Commentary: Iraq humanitarian crisis far outweighs violence
Sherwood Ross
Middle East Times
July 30, 2007
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA, USA -- Today, July 30, Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI) will hold a news conference in Jordan's Hyatt Amman Hotel to issue a report detailing how the violence in Iraq "is overshadowing a humanitarian crisis," with one-third of a nation, some 8 million people, "in need of emergency aid." Here, in more detail, is what the report will say.
Two million Iraqis have fled their homeland, becoming refugees, mainly heading for Syria and Jordan. In short, they have voted with their feet to get out, as they never did under deposed ruler Saddam Hussein, their departure speaking volumes about which tyrant they preferred to live under.
More than 2 million people, "mostly women and children," have been displaced inside Iraq. (This figure may or may not include the imprisoned 60,000 Iraqi men - scooped up in dragnet arrests by US forces - who are almost universally innocent of any crimes, but who have been labeled "terrorists" to justify the White House war.)
Seventy percent of Iraqis are without adequate water supplies, compared to 50 percent in 2003, the year George W. Bush, who knew better than the impartial UN inspectors, took it upon himself to, "destroy Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction" that threatened America. The water shortage, like the sputtering electrical system, undercuts Mr. Bush's pledge, three years ago, to make Iraq's infrastructure the best in the Middle East. As Saad Eskander, director of Iraq's National Library and Archive in Baghdad, told the New York Times February 7: "I feared that people would not believe what I would say about daily life and the state of total chaos and destruction prevailing in Baghdad."
Four million Iraqis regularly cannot buy enough to eat. And a third more children are malnourished today than before Mr. Bush struck. "Malnutrition among children has dramatically increased, and basic services - ruined by years of war and sanctions - cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people," Barbara Stocking, director of Oxfam Great Britain, has said.
While the White House has refused to open the doors of sanctuary in America to any appreciable number (perhaps, 7,000?) of Iraqis, Syria, which has already taken in more than 1 million Iraqi refugees, has, not surprisingly, slammed its doors shut, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), a non-profit watchdog agency.
"The United States and UK bear a particular responsibility to help people displaced in and out of Iraq," Bill Frelick, HRW refugee policy director, has said. "They undertook a war that has directly caused thousands of deaths, widespread fear and suffering, and forced displacement. This precipitated a sectarian conflict that has caused additional violence, persecution, and displacement on a massive scale."
Frelick has also stated that Jordan and Egypt "have pretty much closed their doors to Iraqi refugees, while Syria is shutting out Palestinians trying to flee Iraq." Human Rights Watch has noted, however, that Jordan and Syria have been "the most tolerant in the region toward Iraqis."
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is building a $7-billion high-tech barrier on its Iraq border to keep Iraqis out, while Kuwait "is categorically rejecting Iraqi asylum seekers," according to an HRW briefing paper issued in April.
Egypt, which has provided sanctuary to approximately 150,000 Iraqis, has also taken steps to stem the arrival of new refugees, according to Human Rights Watch. Early last January, authorities began imposing highly restrictive new procedures for Iraqis attempting to enter Egypt. Since Egypt has no diplomatic mission to Baghdad, it requires Iraqis to get to the Egyptian consulates in Damascus or Amman, effectively insuring a drop in applications, given the difficulties Iraqis have of getting to Syria or Jordan.
While there is an urgent need for greater humanitarian assistance, Oxfam and NCCI, in their July 30 press statement, stress that: "ending the conflict must be the top priority for everyone involved in Iraq.
"Iraqi government and multi-national forces must also ensure their troops respect their moral and legal obligations not to harm civilians and their property."
An estimated 78,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed by coalition airstrikes in Iraq, as the US military seeks to hold down infantry casualties engaging in ground combat.
At today's news conference, NCCI and Oxfam will call on the Iraqi government to extend food parcel distribution, increase emergency cash payments, and back up local aid organizations. They will also ask the central government to delegate more authority to local governments to deliver the aid, and for foreign governments, including America and Britain, to support Iraqi ministries in the relief effort.
Meanwhile, back in the US, White House rhetoric continues to focus on how to defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq, with never a word about the "humanitarian crisis" Mr. Bush's war has inflicted upon the civilian population he allegedly invaded to assist. |
