Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 17 Apr 1991

Vol. 407 No. 1

Written Answers. - Gulf Crisis Impact on Developing Countries.

Nora Owen

Ceist:

82 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will ensure that the United Nations implements its own Article 50 which stipulates that compensation should be made available to countries which are disadvantaged as a result of Security Council resolutions; and if he will outline which Third World countries are being compensated, such as Sudan.

Roger T. Garland

Ceist:

115 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that (1) the Gulf crisis has had a huge impact on developing countries and that at least 40 developing countries have lost over 1 per cent of their GNP as a result of the war (2) that in United Nations terms this defines each country as facing the equivalent of a natural disaster (3) that for example Sudan has lost up to 3.8 per cent of annual GNP and that the total cost to the 40 countries is estimated at over $12 billion and (4) that Article 50 of the UN Charter provides an obligation on the UN Security Council to consult member states confronted with special economic problems arising from the carrying out of UN enforcement measures; and if he will make a statement on his intentions in this matter.

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Collins)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 82 and 115 together.

I can assure the Deputies that Article 50 of the UN Charter is being implemented in respect of requests made by member states of the UN for assistance to mitigate the adverse effect on their economies of the application of the sanctions laid down in Security Council Resolution 661 of 6 August 1990. The committee established by this same resolution to examine such requests has to date considered applications for assistance from 21 states and made recommendations to the President of the Security Council which have been forwarded to the Secretary-General of the UN for appropriate action.

The Secretary-General has drawn the attention of member states and the agencies of the UN system to the special need for assistance to these countries and is being informed on a continuing basis of aid measures taken. To date states requesting special assistance under Article 50 have received aid both on a bilateral basis from member states and from special assistance programmes of UN agencies.

I can confirm that the Sudan is included among the 21 states which have requested assistance under Article 50.

The Deputies may be interested to know that Ireland's bilateral contribution to assisting states adversely affected by the Gulf Crisis amounts to over £3.8 million and our contribution via multilateral organisations amounts to around £3 million.

Ireland has specifically earmarked for the Sudan £250,000 of its bilateral aid for countries affected by the Gulf Crisis. It has also provided £170,000 in emergency relief to the Sudan since the outbreak of the crisis. In addition, Ireland continues to operate its bilateral development aid programme in the Sudan which is one of the four "priority" countries in our aid programme. The allocation for the Sudan under this programme is £600,000 for 1991.