wfn.org | WCC Delegation to Iraq

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
30 January 1998

WCC DELEGATION TO IRAQ WARNS AGAINST RENEWED MILITARY
INTERVENTION

A seven-member World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation, recently
returned from Iraq, has warned against renewed military intervention,
and called for a thorough review of the present UN sanctions regime.

In a report on the week-long visit, submitted to WCC General Secretary,
Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, the delegation strongly recommends that
churches around the world make representations to their respective
governments to oppose threats of military action to force Iraq to comply
with UN Security Council demands.

Voicing the concerns of Iraqi Christians, the report says that to pursue
such a course would only intensify the sufferings of the powerless Iraqi
people caught up in the middle of this conflict. The delegation reports that
the churches of Iraq are calling on Christians around the world to join
them in prayers for a non-violent resolution of the present crisis.

The report goes on to say that the present sanctions seriously violate the
human rights of large sectors of the Iraqi population by denying them the
rights to adequate food, clothing, housing, medical care, social services
and employment.

The ecumenical team visit to the churches of Iraq and others affected by
the application of sanctions took place from 18-25 January in response
to the WCC Central Committee s request last September that a study be
undertaken on the situation in Iraq in the light of the WCC's 1995 policy
guidelines on the application of sanctions.

The delegation s full report will be presented to the WCC Executive
Committee when it meets in Geneva, 17-20 February.  Among its other
conclusions are:

- Health and sanitation are in a critical state.  There has been a dramatic
increase in mortality, morbidity and malnutrition, especially among children
and other vulnerable groups.  The application of sanctions has prevented
repairs of basic infrastructure destroyed during the 1991 Gulf War.  It
has also made it impossible for the state adequately to maintain water,
sanitation, and electric power systems essential to public health.  This,
together with the degradation of schools, hospitals and other medical
facilities, arable land, human resources and the general economy,
combines to create a grim scenario.

- The major cause of these problems is the seven-year long application
of UN sanctions, whose negative effects have not been substantially
altered by the "Oil for Food" concession of the Security Council.

- Lacking clarity of purpose, defined and agreed goals, and consistent
application, the sanctions regime has accomplished little else but
suffering for ordinary people.  Rather than undermine popular support for
the present regime, sanctions have galvanized the population against
foreign intervention and forged stronger bonds among various ethnic and
religious communities.

- Sanctions have also had a negative impact on the small minority
Christian community, whose witness and ministry have been
substantially impaired.  Their capacity to sustain themselves financially
has suffered badly, and their numbers have been significantly reduced
through accelerated emigration of Christians fleeing economic hardship.
Churches have a sense of abandonment by, and isolation from the
broader Christian fellowship due to the difficulty of maintaining contact
because of restrictions on travel to and from Iraq and on other forms of
communication.

The delegation was not surprised at the impact of sanctions on the
people of Iraq, having been well informed ahead of the visit by
ecumenical partners and through the reports of UN and other
humanitarian agencies.  The WCC team was nevertheless alarmed by the
worsening of the situation in recent months and the widespread human
suffering they encountered.

During their visit, delegation members travelled extensively within the
country, interviewing church representatives, health and social service
providers, and ordinary citizens, especially young people and children. 
The team's observations were tested and repeatedly confirmed in
interviews with UN agency staff and representatives of private
international humanitarian organisations working in the country.  They
were also consistent with views expressed by Iraqi government
officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, with whom the
delegation held extensive meetings.

The group urged that the churches  attention be drawn once again to the
"Guidelines and Criteria for the Application of Sanctions" adopted by the
WCC Central Committee in 1995.  That document pointed out that
"sanctions are by definition coercive and...often inflict additional
suffering on affected populations, particularly the most innocent, for
example, children."  The guidelines indicate that "Churches may play a
role not only as advocates for irenic government policies, but as direct
actors in offering inquiry, mediation or conciliation.  Where possible,
positive incentives or inducements should be offered as a preferable
means of avoiding the escalation of conflicts."  

Members of the Delegation:

Metropolitan Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, Archbishop of Aleppo, WCC
Central Committee member, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and
All the East.

Mr. Josh Arnold-Forster, International political consultant, Church of
England.

Dr. Josephine Ajema Odera, Lecturer, Institute of Diplomacy and
International Studies, University of Nairobi, Anglican Church of Kenya.	

Dr. Leila Richard, Physician, Episcopal Church, USA.

Mr. Stein Villumstad, Acting Director of International Programmes,
Norwegian Church Aid Lutheran Church of Norway.

Ms Salpy Eskidjian, Staff member, Commission of the Churches on
International Affairs (CCIA) of the WCC, Armenian Orthodox Church in
Cyprus.

Mr. Clement John, Staff member, CCIA, Church of Pakistan.

Accompanying staff  from the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC).

Mr. Mike Nahal, Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in Lebanon.

Mr. Peter Makari, Presbyterian Church (USA).

Clement John is available for interview.

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 330, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but
works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the
Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC
was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is
headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
in Germany.

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