UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in March that “ ‘the United Nations now runs the danger of becoming the cause of the suffering of the Iraqi people’.” In June of this year, the UN Human Rights Commission published a document which examines the “ ‘adverse consequences of economic sanctions on the enjoyment of human rights’.” Four-fifths of the report is about Iraq. The Commission stated that “ ‘the sanction regime against Iraq is unequivocally illegal under existing international law and human rights law’.” Von Sponeck added: “Some would even go so far” as to call it “genocide.”

Nonetheless, those who oppose sanctions still face “an immense obstacle” of “contaminated information … The power of disinformation is just frightening.” Von Sponeck highlighted three key aspects of “misinformation” about the sanctions. First, he discussed false information. As an example, he addressed the argument that “medicines are willfully withheld from the people” by Hussein. According to a UN “monthly stock report” that examines how supplies are distributed, this charge is highly questionable. This past spring, for example, 91.7 percent of “everything that had come in … had been distributed. That’s not a bad picture at all.” Yet the U.S. Department of State continues to claim “that there are deliberate attempts” by the Iraqi government to divert these supplies.

The second area of misinformation involves “half-truths.” One often reads “how little” the Iraqi government is “concerned with its people.” The argument often used is that the Kurds in northern Iraq are in a much better position than the rest of the Iraqis. “Those who say this are absolutely correct … But the explanation they give is simplistic and wrong.” The Department of State never points out that out of each dollar of Iraqi oil revenue, 19.4 cents goes to the Kurds, although they comprise only 13 percent of the population. In addition, the northern, higher climate is cooler, so diseases that devastate the lowlands are less prevalent, and the water needs are lower than in the hotter regions.

Von Sponeck’s third example involves “cover ups” regarding Iraq. He cited the use of depleted uranium by U.S. forces during the Gulf War, and the damage this left. Von Sponeck talked to British and American medical personnel and soldiers who served during this war, and “they give you gruesome examples of how they are treated in their effort to speak out.” Some 200,000 people are affected, so this reality cannot be hidden for long.

Von Sponeck also referred to the “cover up” regarding air strikes. On average, there were three strikes per day while he was at the UN. In 1999, according to his research, 144 people “died as a result of these air strikes.” In addition, “446 people were wounded, [and] a lot of property was destroyed.” Yet this devastation is rarely discussed.

In fact, the United States and Britain have attempted to intimidate those opposed to sanctions. On one occasion, U.S. Senator Jesse Helms went “into the Security Council … and he [said] to the people there, including the Secretary-General: When you do what we want and what is in our interest, then we’ll strengthen you; and if you don’t, we’ll marginalize you.”

Still, von Sponeck sees a shift occurring. “There are fabulous people who say ‘enough is enough.’ And there is a public conscience which has arisen under very difficult circumstances.” According to von Sponeck, “this public conscience is now pitted … against the UN Security Council, and the governments that are in that Security Council, particularly the UK and the U.S.”

Individuals and groups are pressing for a policy shift, and “governments are changing their approach.” The Italian, French, and European parliaments “have come out now against this kind of a policy.” In a January 2000 report, the British House of Commons stated: “ ‘We find it difficult to believe there will be a case in the future where the United Nations would be justified in imposing comprehensive economic sanctions on a country’. ” As further evidence of this shift, the Canadian foreign minister said to the Security Council: “ ‘It is imperative that sanctions reflect the objectives of the international community, not just the national interests of its most powerful members’.” U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright argues that people like von Sponeck “don’t understand the bigger picture.” Yet, what is the bigger picture? he asked. Is it oil? Money? Or, as it is for him, human rights?

The above text is based on remarks delivered on 7 December 2000 by Hans von Sponeck, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Palestine Center or The Jerusalem Fund. This “For the Record” was written by Palestine Center Publications Manager Wendy Lehman; it may be used without permission but with proper attribution to the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine.

This information first appeared in For The Record No. 62, 15 December 2000.