wfn.org | Innocent Iraqi children die at hands of those supposed to protect them

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Update 03-16
For Immediate Use
15 April 2003

Innocent Iraqi children die at hands of those supposed to protect them

Cf. Press Release, PR-03-12 of 19 March 2003
Free photos available, see below.

"Because of sanctions, a whole generation of children born after the 1991 war
have been deprived of the right to adequate food which would allow them to
develop normally. Now, the war in Iraq adds to this by seriously affecting
and disadvantaging another generation of children." 

This assessment, expressing deep concern about the impact of international
sanctions and of war on Iraqi children and women, was part of an oral
intervention made today to the current (59th) session of the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) by the World Council of Churches (WCC)
with other Christian humanitarian organizations. *

In the intervention, made in reference to Agenda Item 13: Rights of the
child, the WCC pointed out that articles 3 and 38 of the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child "are being systematically violated on a daily basis
during the war in Iraq, and have been for more than twelve years as a result
of sanctions". The economic sanctions - imposed by the UN Security Council -
have been "harming and killing children" throughout that period, the
intervention said. 

"Most of the child victims of the sanctions were not even born at the time of
the 1991 war against Iraq. These children did not die as a result of combat.
These innocent children died as a result of measures decreed by an
organization whose mission was to protect their peace and security", the
intervention pointed out. It also warned about "the emotional, physical,
psychological and moral impact on children and women of daily bombings of
cities in Iraq," following on the sanctions.

Use of ammunition with depleted uranium - which is chemically and
radiologically toxic - was another concern raised by the intervention. Given
epidemiological evidence that exposure - by ingestion, inhalation or skin
contact - to depleted uranium increases the incidence of congenital
abnormalities and defects, and cancers in all age groups, the WCC and its
partners consider that "the use of depleted uranium in war in Iraq can only
add to spreading illnesses, environmental pollution and degradation of the
land".

Based on these facts, the intervention called on the UNCHR to  "take
seriously its Charter obligation to monitor the implementation and respect
for international human rights law and to denounce the ongoing violations of
the most fundamental human rights of women and children in the present
conflict". And it urged "the international community through the United
Nations to take with utmost seriousness its responsibilities for the gigantic
and long-term challenge of governing and rebuilding Iraq". 

* The oral intervention was submitted by the WCC Commission of Churches on
International Affairs (CCIA), Dominicans for Justice and Peace, Caritas
Internationalis and Franciscans International.	

Free photos are available to accompany articles regarding this statement by
contacting the WCC Media Relations office. The photos can be viewed at: 
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/iraqphotos.html 

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office, 
tel: +41 (0)22 791 64 21 / 61 53

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 342, 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, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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