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Can It Prevent Monetizing Mercy? By KATHY KELLY Where is the UN? In Baghdad, under economic sanctions, landing a job in a hotel offered at least a steady pittance of earnings. Some men made ends meet by working two eight hour shifts in different hotels. A dignified, well educated fellow would don a restaurant worker’s uniform in one hotel to serve tables all day and then quickly change into the uniform of a maintenance crew worker at the hotel across the street so that he could spend the next eight hours sweeping up cigarette butts. But over time, in spite of the glaring disparities between their material well being and ours, durable friendships developed between members of Voices in the Wilderness delegations and the workers at hotels where we stayed. When, on rare occasions, we’d visit their homes, we’d leave wishing we could alleviate the harsh circumstances in which they lived. Especially during rainy, cold or extremely hot seasons, their homes were inadequate shelters. And they would never be able to save any money to get ahead working at the hotels. Most of the men I knew no longer work at the hotels. Now that Baghdad is the most dangerous city in the world, random groups fire mortars, bombs, and other explosives at hotels. Some men were willing to risk staying on the job but were laid off by managers who, with few guests, couldn’t meet payrolls. We’ve lost contact with most of our old friends. We often worry about them. But, occasionally, an email will arrive. Here is an excerpt from a letter sent June 4, 2005, from Ali, a gardener, a man who treated plants and people with great tenderness. He also admired Gandhi and, after the Occupation began, spoke at length with us about how much hope he placed in the possibility that nonviolent movements could emerge in Iraq. Ali wrote: “What happened in US if any one from US army feels hungry? For sure you all now saying the US government will do all they can to do, even they will send in… many airplanes … bringing all the best types of good energy foods and best supplements to make them (the army) stronger to kill the life in poor people. BUT, what about if any one from Iraqi people feels hungry?So, why we are still suffering from hungry and may be some families rich or they have the ability of shopping but what about others sleeping without dinner and what about the crying of baby for milk and his mother dying to give it to him, crying...who give mercy to her and her baby? Where is Bush and his flag he carried to bring the democracy and freedom? Who is the hero in our government...and why all the world organizations still silent and where is the UN?” Where is the UN? It’s unthinkable, but an honest answer to Ali’s question about the UN would acknowledge that in two days time, the UN will very likely tighten the thumbscrews still further in afflicting pain on innocent Iraqis. June 28–30, 2005, the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) will hold its final round of discussions before determining how much of an outstanding 65 billion in reparations Iraq should be required to pay for Saddam Hussein’s 1990-91 warmaking. Forbade to see claims against them In the years between 1996–2003, the UNCC approved 52.1 billion in payment to individuals, companies and countries. As one of the most secretive of all UN organizational structures, the UNCC forbade the Iraqi negotiators to see many of the claims made against them, refused to allow Iraq to contest claims it did see, and forced the Iraqis to underwrite expenses for translation of all documents as it insisted that no discussions be held in Arabic. The UNCC could have chosen to pay the individual claimants but then ask the countries and companies, many of them quite wealthy, to wait until Iraq was first able to meet the needs of starving and diseased children. It could still choose to give priority to alleviating suffering in Iraq. Instead, after all of the decisions are recorded, after the lawyers, accountants, claims analysts, secretaries, translators, and negotiators sign off on their part in the procedures, Iraq will very likely face demands to continue using its desperately needed oil revenue to pay reparations to claimants whose complaints are deemed more worthy of attention than the pleas raised in Ali’s letter. In the coming months, Ali may find that world bodies such as the IMF and the World Bank, when they step up to the plate to negotiate payment schedules that Iraq will be forced to meet, will insist that Iraq’s government impose austerity measures such as “monetizing subsidies.” Must pay for ration baskets In other words, the mothers whose lament Ali wants us to hear would be told that they must pay for their meager ration baskets. Today is the 60th birthday of the United Nations. In only six decades, the UN mission to eliminate the scourge of warfare and uphold basic human rights has scored remarkable gains. In many disputes, worldwide, the UN is the only referee on the bench. And yet, the warmakers, weapon manufacturers and rabid money makers have held on to and gained significant footholds within the UN. 85% of world’s weapon sales controlled by five veto bearing members 85% of the world’s weapon sales are controlled by the five veto bearing members of the UN Security Council; in very recent history, The U.S. and the UK have used the UN to wage economic and military warfare against innocent people in Iraq. And the UNCC has been a black stain on UN history. There are no adequate answers to Ali’s anguished letter. In a fair and just world governance, the US would be required to pay reparations to Iraq. Such justice seems utterly elusive right now, but those of us who live in countries where we ostensibly can influence our governments, bear responsibility to break silence and hold up a mirror to reveal the greatest scandals happening within the UN at the behest of the Security Council. Perhaps future generations can one day celebrate the rebirth of a UN committed to paying recompense to those who are most in need, a UN unshackled from the demands of warmakers and money mongers. June 23, 2005 Fasting in Geneva By KATHY KELLY Where You Stand Determines What You See...And How You Live
