April 15, 2003

NEW YORK - "Because of sanctions, a whole generation of children born after the 1991 war have been deprived of the right to adequate food which would allow them to develop normally. Now, the war in Iraq adds to this by seriously affecting and disadvantaging another generation of children."

This assessment, expressing deep concern about the impact of international sanctions and of war on Iraqi children and women, was part of an oral intervention made today to the current (59th) session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) by the World Council of Churches (WCC) with other Christian humanitarian organizations. The oral intervention was submitted by the WCC Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), Dominicans for Justice and Peace, Caritas Internationalis and Franciscans International.

In the intervention, made in reference to Agenda Item 13: Rights of the child, the WCC pointed out that articles 3 and 38 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child "are being systematically violated on a daily basis during the war in Iraq, and have been for more than twelve years as a result of sanctions." The economic sanctions - imposed by the UN Security Council - have been "harming and killing children" throughout that period, the intervention said.

"Most of the child victims of the sanctions were not even born at the time of the 1991 war against Iraq. These children did not die as a result of combat. These innocent children died as a result of measures decreed by an organization whose mission was to protect their peace and security," the intervention pointed out. It also warned about "the emotional, physical, psychological and moral impact on children and women of daily bombings of cities in Iraq," following on the sanctions.

Use of ammunition with depleted uranium - which is chemically and radiologically toxic - was another concern raised by the intervention. Given epidemiological evidence that exposure - by ingestion, inhalation or skin contact - to depleted uranium increases the incidence of congenital abnormalities and defects, and cancers in all age groups, the WCC and its partners consider that "the use of depleted uranium in war in Iraq can only add to spreading illnesses, environmental pollution and degradation of the land."

Based on these facts, the intervention called on the UNCHR to "take seriously its Charter obligation to monitor the implementation and respect for international human rights law and to denounce the ongoing violations of the most fundamental human rights of women and children in the present conflict." And it urged "the international community through the United Nations to take with utmost seriousness its responsibilities for the gigantic and long-term challenge of governing and rebuilding Iraq."

World Council of Churches