Impact of the 8-Year Sanctions War on the People of Iraq
one-page leaflet for distribution


From UN Reports

"The increase in mortality reported in public hospitals for children under five years of age (an excess
of some 40,000 deaths yearly compared with 1989) is mainly due to diarrhea, pneumonia and
malnutrition. In those over five years of age, the increase (an excess of some 50,000 deaths yearly
compared with 1989) is associated with heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, liver or
kidney diseases." Approximately 250 people die every day in Iraq due to the effect of the sanctions.
- UNICEF, April 1998.

"The Oil-for-Food plan has not yet resulted in adequate protection of Iraq's children from
malnutrition/disease. Those children spared from death continue to remain deprived of essential
rights addressed in the Convention of Rights of the Child." -- UNICEF, April 1998.

Seven years after the imposition of the blockade on the people of Iraq, more than 1.2 million
people, including 750,000 children below the age of five, have died because of the scarcity of food
and medicine. - Verified by the UN, June 1997.

"32 percent of children under five, some 960,000 children are chronically malnourished - a rise of
72 percent since 1991. Almost one quarter (23%) are underweight - twice as high as the levels
found in neighboring Jordan or Turkey." - UNICEF, November 1997.

"There is no sign of any improvement since Security Council Resolution 986/1111 ["Oil for Food"]
came into force." - UNICEF, November 1997.

"One out of every 4 Iraqi infants is malnourished. … Chronic malnutrition among children under five
has reached 27.5%. After a child reaches two or three years of age, chronic malnutrition is difficult
to reverse and damage on the child's development is likely to be permanent." UNICEF and World
Food Programmed (WFP), May 1997

"Iraq's health system is close to collapse because medicines and other life-saving supplies scheduled
for importation under the 'oil-for-food' deal have not arrived. … Government drug warehouses and
pharmacies have few stocks of medicines and medical supplies. The consequences of this situation
are causing a near-breakdown of the health care system, which is reeling under the pressure of
being deprived of medicine, other basic supplies and spare parts." World Health Organizations
(WHO), February 1997.

"4,500 children under the age of 5 are dying each month from hunger and disease. … The situation
is disastrous for children. Many are living on the very margin of survival."-UNICEF, October 1996.

"Since the onset of sanctions, there has been a six-fold increase in the mortality rate for children
under five and the majority of the country's population has been on a semi-starvation diet." - WHO,
March 1996.

"More than one million Iraqis have died-567,000 of them children-as a direct consequence of
economic sanctions . . .. As many as 12% of the children surveyed in Baghdad are wasted, 28%
stunted and 29% underweight."- UN FAO, December 1995.

"Famine threatens four million people in sanctions-hit Iraq - one fifth of the population - following a
poor grain harvest...The human situation is deteriorating. Living conditions are precarious and are at
pre-famine level for at least four million people. … The deterioration in nutritional status of children
is reflected in the significant increase of child mortality, which has risen nearly fivefold since 1990." -
UN FAO, September 1995.

"Alarming food shortages are causing irreparable damage to an entire generation of Iraqi children". -
UN FAO and WFP, September 1995.

"Sanctions are inhibiting the importation of spare parts, chemicals, reagents, and the means of
transportation required to provide water and sanitation services to the civilian population of Iraq. …
What has become increasingly clear is that no significant movement towards food security can be
achieved so long as the embargo remains in place. All vital contributors to food availability -
agricultural production, importation of foodstuffs, economic stability and income generation, are
dependent on Iraq's ability to purchase and import those items vital to the survival of the civilian
population." - UNICEF, 1995

From the: Iraq Action Coalition ... http://leb.net/IAC/   ...

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