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10 Apr 2003 : Column 435—continued
Iraq (Humanitarian Situation)
2.15 pm
The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short): With permission, I should like to make a statement about the humanitarian situation in Iraq, and the international planning for post-conflict rehabilitation and development.
As the House knows, it is now 22 days since military action began. Coalition forces are occupying a large part of Iraq, including parts of Baghdad. British forces are occupying much of the south-east. Our forces have been providing humanitarian assistance in the areas that they occupy, in line with their obligations under the Geneva convention and the Hague regulations. The Treasury has provided £30 million to fund these efforts, and my Department is continuing to provide advice on humanitarian issues to the UK armed forces.
In most of the country, food is not currently a major problem. The oil-for-food programme distributed additional rations in central and southern Iraq before the start of the conflict, so supplies will not run out for many families until the end of April, and we hope that the oil-for-food programme can be re-established by then. There are not, so far, the large numbers of internally displaced people and refugees that were feared. The risks remain, however, that people may move if there are shortages of food or medical supplies, or if the fighting escalates. The UN system has made contingency plans to cope with large movements of people.
The main humanitarian problems to date have involved water supplies in towns and cities to the west and south of Baghdad, where power supplies have been disrupted. Disruption to water supplies presents a real threat to health. In some areas, supplies have now been reconnected, or tankers are supplying water. The Royal Engineers built a valuable pipeline from Kuwait into Umm Qasr, from which water is being tanked to other towns. However, in other areas, the problems remain. We are monitoring the situation very closely, and are looking to do whatever we can to resolve the problems. UK forces are doing all that they can to restore power supplies in the areas that they control.
Over the past few days, we have also received reports of an increasingly serious humanitarian situation in Baghdad. Hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties. Electricity is mostly out of order. Some parts of the city no longer have piped water. Most hospitals are using back-up generators and stocks of additional water pre-positioned by the International Committee of the Red Cross in recent weeks. These are now beginning to run out.
We heard yesterday from the ICRC of violent looting in Baghdad—much more violent than what went on in Basra. The ICRC has a real fear that there will be a breakdown in law and order. There are reports of a hospital being looted and of individuals attacked and, in some cases, raped. The ICRC has said that it is temporarily unable to pursue its emergency assistance mission in Baghdad. That is very serious, as the ICRC is the organisation that gets to hospitals and keeps things running. We have offered to do all that we can to help, and since we received that complaint arrangements have
been made to secure the ICRC warehouse in Baghdad. The warehouse stores lots of generators and hospital supplies, so it would have been a disaster to lose it.The ICRC's senior logistician has been killed in Baghdad. I am sure the whole House would like to offer our condolences to his family and friends, and to express our support and admiration for the work that the ICRC is doing in keeping water, energy and medical facilities functioning in this very difficult situation. It really is a very fine organisation. The whole world should admire it.
There has also been looting, as the House knows, in Basra, Umm Qasr and elsewhere in the south. In Basra, some water plants have been looted and rendered unserviceable. UK forces are working with local leaders to try to restore order as soon as possible.
There are reports today that the Kurds have entered Kirkuk, and that looting is also taking place there. We are also monitoring that situation very closely.
As soon as it is safe to do so, UN agencies will return and take over responsibility for co-ordinating humanitarian support, in accordance with humanitarian law and principles. The UN has considerable experience of this role and is well prepared for operations in Iraq. Last week, the UN security co-ordinator assessed some parts of southern Iraq, and a number of UN agencies and NGOs have made initial visits to those areas. The UN will proceed area by area rather than wait for the whole country to be safe, so that it can return with the humanitarian NGOs as soon as it is safe to do so.
In the north of Iraq, local authorities, UN agencies and NGOs are providing assistance. There are some displaced people, but the great majority are being accommodated by relatives or local authorities and assistance is being provided where it is needed. The World Food Programme has succeeded in getting food over the Turkish border and it is now being distributed.
There are serious problems with unexploded mines and ordnance, some of which date back to the 1991 war, and border areas are heavily mined. The coalition is providing information to the United Nations Mine Action Service on mines and unexploded ordnance of which it is unaware. UNMAS is mapping that and is planning a programme to raise awareness of the dangers and mark affected areas and make them safe. We are supporting the Mines Advisory Group and will contribute to further humanitarian mine action through our response to the UN appeal.
