STATEMENT BY
H.E. AMBASSADOR HASMY AGAM,
PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF MALAYSIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
ON IRAQ: REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL PURSUANT TO
PARAGRAPHS 28 AND 30 OF RESOLUTION 1284 (1999)AND
PARAGRAPH 5 OF RESOLUTION 1281 (1999)(S/2000/208)FRIDAY, 24 MARCH 2000
Mr. President,
1. My delegation expresses its profound thanks and appreciation to you for convening this important and timely open meeting of the Council on this subject. We acknowledge the presence of Ms. Carol Bellamy and Mr. Benon Sevan. We welcome the report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 28 and 30 of resolution 1284 and paragraph 5 of resolution 1281. We also endorse the Secretary-General’s recommendations for a total allocation of $600 million to finance the procurement of oil spare parts and equipment for Phase VI and VII to offset permanent damage to the oil-bearing structures in Iraq.
2. Poor oilfield husbandry, the direct result of the many holds on the oil spare parts and equipment, has resulted in an irreversible damage to the individual oil reservoirs. Oil revenue derived from these fields is critical to the success of the oil-for-food programme but should not be treated merely as an infinite source of funding for the programme. This depletable natural resource does not belong solely to the current generation but also future generations of Iraqis. Hence, there is need to ensure its sustainability which is currently severely impaired by the numerous holds on oil spare parts.
3. These extra allocations should also be used to ensure the safety of personnel working in extremely dangerous and hazardous conditions. There is also the need to provide for the purchase of requisite equipment for the protection of the environment. In this regard, we would like to draw attention to the potential environmental crisis that is waiting to happen, as a result of the deteriorating facilities in the Mina-al-Bakr offshore loading terminal. Again, the major contributing factor is the holds. The Secretary-General has on numerous occasions belaboured this point and has alerted us to the potential environmental catastrophe as a result of oil spillage. The trans-boundary nature of the pollution means that the impact would not be restricted to Iraqi shores but will be felt by Kuwait and neighbouring countries as well.
4. We sincerely hope that the enhancement of the observation and monitoring capabilities in the oil sector would result in a significant lifting of the holds. This approach should be extended to the humanitarian sectors as well, where significant holds remained in critical infrastructure projects that provide for safe drinking water and electricity generation.
5. For almost a decade the most comprehensive and punitive sanctions ever imposed on a people has destroyed Iraq as a modern state, decimated its people, ruined its agriculture, educational and health care systems, as well as its infrastructure. The devastating effects of the sanctions testify to the failure of comprehensive sanctions as a policy tool that violates basic human rights - the right to live with dignity – indeed the right to life itself. The sanctions regime has brought about a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions. This is beyond dispute. The tragedy is that while much of the devastation can be prevented it has been allowed to continue. The situation is so deplorable that a group of concerned legislators in the Congress of the United States, to their great credit, felt compelled to pronounce themselves on the subject. They have characterised the sanctions regime as an "infanticide masquerading as policy." Clearly, the sanctions do more than hurt; they kill, especially those that are most vulnerable.
6. We are all too familiar with the estimate made by UNICEF in its recent report that over 5,000 children under the age of 5 years die each month due to the effects of the sanctions. That would make the total over a period of nine years a staggering half a million. How ironic it is that the same policy that is supposed to disarm Iraq of its WMD has itself become a weapon of mass destruction - the deaths of innocent children. In the name of the international community UN economic sanctions are incapacitating an entire society. To add insult to injury, the entire programme of deprivation being imposed on the Iraqi people, and the mechanism instituted for that purpose, are being paid from proceeds from the sale of their own oil.
Mr. President,
7. My delegation fully appreciates the legitimate security concerns that have been expressed in respect of Iraq in the wake of its invasion of Kuwait a decade ago. Likewise, we sympathise and empathise with the families of the more than 600 Kuwaiti missing persons and other third country nationals that need to be accounted for and more aggressively pursued. We support the efforts of Amb. Yuri Vorontsov, the recently appointed Coordinator, tasked with resolving this issue as well as facilitate the return of the country’s national archives and other property that were taken out of Kuwait. These are important humanitarian issues on which there is complete consensus in the Council. We therefore call on Iraq to fulfill its obligation – along with all of its other international obligations - and continue with its participation in the Tripartite Commission and the Technical Sub-Committee and to cooperate in resolving these issues once and for all, in the interest of humanitarianism and for the sake of restoring normalcy to the region.
