among children. It also led to birth of low-weight babies who were prone to infectious diseases. Water conditions declined in terms of quality and quantity. There was no enough water for consumption or use by people of Iraq. UN sanction also led to decrease of health and medical services in Iraq. Sanction also led to an immediate decrease of medicines, laboratory and diagnostic tests including vaccines. This was a very dangerous situation that affected the Iraq’s condition and health conditions. In many health centers and hospitals, medical facilities like laboratory equipment and x-ray facilities started to breakdown. The worst of this was lack of maintenance facilities or other new facilities to replace them. This was mainly due to decreased imports and ban of trade with other countries7. Some of the long-term effects on health conditions were the reduction of overall health conditions of population for a long time. There was also decline of health services and reduced capacity by health sector to provide care to people. The curative and preventative care services benefits were lost, and they were not there any more. There was a rise of diseases and illness usually associated with poverty. Poor-quality water and poor sanitation led to malnourishment among children. This also led to dehydration and respiratory infections which most of them were very acute. These include epidemics and infectious diseases; others were malnutrition and kwashiorkor disorders. The number of medical staff reduced drastically as most of them moved to other countries in such of better conditions. There were deliberate bombing of water facilities during the gulf war. After sanctions imposition, it was not possible to rebuild them; therefore, this led to degradation of water quality. Reduced amount of water resulted to poor sanitation problems. Consequentially, reduced water amounts also resulted to health problems like the outbreak of water-related diseases like typhoid, cholera among others. When these diseases arose, the condition became even worse owing to the fact that medical conditions were also in despair. This eventually led to havoc in the health sector and health condition of population in general. UNICEF in conjunction with WHO carried out a survey in partnership with local authority and Human Rights Commission which led to publication of Lancet magazine in May 1999. This emphasized on the impacts of sanction on the health conditions of Iraq’s people. It was carried in large samples sizes of approximately 24000 households in the center and south of Iraq. Addition 16000 house holds from the north were also selected. This was meant to carry out research on children mortality on children. According to BBC reports in May 25, 2000, the infant mortality had fallen down to 47 per 1000 live births. This was between years 1984 to 1989. However, this was higher compared to UK which had 7 per 1000 live births. This was a publication in Lancet medical journal in May 2000. Immediately after sanction imposition, the mortality rate rose to 108 per 1000 between 1994 and 1999. Child mortality rate is usually done in reference to children between one to five years. This as well rose from 56 to 131 per every 1000 children. All this was a clear indication of how Iraq people were suffering in health care sector. There were crises in health care sector. Sanction deepen the crises mainly because there was no health measures that could have been accessed from outside. Health status in Iraq was a clear indicator of how sanctions had a lot of impacts on human beings in Iraq. Figure 1-graphs showing mortality rate according to UNICEF and WHO in Iraq before and after sanction. The chart was made by Christopher Wilke8. Chapter 3 Sanction on Iraq was opposed by many organizations and non-governmental organizations. Some countries were criticizing the sanctions on Iraq. Some of these countries included France and Russia; this was along other elected members in the UN council. However, this was not possible as UK and United States used their power to keep sanctions in place. This would bring about reforms that UN wanted in Iraq. There were protests from individual persons as well as organizations. One such person included Hans von Sponeck who was a German diplomat. He was Iraq’s UN humanitarian aid co-coordinator. Due to these sanctions to Iraq, this led to his resignation hence being the second person to resign. He concluded that the sanctions against Iraq as a country were not working. He concluded that the sanctions were a “true human tragedy”. His predecessor, Denis Halliday who was Irish diplomat, resigned in 1998. This was after attacking the policies on sanctions. He said that the sanctions were bankrupt, and they meant to destroy innocent people. Food and agriculture organizations as well as world Food Program (WHO) protested on the bad condition in Iraq due to lack of food commodities. They tried to plead UN to lift the ban or provide humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq due to rising humanitarian crises. Various agencies like UNICEF presented reports to UN in protest of the severe suffering of people in Iraq. Most of those countries that were neighboring Iraq like Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Syria were against this sanction. However, they did nothing to assist Iraq in terms of humanitarian aid. They only appealed to UN to lift the imposed sanction. This was mainly due to commercial interest they had with Iraq. Others were France and Russia; these were permanent council members. China’s companies were also buyers of Iraq oil. Therefore, commercial interests made these countries or states towards favoring and voting for more lenient sanction policies and approaches. There were supporting Iraq mainly due to instability of trade that arose between them9. Health authorities, human rights organization, diplomats, journalist, NGO’s, parliamentarians, scholars and citizens came together in compelling UN lift the ban towards Iraq. Pope John Paul II, rejected the fact the war on Iraq was just a war; he said it was making innocent people suffer. Other personalities included General Boutros Ghali who called the sanction a “blunt instrument” in the report he issued on January 1995. Non-governmental organizations included Arab commission for Human rights, Center for Economic and social rights, Anglican Observer Office at the UN among others. They were against the sanction due to the effect it had on the people of Iraq. They argued that, although it was meant to have effect on Saddam’s regime, its effects affected innocent citizens10. There were no attempts by UN to assist the Iraq civilians against the sanction regime. There was no any assistance that came from UN at the years when the sanction began. People suffered from all causes like lack of food, water, medical facilities among