During the long war of the economic sanctions, we had stood at the bedsides of numerous mothers who held dying infants and looked at us with imploring eyes, asking “Why?” We saw too much of the catastrophic military and economic violence inflicted on ordinary Iraqis to ever consider giving up on efforts to end UN/US economic sanctions. We had returned to our homes haunted by the gasps of children in hospital wards that served as little more than “death rows” for infants, and we had tried to alert people in the U.S. and the U.K., people with some level of control over their governments, about how those governments brutally and lethally punished Iraqi children for political actions they could not control. Where you stand determines what you see. For the latter half of June, eight of us will do plenty of standing, again in opposition to economic punishment of ordinary Iraqis, with children bearing the hardest punishment. We’re fasting for fifteen days leading up to the June 28-30 UNCC deliberations over whether to saddle the poorest Iraqis with billions of dollars of Saddam Hussein’s debt. We’re standing in Geneva, which is one of the most comfortably elegant cities in the world, and where the future of one of the world’s most desperate countries will be decided.  Although I’m fasting here, taking only water (and that morning cup of coffee), I feel awkward about living in such an exquisitely cushy environ while trying to speak up for people who are going to bed hungry in deteriorating homes, lacking access to clean water, exasperated and frightened by round after round of violence, and bearing scorching temperatures that won’t let up for another two months. The Iraqis I’m fasting for will never see the people we see entering the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC). You, too, are accountable We stand in front of the entrance to the UN in Geneva, holding signs and banners that say to the UNCC, “You, too, are accountable. In your meetings, June 28 – 30, please discuss justice for Iraqis.” The UNCC’s officials, accountants, claims analysts, and lawyers have played a crucial role in manipulating Iraq’s economy throughout the last decade. Quite possibly few have visited Iraq or read the reports filed by their colleagues in the World Health Organization, UNICEF or the Food and Agriculture Organization. We met the people filing those reports regularly, on every visit to Baghdad. They often implored us to go back to the U.S. and beg our government to recognize that economic sanctions punished the most vulnerable people in Iraq. They showed us tables and accounting which proved that over 500,000 young children, - half a million children under the age of five - might have survived if the sanctions had not crushed Iraq’s economy and prevented Iraq from continuing a trend that was steadily reducing infant mortality rates. Gravely contradicted fundamental UN mandates For UNCC workers who read the accounts, it must have been difficult to cooperate with the U.S. and UN in a strange set of priorities that gravely contradicted fundamental UN mandates. After the UN Security Council established the oil for food program in 1996, the Saddam Hussein government, desperate for more oil revenue, agreed to pay 30% of Iraq’s oil revenue, yearly to compensate countries, corporations and individuals claiming damages from Hussein’s invasion 1990-1991 invasion of Kuwait. All of the claims to individuals, claims which amounted to 3 billion dollars, have now been settled by the UNCC. It’s easy to imagine needy individuals submitting those claims. But beyond the individual claims, shouldn’t the UNCC members have re-examined their priorities? They could have told the wealthy you have to wait They could have told the wealthy countries and corporations with outstanding claims, “We’re sorry, but you will have to wait. Iraq’s oil resources should immediately be reinvested into Iraq to give the people there, particularly the children, a chance to survive.” This sort of statement would have cohered with UN mandates to protect the rights of children and uphold human rights. Saddam Hussein’s regime showed ruthless disregard for the rights of its citizens. But the oil-for-food program, with all of its flaws, did save lives and many more could have been saved had their been more revenue available and had the UNCC showed more urgent compassion for humanitarian concerns. Some UNCC workers clearly were troubled. We’ve recently learned of two lawyers who resigned for conscientious reasons. 52.1 billion dollars paid to rich But for the most part, the system moved along, and you can examine multiple lists, for each year between 1996 and 2003, of countries and corporations whose claims for many billions of dollars were paid out, from Iraqi oil revenue, after the UNCC deemed their claims to be just. So far, the UNCC has approved 52.1 billion of Iraqi oil revenue in payment to individuals, companies and governments. That was their priority. Allowing Iraqi oil revenue to pay for food and medicine that could have saved hundreds of thousands of children seems not to have been part of their discussions. From June 28 – 30, the UNCC will hold its final round of discussions before determining how much more of an outstanding 65 billion in reparation and debt Iraq should be required to pay for the 1990-91 war making. This time, it’s crucial to assure that members of the UNCC are fully aware of Jean Zeigler’s UNICEF report which states that 7.7% of Iraqi children under age are currently suffering from acute malnourishment. It’s vitally important that they read the May 2005 UNDP report that details catastrophic conditions because of impure water, erratic electricity, and high unemployment. A June 17, 2005 World Food Program report should be on their agenda. Rice, sugar, milk and infant formula It shows significant shortfalls in rice, sugar, milk and infant formula. A recent UN survey notes that more than half the population lives below the poverty line. The median income fell from $255 in 2003 to $144 in 2004. Put these reports together and its tragically easy to see that the 7.7% of Iraqi children under age five suffering from acute malnourishment, a disease often referred to as wasting, might not survive more cuts in Iraq’s budget for human services. Hans von Sponeck, a former UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, who resigned his post as an act of conscience, stood with us on the first two days of our fast. Speaking to a Reuters reporter, Hans said, “It is incredible that these people, completely outside the structure, should be bringing a message that they should know inside.” Gesturing at the buildings across the street, Hans laid out the responsibility the people inside the UNCC bore for violating the UN charter. “The UNCC has no legitimacy for one day longer, “ he said. “It is not a colonial master.” Hans von Sponeck also pointed out that you can’t have it both ways. If Iraq is now a soverign country If Iraq is now a sovereign country, then the Iraqi government should be negotiating how much money it owes to creditors. Our literature calls for a cancellation of all of Iraq’s outstanding debt and a moratorium on reparations payments. Various UN workers stop to chat with us from time to time. One told us to be assured that members of the UNCC were very aware of our presence. An accountant told me that he was terribly troubled by policies that lined the pockets of wealthy companies and contributed toward suffering of innocent people. “Accountants can find a kind of relief in just working with numbers,” he said, looking bemused. “Numbers don’t talk back.” Neither do dying children. International conscience must be represented by those willing to stand up for them, within the UN and in every community that believes Iraq's children have a right to live. Kathy Kelly is a co-coordinator of Voices in the Wilderness (www.vitw.org). Her book, Other Lands Have Dreams, was recently published by Counterpunch. |
