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A report from the 11th Voices
in the Wilderness UK sanctions-breaking delegation to Iraq, May
2002
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Four
members of Voices in the Wilderness UK joined up with three
from Voices US to visit Iraq, from 8th to 18th May, on a sanctions-breaking
delegation. These pages detail some of the visits they made,
what they saw and the people they met.
Workers at the Al Gazeeri Sewege plant. The plant
operates very much below capacity due to old machinery,
lack of spare parts and power cuts. Workers have died
at this plant - intoxicated during manually cleaning
filters - a job which used to be mechanised.
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Sanctions
& health: intrastructure and poverty
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At
this sewage plant on the outskirts of Baghdad, much of
the equipment was not operating effectively and workers
have to manually dispose of solids - a process that has
led to two deaths in the past year from intoxication.
Instead of going to the refinery, which is not working
at all, the poorly filtered sewage sludge is pumped back
into the river, itself a water source for villages and
towns downstream. The plant is still waiting for contracts
sent to the sanctions committee to come through.
Similarly, 12 years after the Gulf War, when 95% of Iraq's
electricity supply capacity was destroyed in a strategy of
targeted attacks, the electricity sector is still in need
of huge repairs. As well as everyday disruption for all sectors
of society, inconsistent electricity leads to severe problems
in running equipment in hospitals and water and sewage treatment
plants. It is feared that, if the electricity supply was again
targeted militarily, the humanitarian impact would be catastrophic.
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There
is now recognition by many, including UN agencies, that
the humanitarian situation can only be improved by encouraging
economic activity, investment, employment and adequate
salaries, i.e., that sanctions have to be lifted. A huge
percentage of a once relatively affluent society has been
pushed into poverty with salaries for many professionals
less than $10 a month. One of the recent stories in the
Western media is that it is possible to buy almost anything
in Baghdad with the increase in recent years of 'illegal'
Iraqi trade with its neighbours. Yes, there are more food
and goods available now, but this has no link to reality
for most Iraqis who could never or very rarely afford
to buy even fruit, vegetables or meat to supplement their
protein-deficient, carbohydrate-heavy ration. Furthermore,
we met many people whose only income is the government
food ration and so they have to sell parts of it in order
to get cash for other necessities.
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Children
in a kindergarten in Basra run by Archbishop Kassab
and his staff in Basra, who support many of the poorest
families in the city with food, shelter and schooling.
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Baby
Hussein Thama has been admitted to hospital 4 times and
was in hsoptial with gastroenteritis, diarrehoa and malnutrition.
The Doctors described how a vicious cirly of malnutrition,
gastroenteritus, diarrehoa, low immunity and reinfection
keeps bringing back babys and children into hospital.
The mother, Fatima's, husband was an engineer but left
his job becuase his salary was too low. |
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voices uk - working in solidarity
with ordinary families in iraq
5 Caledonian Road, King's Cross, London N1 9DX
telephone : 0845 458 2564
voices@viwuk.freeserve.co.uk
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