other problems. Humanitarian crises were very high especially from 1991 to 1996. UN did not make any attempts to assist in any way. However, in December 1996, oil-for-food program started. Although it was not a relief, it assisted to a great extent in relieving the problems. The assistance that UN gave to the innocent people of Iraq was under some conditions. Some of these conditions included oil-for-food program, and inspection and destruction of WMD. This was a clear indication that UN was not willing to assist people. They denied people assistance of any type despite imposing a sanction on their country. UN imposed sanction in Iraq without minding the condition of the innocent citizens. They were left to suffer in all aspects of life in their own country. UN did not mind that it was not mistake of the citizens, but rather it was Saddam who was answerable. However, there was food assistance after several years of suffering by people of Iraq. This was a food program which was meant to assist people after several years of suffering. This condition was given under tough conditions of oil-for-food program11. Chapter 4 UN sanctions on Iraq did not bear any fruits on removing Saddam Hussein from power. However, war on Iraq by US government forced Saddam out of power. They arrested him and later prosecuted and hanged in 6 November, 2006. However, UN continued to assist Iraq with financial aid in order to try and bring the difference in Iraq. UN continued to give peacekeeping troops in Iraq, this was in its efforts to restore, and rebuild Iraq. In order to be able to get a legitimate, sovereign government in Iraq, there must be support from people of Iraq. UN has not been able to build a stable Iraq up to now. This is mainly due to various forces and rebels in Iraq. Some of these forces include the Saddam’s remnants and his supporters. They keep fighting even up to now. They often attack major Iraq towns; kidnap people while killing others through bombing. These were the chief supporters of Saddam Hussein, most of them served in his government either as military or in other sectors. They are mostly located in central Iraq. An Islamic radical is another group which consists of a growing number of non-Iraq Jihads. These people have travelled to Iraq so as to fight in holy war or Jihad. They mainly fight against the occupation of Iraq by US soldiers. The last group is criminal network which smuggles goods into Iraq and oil out of Iraq as an exchange. All these groups have different political agendas and goals. However, they show common hostility to the coalition forces and UN. They are a key threat to regional and local environs. All these groups have hindered the efforts by Iraq to recover economically and democratically. Despite efforts by UN, Iraq has not yet recovered fully. These groups pose a big threat to both UN efforts and Iraq government to reconstruct the country. UN has not built a stable Iraq yet due to resistance forces that are on the way. They hinder any effort to rebuild a strong Iraq both economically and democratically. There has been resistance from militia groups in Baghdad and other towns like Fallujah and Tikrit. These have posed to be a big challenge to the changes needed in Iraq. They have been a barrier to economic recovery of Iraq. They have also resisted the new government needed as well as democracy to people of Iraq. It has been estimated that, over 1000 foreign fighters have crossed over to Iraq. Most of them are believed to have a link to Terrorism group of Al-Qaeda whose leader is Osama bin Laden. Other groups suspected to be in Iraq are Palestine Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and other splinter groups from Palestine. According to UN reports, these groups have been a threat to the economic recovery of Iraq. This is mainly due to bombing attacks they are carrying out in Iraq frequently. However, UN increasing troops may be of considerable importance to the recovery and search of democracy in Iraq. Recently, there was an election in Iraq; this was in the process of searching for democracy in Iraq. The elections were free and fair despite fears of attack. This is seen as a way through to democracy. UN played a major role in those elections. Nevertheless, these elections have brought some controversy among some members. France argues that, the transfer of power is hazardous, reckless and impractical. It says that it is impossible to transfer power in a country whose economic condition has not yet12 improved. Despite all that, there are hopes of Iraq recovering in terms of infrastructure and trade. Most hotels and warehouses were opened up and were increasing in number. That was a sign that the economy was in the process of recovering. Many of the health care sectors recovered significantly; there were improved health care conditions. Most people were able to get and access health care conditions after the end of sanctions by United Nations. Most people in Iraq are supporting the move by UN and America to transform Iraq politically. Iraq can only be built by Iraqi’s themselves; they are the only ones who are capable of creating a stable democratic system. The only best way of securing peace and democracy in Iraq is through transfer of authority from United Nation to people of Iraq. This will also reduce the attacks by rebel groups and other militia groups in Iraq. The continued involvement of UN in the politics of Iraq is posing danger. It is also a hindrance of development. It is a major threat to evolution and realization of a stable Iraq. References A different kind of war: the UN sanctions regime in Iraq. (2006). California: Berghahn Books. Anthony, H. (1999). Iraq and the war of sanctions: convectional threats and weapons of mass destruction. Michigan: Greenwood Publishing Group. Global Policy Forum. (2005, Jan). Half Million Child Deaths. Retrieved March 24, 2010, from http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/102/32796.html Global World Forum. (2002, August). Iraq sanctions: Humanitarian Implications and options for the future. Retrieved March 24, 2010, from http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/170/41947.html Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: Select Committee on Economic Affairs. (2002). Impacts of economic sanctions, volume 2. London: The stationery Office. Jean, E. & James, S. (2003). The United Nations and Iraq: defanging the viper. Michigan: Greenwood publishing Group. Meghan, L. (2003). Shrewd sanctions: statecraft and state sponsors of terrorism. New York: Brookings Institution Press. Shah, Anup. (2005, Oct). Effects of Iraq Sanctions. Retrieved March 24, 2010, from http://www.globalissues.org/article/105/effects-of-sanctions> United Nations. (2006, Feb). The United nations and Human rights. Retrieved March 24, 2010, from http://www.un.org/rights/dpi1774e.htm Read More