July 1, 2002
Dear Secretary-General Annan,
Re: Iraq - Implementation of Paragraph 18 of UNSC Resolution 1302
Two years have passed since the Security Council, in its Resolution 1302, paragraph 18, invited you to, "appoint independent experts to prepare by 26 November 2000 a comprehensive report and analysis of the humanitarian situation in Iraq, including the current humanitarian needs arising from that situation and recommendations to meet those needs." As organisations sharing a common desire to improve the humanitarian and human rights situation in Iraq, we are concerned that no such assessment has yet taken place.
We commend your past efforts in promoting assessment of humanitarian need in Iraq. In your forthcoming meeting with officials of the Government of Iraq, we urge you to seek Iraq's cooperation in preparing this comprehensive report.
Our organisations support the view expressed by the Second Amorim Panel of the Security Council in 1999 concerning the humanitarian situation in Iraq, which stated that: "the examination of the social and economic decline of Iraq as a humanitarian issue cannot be dissociated from the cumulative impact that widespread war and prolonged economic sanctions have had on the Iraqi population's living conditions." (S/1999/356)
In this context, we strongly urge you to appoint a group of independent experts to prepare a comprehensive report and analysis of the humanitarian situation in Iraq, and call upon the Government of Iraq to facilitate this process.
We believe that any such "comprehensive" assessment must necessarily include an assessment of the humanitarian implications of sanctions. Such assessments have been requested of the Secretariat by the Security Council for proposed and extant sanctions in the past (Sudan; Liberia; Afghanistan) and therefore we believe that this form of analysis should be included in the assessment under Resolution 1302.
As far back as April 1995, the five Permanent Members of the Security Council, in a 'non-paper' on the humanitarian impact of sanctions, identified as a consideration for future sanctions regimes: "To assess objectively the short- and long-term humanitarian consequences of sanctions in the context of the overall sanctions regime." (S/1995/300) This strengthens our conviction that the 1302 review should proceed, and that it should incorporate an assessment of the humanitarian impact of the sanctions regime.
Our organisations strongly support your remarks made in 2000 that, "merely making sanctions ‘smarter' will not be enough. The challenge is to achieve consensus about the precise and specific aims of the sanctions, and then provide the necessary means and will for them to succeed" (SG/SM/7625). Any assessment of the humanitarian situation in Iraq, whether based on evidence available in Iraq or made available by those working in Iraq, should include an analysis of the measures recently introduced by Security Council resolution 1409 (2002). This should be distinct from the assessment report of the Goods Review List as mandated under paragraph 8 of the same resolution (1409).
In undertaking their work, the independent experts should be free to make recommendations to the UN Security Council and the Government of Iraq concerning ways to improve the humanitarian situation in Iraq.
The future presence of Mr. Tun Myat, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, in New York could present the proposed group of independent experts with first-hand information on humanitarian conditions.
Finally, we urge you to appoint the independent experts at the earliest possible date, and to facilitate their work to the greatest possible extent. Our organisations join the aspirations of the international community and the Iraqi people for this thorough review of the humanitarian situation in Iraq and recommendations for addressing the needs of the population, particularly those of children and other vulnerable groups.
Yours respectfully,
Mike Aaronson, Director General. Save the Children UK
Cathy Corcoran, Head of External Relations. Catholic Agency for Overseas Development
James A Paul, Execuritve Director. Global Policy Forum
Adam Platt, Director of Programmes. HelpAge International
John Rempel, Liaison to the United Nations. Mennonite Central Committee
Amnesty International
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