8. Economic sanctions imposed upon Iraq since 1991 primarily inflict suffering on civilians, especially the most vulnerable members of the Iraqi population, namely the elderly, the sick and children. We believe their continued suffering for an indefinite future is incompatible with the spirit and letter of the UN Charter. The deprivation caused by the embargo is equally incompatible with the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It has been said that the sanctions regime on Iraq is not a form of development aid. Indeed, it is not. It is a form of punishment. But for how long should this collective punishment continue? For the unfortunate victims, who are desperately poor after a decade of sanctions, poverty is a life sentence that daily crushes their human spirit and dignity as a people. Unless this is the intended objective of the sanctions - which I do not believe it is - their prolongation is, in Malaysia’s view, inhumane and unconscionable.
9. We believe that the loss of lives and the untold suffering of the civilian population is excessive in relation to the concrete and direct benefits accruing from efforts to disarm Iraq. UNICEF is not the only UN agency to report on the negative impact of the sanctions regime. The WHO, the ICRC and FAO support similar conclusions. A number of concerned and courageous individuals, notably Mr. Denis Halliday, Mr. Hans Von Sponeck and Ms. Jutta Burghardt, intimately acquainted with the realities on the ground, have all confirmed what we already know - or do not wish to know - that the continuing economic sanctions on the Iraqi people is indefensible and must be terminated as soon as possible. We believe that more and more people of conscience and courage will speak out in the weeks and months ahead as the deplorable humanitarian situation in Iraq can no longer be defended with a clear conscience by men and women of goodwill.
10. It is time for the international community to craft a new policy on Iraq that addresses legitimate security concerns of the international community but does not inflict indiscriminate suffering upon the Iraqi people. If we are serious in our intention and efforts to alleviate the suffering of the innocent Iraqi people, there should be no linkage between progress in disarming Iraq and the humanitarian efforts being undertaken by the Council. The economic sanctions should be drastically overhauled and eased and de-linked from military sanctions. The oil-for-food programme, a humanitarian measure that was meant to be temporary, is no panacea to mitigate the effects of the sanctions.
11. The humanitarian panel established by this Council and headed by Ambassador Celso Amorim of Brazil, a former distinguished member of the Council, made an important observation which I wish to quote because of its pertinence to the subject under discussion. It observed that, "…even if all the humanitarian supplies were provided in a timely manner, the humanitarian programme implemented pursuant to resolution 986 (1995) can admittedly only meet but a small fraction of the priority needs of the Iraqi people. Regardless of the improvements that might be brought about in the implementation of the current humanitarian programme - in terms of approval procedures, better performance by the Iraqi government or funding levels - the magnitude of the humanitarian needs is such that they cannot be met within the context of the parameters set forth in resolution 986 (1995)…". Let us pause and ponder on this very pertinent observation.
12. Resolution 1284 (1999) seeks, inter-alia, to streamline the approval process in the sanctions committee, secure improvement in performance on the part of Iraq, and remove the oil export ceiling. However, the prohibitions on the "dual-use" items - critical inputs in many civilian projects - remain very much in place. This resolution does not even begin to address the essence of the humanitarian problem. How can such incremental measures hope to succeed when the cause of the problem is structural in nature?
13. Much of the civilian infrastructure in Iraq had been destroyed during the war and in subsequent bombings of the country, which continue even now in the illegal so-called "no-fly-zones" which violate Iraq’s sovereignty and further complicate the situation. Iraq cannot rebuild or repair the damage to pre-war status because the disbursement of money for the oil-for-food programme is controlled by the Security Council. Many of the needed spares and equipment are prohibited by the sanctions regime. Holds on contracts, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, in some critical sectors hamper overall effort to alleviate the humanitarian situation. What good are food and medicines if clean water is not available? Extensive holds in the electricity and the oil sectors have serious consequences for the people of Iraq.
14. In 1990, prior to the adoption of resolution 661, no study was done to advise the Council on the probable humanitarian impact of the proposed sanctions. This is a regrettable omission but this mistake should not be compounded by a failure to carry out an impact assessment. The sanctions should be subjected to monitoring and regular reviews during the operation of the sanctions regime, as is provided for.
15. The social costs of the sanctions have been enormous. Children have been compelled to work, to beg or engage in crime in order to survive. Young women have been compelled into prostitution out of dire economic circumstances. Fathers have abandoned their families, unable to cope with the economic and psychological pressures.
