Most people will agree that the last thing Iraqi children need is more “shock and awe.” They have suffered more physical and mental trauma in the past 12 years than most people might experience in a lifetime. The 1991 Gulf War — a “short war” for most people — dealt a heavy blow to the Iraqi people, especially children who make up almost 50 percent of the population. The 1991 war left in its wake a trail of death and destruction and a people crippled by economic sanctions that continue to this day.

Leah C. Wells, a peace education coordinator for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in Santa Barbara, recently visited Iraq and said that the present humanitarian crisis is a continuation of the crisis that has existed for the past 12 years. “The sanctions have created a permanent state of depression and deprivation among Iraqi kids,” Wells told Arab News. “At one point they lived in a thriving society; now, many of them have been sent to beg or sell things on the streets to help support their families.”

International sanctions imposed by the UN in August 1990 have drastically reduced economic activity in Iraq and have contributed to the dire humanitarian situation. To alleviate the problem, the UN instigated the “oil-for-food program” (OFFP) in December 1996, which allowed Iraq to export oil in exchange for food and other humanitarian supplies. The program was halted with the beginning of the current conflict, and on Saturday, Baghdad rejected a UN resolution for renewal of the program.

Sixty percent of the Iraqi population received regular food rations from the government through the OFFP. However, the rations did not always meet nutritional requirements and according to UNICEF, the program has done little to resolve the food problem, as revenues from oil exports are not always enough to meet humanitarian needs.

According to the World Factbook 2002, a publication of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), “28 percent of Iraq’s export revenues under the program are deducted to meet UN Compensation Fund and UN administrative expenses.”

Hassan Shawareb, program officer for UNICEF Gulf Area Office, provided Arab News with detailed information on the gravity of the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. This information came in the form of press releases, UN briefing notes and statements by UNICEF officials on the present conflict.

On Friday, UNICEF appealed for $166 million to support urgent humanitarian aid for children and women most at risk from the war. Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, warned of a “clear and growing humanitarian crisis in Iraq.” The funds were needed for humanitarian assistance, such as health care and sanitation. She added that the appeal was about “saving lives,” not “reconstruction.”

Infant mortality rates, which had been steadily decreasing since the 1960s, more than doubled after the 1991 war. The high mortality rate among young children, who are also the most vulnerable, should come as little surprise considering the onslaught of ailments that have assailed the Iraqi people since the end of the last war.

According to UNICEF, the incidence of preventable disease has increased more than 100 percent since 1990, while one in four children in Iraq under the age of five are chronically malnourished. Today, as bombs continue to fall on Iraq and threaten an even worse humanitarian crisis, one million Iraqi children under the age of five continue to suffer from chronic malnutrition, and one in eight will die before their fifth birthday.

Malnourished children are also more prone to disease. The problem is further compounded by a dearth of clean drinking water, which became scarce when water and sanitation facilities were damaged during the first Gulf War. UNICEF has reported 500,000 metric tons of raw sewage being dumped into fresh water sources daily — “300,000 metric tons in Baghdad alone.”

The present conflict has only exacerbated the water problem. Heavy fighting in Basra, the second largest city in Iraq, resulted in damage to the water facility and a shortage of clean water for the city’s two million residents. According to UNICEF, more than a million people are thought to be without safe water in southern Iraq. Children, many of whom are already weak and malnourished, are especially at risk from deadly water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea and gastroenteritis.

“The children’s lives have been totally disrupted,” Leah Wells told Arab News. “Since I am not in Iraq now, I can only imagine their trauma at this point.”

Wells said that all age groups are affected by the mental trauma resulting from war. The closure of schools because of the present conflict, she said, has added to the children’s distress, as they no longer have a sense of “normalcy.”

In a UN briefing on Friday, Geoff Keele, UNICEF communication officer in Iraq, said UNICEF staff have launched a new scheme in northern Iraq to assess the effects of war on children. The scheme, he said, would allow them “to monitor children caught up in the crisis” as well as provide “early warning of any emerging crisis requiring intervention.”

As the conflict goes into its second week, there is growing concern for the Iraqi people’s ability to survive the third major war in only two decades. With increasing food and water shortages, there is added concern for the already impoverished and traumatized children of Iraq, who, being the youngest and weakest, will likely bear the brunt of the humanitarian crisis.

Arab News Features 31 March 2003