wfn.org | NCCCUSA/ACT Prepare Iraq Shipment

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
USA
Contact: Wendy S. McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227
Internet: news@ncccusa.org

NCC2/6/98   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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EDITORS: When listing organizations receiving funds 
for humanitarian response for Iraq Emergency Relief, 
please include:

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, Attn. Iraq Emergency Relief, 
#976801, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.  Phone 
pledges or credit card donations: 1-800-762-0968.

CWS works in more than 70 countries, including the 
U.S., in disaster relief, human development and 
refugee assistance.  It is a ministry of the 
National Council of Churches, the nation's 
preeminent ecumenical organization which includes 34 
Protestant and Orthodox member communions with a 
combined membership of nearly 52 million.
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CWS TO PROVIDE FOOD, MEDICINE AND BLANKETS TO 
SUFFERING IRAQIS
Supports International Appeal for Internally 
Displaced and Other Vulnerable Iraqi People

 NEW YORK, Feb. 6 ---- As increasing alarm about 
a possible United States military strike combines 
with heightened concern about frayed social and 
economic conditions in Iraq, Church World Service 
(CWS) will provide blankets and layettes and will 
seek funds for desperately needed medicine in 
support of a $2 million international appeal to aid 
the internally displaced and other vulnerable people 
in Iraq.

 Action by Churches Together (ACT) International 
has launched a $2 million appeal to reach more than 
120,000 Iraqi beneficiaries over the next 10 months.  
ACT is a worldwide network of churches affiliated 
with the World Council of Churches and Lutheran 
World Federation that cooperate to provide 
humanitarian aid and relief programs.  Church World 
Service, an ACT member, will support the ACT appeal 
in two ways:

  Seeking $150,000 from its 34 Protestant and 
Orthodox member communions.  $100,000 will go for 
the purchase of medicines, medical supplies and 
other essential medical treatment items for use in 
hospitals and clinics throughout Iraq and $50,000 
will contribute to operational costs, including 
transportation and the warehousing of goods in 
Jordan.
  Sending $325,000 worth of in-kind donations, 
including 50,000 blankets (valued at $250,000) and 
layettes to 10,000 newborn children (valued at 
$75,000).

 The majority of relief items will be 
distributed in the southern parts of Iraq, including 
Basrah, Nasariyah, Amara and other parts of the 
Southern and Central Governorates, where the 
suffering is most acute.  Distribution and 
monitoring will be carried out by the Middle East 
Council of Churches' Ecumenical Relief Service, a 
partner of ACT and CWS, in close cooperation with 
the Iraqi Red Crescent Society.

Humanitarian Situation in Iraq is "Alarming"

 "The humanitarian situation in Iraq is alarming 
and deteriorating despite the `Food for Oil' 
agreement with the United Nations," said Stein 
Vilumstad, Acting Director of International Programs 
for Norwegian Church Aid, who recently visited Iraq 
with a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation.

 The UN-imposed economic sanctions against Iraq 
have created massive economic hardships, have 
deprived large segments of the population of food 
and have left the Iraqi medical system "in 
deplorable condition," according to David Weaver, 
NCC Middle East Director.  Mr. Weaver visited Iraq 
over Christmas 1996 where he "literally saw children 
suffering and dying from treatable diseases."  Mr. 
Weaver said the ACT program would represent a 
desperately needed expansion of the Ecumenical 
Relief Service of the Middle East Council of 
Churches.

 "Without wanting to relieve Saddam Hussein of 
his obvious responsibility for the welfare of the 
Iraqi people, it is our conviction that the 
international sanctions are contributing to denying 
the Iraqi people basic human and social rights such 
as the right to food and clean water," Mr. Vilumstad 
said.  Water supplies are often contaminated due to 
the lack of funding and repair materials.

The suffering in Iraq is well documented by 
United Nations agencies.  The World Food Program has 
determined that 900,000 people are "especially 
vulnerable persons," many of whom belong to female 
headed households with children under age five.  
UNICEF has found general malnutrition present in 
14.6 percent of infants, chronic malnutrition in 
12.2 percent of infants, and acute malnutrition in 
7.55 percent of infants in the 15 Southern and 
Central governorates of the country.

CWS began providing emergency relief in Iraq in 
1991 to victims of the Gulf War in several different 
countries in the region, including Iraq and Iran.  
CWS is now focusing its efforts upon aiding those 
still displaced and vulnerable as a result of the 
Gulf War, particularly those whose needs have been 
exacerbated by the imposed sanctions.

On November 26, 1997, the President and General 
Secretary of the NCC wrote a letter to the United 
Nations, U.S. and Iraqi governments calling on all 
parties to exercise "restraint" and to continue 
seeking peace.  A cover letter to President Clinton 
pointed out that according to reputable studies, at 
least 500,000 persons have died in Iraq as a direct 
result of the UN-imposed economic sanctions, half of 
them children under five.

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