Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Mar 2001

Vol. 533 No. 3

Written Answers. - Sanctions Against Iraq.

Enda Kenny

Question:

77 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will consider taking an initiative on humanitarian grounds whereby Ireland would assume responsibility for co-ordinating supervised humanitarian relief specifically for children dying in Iraq due to the lack of medical and hospital care; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that more than 600,000 children have died in the past ten years of preventable ailments; his views on whether such an initiative could not under any circumstances be seen to contravene decisions on economic sanctions against Iraq; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7511/01]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen)

The humanitarian situation in Iraq, including that relating to children, and the challenges of implementing the established United Nations humanitarian programmes in that country, remain of deep concern to the Government.

These concerns have been actively pursued by the Government, including more recently, at high level meetings which I have had with the Russian Foreign Minister in Moscow on 21 February, the French Foreign Minister in Paris on 23 February, the new US Secretary of State in Washington on 28 February and the German Foreign Minister in Berlin on 8 March. The Government consistently advocates the rapid delivery of essential supplies under the oil for food programme. It continues to raise, within the UN and EU, the urgent need to improve the conditions of children and other vulnerable sectors of the population in Iraq.

The oil for food programme was established by a memorandum of agreement between the UN and the Government of Iraq in 1996 to provide for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people in the context of the UN economic sanctions regime introduced in 1990. This agreement came into force five years after the UN had initially offered to allow the Government of Iraq to sell oil to meet the basic needs of its people. Administered by the United Nations Office of the Iraq Programme, the oil for food programme is the existing co-ordinating mechanism for meeting the humanitarian needs of the people of Iraq.

The UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan has recently provided a report to the UN Security Council which provides a detailed and objective analysis of the operation of the oil for food programme over the past six months and what it means for the period ahead. The Secretary General concludes that, as long as sanctions are in place, there is no alternative to the oil for food programme in providing for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people. He also restates the commitment of the United Nations in ensuring delivery of such assistance and points out that, under existing Security Council resolutions, the Government of Iraq has the necessary authorisation to export unlimited amounts of oil in exchange for the importation of a wide range of humanitarian goods. His report also confirms that the necessary funds are there for the Iraqi authorities to address urgently the nutritional requirements of children. However, the Secretary General goes on to state that, despite this, the Iraqi Government has made no application for targeted nutrition programmes for the benefit of malnourished children, pregnant women or breast-feeding mothers during the six-month period covered by his report.

It is clear from the UN Secretary General's latest report, that the oil for food programme provides a ready means through which the UN and the Government of Iraq can work together to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of Iraqi children and other vulnerable sectors of the country's population. On 14 February 2001, the UN Secretary General approved a new US$5.5 billion plan submitted by Iraq for distributing UN-administered humanitarian aid in the country over a six-month period. Among the allocations within this plan is US$1.27 billion in food, US$300 million for the purchase of medicine and medical supplies and US$387 million for especially vulnerable groups. The head of UNOIP, Mr. Benon Sevan, has written to the Iraqi authorities with a view to their expediting applications for the supplies urgently required under the new plan. In particular, he has underscored the need to urgently advance the targeted nutrition programme for Iraqi children – this reflects the wishes of Ireland and other members of the international community to see the early delivery of aid to children. The Government shares the view, also expressed by the Secretary General in his report, that it is essential, now more than ever, for all parties concerned to depoliticise and facilitate the implementation of the oil for food programme.

During 1999 and 2000, the Government provided a total of £596,000 in bilateral humanitarian assistance to those affected by the ongoing crisis in Iraq. Since 1997, the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), has disbursed over £21 million in assistance to Iraq focusing on the most vulnerable and on basic needs, including those of malnourished children. Along with our UN and EU partners and in conjunction with the Iraqi authorities, the Government will continue to strongly support these and other practical measures aimed at ensuring more effective use of the existing UN co-ordination mechanisms and the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance to children and other vulnerable sectors of the population in Iraq.