>STOP NATO: °NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG > >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE >FEBRUARY 18, 2000 12:16 PM >CONTACT: American Friends Service Committee >http://www.afsc.org/ >Peter Lems 215 241-7170 > > > >Resignation of Humanitarian Officials in Iraq Highlight Failures of the >Sanctions Policy > >PHILADELPHIA - February 18 - When Hans von Sponeck, the United Nations >Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq resigned on 13 February, he sounded a >wake-up call to the world that a humanitarian disaster is unfolding in Iraq. >But he is not alone. He is the second Baghdad-based Assistant Secretary >General to resign: a powerful repudiation of the UN's sanctions policy and >the oil-for-food program. His predecessor Denis Halliday resigned in 1998. >On the day following von Sponeck's resignation, Jutta Burghardt, head of the >World Food Program (WFP) in Iraq also resigned her post. Her resignation >further highlights the frustration of the humanitarian community. > >The World Food Program is the United Nations agency that directly distributes >food to the 3 million Iraqis living in the north. The project in Iraq >represent the largest WFP program in the world. It operates within the >oil-for-food program that allows Iraq to sell oil to buy food, medicine and >other humanitarian supplies for the Iraqi people. The program is governed by >tough U.N. sanctions imposed on the country since its 1990 invasion of >Kuwait. > >The principled position taken by these career United Nations civil servants >illustrates the failure of the Security Council to address the humanitarian >disaster in Iraq. The oil-for-food program has been a failure. > >Instead of lifting the sanctions, the new resolution passed by the Security >Council in December may ease the sanctions only after new weapons inspectors >are satisfied with their visits to the country. In the views of these two >officials the new resolution is hopelessly inadequate, and will do little to >reverse the deprivations caused by the sanctions. > >According to Kathy Bergen, Coordinator of the Middle East Peace Building Unit >at AFSC, "the US gains nothing by standing by a failed policy. It should now >move toward the rapid lifting of the economic sanctions while working for a >zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. As the principal >supplier of arms to the Middle East, the US must end its policy of >transferring arms to the Middle East and elsewhere." > >"The loss of life inflicted on ordinary Iraqis by the sanctions is >incompatible with the United Nations Charter," says Denis Halliday former >Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq who resigned in October 1998 to protest the >continued use of sanctions. "The continuation of these sanctions in full >knowledge of their deadly consequences constitutes genocide." > >AFSC applauds Hans von Sponeck's statement upon his resignation: "I'm not at >all alone in my view that we have reached a point where it is no longer >acceptable that we are keeping our mouths shut." We respect those willing to >take a principled position on the calamitous misuse of sanctions in Iraq. > >The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization which >includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace >and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of >every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and >injustice. > >### __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