16. Iraq’s education system has collapsed, with thousands of teachers leaving their posts because of the unbearable working conditions. The dropout rate for primary and secondary levels is estimated at 30 percent. Less than 4 percent of funds available were allocated for the education sector. The difficulty of getting educational materials essentially means an intellectual embargo is also in effect.
17. The health services have not been able to handle preventable diseases, such as diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, respiratory tract infection and polio from spreading to epidemic proportions. Hospitals attempt to function with collapsed water and sewerage systems, without even basic supplies for hygiene and minimal care. UNICEF estimates 30 percent of Iraqi children are chronically and acutely malnourished. These children will be physically and mentally stunted for the rest of their lives.
18. Iraq’s younger generation is growing up resentful of the sanctions, bitter, angry and alienated from the world. An entire people have been stripped of their pride and dignity and may find it difficult to collaborate with the international community. There will assuredly be long-term social and political impacts of sanctions.
19. These are but some of the more apparent examples of the pervasive impact of the sanctions. The true and complete picture will only be known after a comprehensive impact assessment of the sanctions regime has been made.
20. Even if sanctions were to be lifted today, the problems afflicting Iraq today will persist well into the future. We believe the real impact is more pervasive than we really know. On the economic front, economic reconstruction efforts, by one conservative estimate, will need $50 - $100 billion just for essential infrastructure utilities. External debts will also be another burden that Iraq will have to bear even as it attempts to rehabilitate the economy.
Mr. President,
21. There have been disturbing reports about the effects of depleted uranium arising from shells used against Iraq during the Gulf War. The highly toxic particles have been known to cause cancer and results in irreversible damage to the kidney and deformation to the foetus. There have been reports of a disproportionate high incidence of cancer among Iraqis in the South, where these munitions were largely used. The matter should be investigated and assistance rendered to Iraq to overcome the problems posed by these toxic wastes.
22. The defenders of continued, relentless, sanctions have argued that they are necessary to prevent Iraq from threatening its neighbours and rebuilding its arsenal. The goal of these sanctions, however, seems to have changed. The original UN resolutions imposed sanctions to pressure Iraq to eliminate its WMD programmes. Policy statements emanating from some capitals, however, suggest that sanctions will remain in place until certain political objectives have been achieved. This policy clearly undermines the original objective of the sanctions around which the international consensus against Iraq was originally based, and makes children and families in Iraq virtual hostages in the political deadlock between governments. The continuing demonising of Iraq must stop if we are serious in our professed concern for the plight of the Iraqi people.
23. After more than nine years of the most comprehensive economic embargo on a member state of this Organisation, it is clear that the continuation of the sanctions regime in its present form is morally indefensible. Its continuation will only prolong the agony of the long suffering Iraqi people and damage the credibility of the United Nations, in particular, this Council. By sustaining economic sanctions on Iraq in the full knowledge of its deplorable consequences, the Security Council will continue to undermine the Charter of the United Nations. It is time for us to view the matter not, for the most part, through the narrow prism of security – which is important but which has substantially been addressed – but also, equally frequently, through the broader prism of humanity.
24. In the light of the above, my delegation strongly urges this Council to commission an immediate and comprehensive impact assessment of the sanctions on Iraq. The periodic UN reports, while useful and serve their purpose, simply do not tell the whole story. Only a comprehensive study can. Such a study is not only necessary; it is long overdue. In appealing to the Council to act on this call, let me remind Council members of the sad and unnecessary deaths of the innocent children of Iraq by quoting the noted Lebanese philosopher and writer who wrote, "They died in silence, for humanity had closed its ears to their cry". In this regard I would like to recommend to Council members to view an important documentary film made by Mr. John Pilger entitled "Paying the Price – Killing the Children of Iraq" – produced by Carlton Television of London and first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV. Viewing it might perhaps open our ears to the cries of those Iraqi children that are still living.
Mr. President,
25. I have spoken at length on this subject. For Malaysia the issue of sanctions on Iraq is a matter of great importance and concern to our people, as to other people elsewhere. It is a matter of humanitarian concern, and of morality, not of polemics. For us, it is a matter of conscience, especially as we sit here as a member of this Council. I believe it is the same for many members of the Council – as well as those outside of this Council.
Thank you Mr. President.