On 28 March, the UN launched its flash appeal for Iraq. I committed £65 million—$100 million—from the UK on the day the appeal was launched, and contributions from the US, EU, France, Germany and the Netherlands bring current commitments to more than $1.2 billion. The total appeal was for $2.2 billion for six months, and the UN hopes that it will be partly funded by the oil-for-food programme.
The total DFID commitment to support humanitarian work in Iraq is now £115 million, made up of £32 million to the Red Cross, £78 million to the UN and £5 million to NGOs. Another £95 million is available for further contributions in response to evolving needs. In addition, the Chancellor announced yesterday that he would set aside a further £60 million for DFID to claim from the Treasury if and when needs arise.
The House will be aware that I have made a commitment—and I believe that it is widely supported—that I will not redirect funds to Iraq from other emergencies such as southern Africa, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Afghanistan or the west bank and Gaza. Neither will I divert funds from ongoing programmes supporting development for poor people elsewhere. The Treasury has generously contributed funds so that help for Iraq is not bought at the expense of other poor and needy people.
When I made my last statement on 24 March, I said that the most important priority was to restore the operations of the oil-for-food programme. On 28 March the UN Security Council unanimously approved resolution 1472, giving the Secretary-General authority to adapt the programme to changed circumstances so that it could continue to operate for 45 days. The World Food Programme estimates that most Iraqis' current household food stocks should last until the end of April, while the UN, Red Cross and NGOs can provide assistance to cover a short gap in the programme.
The scale of need, with 16 million Iraqis totally dependent on the programme and most families partially dependent on it, means that it is critical to get the oil-for-food programme working again as quickly as we can. The World Food Programme concluded contracts last week to buy a further 400,000 metric tonnes of food aid for Iraq, which it intends to use to replenish the oil-for-food distribution system. Supplies should start reaching the region by late April, but they will reach people only if we can keep the distribution system in place. That means helping Iraqis to keep in operation 55,000 separate outlets across the country, 45,000 of which are in the centre and south of Iraq. In some parts of the country, they are still doing so. In others it will be a greater challenge, but we will work hard at it and I will keep the House informed.
We are also working on plans for reconstruction and development. The Geneva convention and the Hague regulations impose obligations on occupying powers. The House should not be disturbed or embarrassed because I am using a common term in international law. The Attorney-General advised us that it was perfectly proper under resolution 1441 and previous resolutions to take military action, but our forces have the legal status of an occupying power in an occupied territory. That is no secret and I repeat that there is nothing embarrassing about it. It is all covered by the Geneva convention and the Hague regulations. As I was saying, they impose obligations on occupying powers to provide for humanitarian needs, to keep order and to keep the civil administration operating.
Major reform and reconstruction require the authority of a legitimate Government authority. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and President Bush made clear in their Hillsborough communiqué that they plan to seek the adoption of a new UN Security Council resolution that will affirm Iraq's territorial integrity and make provision for an appropriate post-conflict Administration for Iraq. The UN has a vital role to play in helping the Iraqi people to establish a broad-based and fully representative Iraqi interim authority as soon as possible.
The establishment of a legitimate Government is an essential precondition for the engagement of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the international community to provide support to the Iraqi interim authority. Without the full involvement of the bank and the fund, rehabilitation would be less effective and more difficult.
Iraq is a naturally wealthy country with considerable oil resources, educated people, strong institutions and a proud history. It should be a prosperous middle-income country. In order to make progress, there will need to be agreement to reschedule and restructure Iraq's huge debt and reparations claims. Currently, there is little economic activity in Iraq apart from oil exports, which fund a massive programme of handouts through the oil-for-food programme. The reform effort will need to support Iraq in a transition from a centrally planned impoverished economy to build a modern growing economy. It will be possible to phase out the oil-for-food programme as the economy develops.
The atmosphere in the wider region is currently tense and angry, and the conflict has caused economic decline in neighbouring countries. Economic development in Iraq will benefit its people and the wider region, but we must also remember that there is a severe humanitarian crisis in the west bank and Gaza strip and that progress in the middle east requires full implementation of the road map and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel by 2005. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and President Bush reaffirmed their commitment to the implementation of the road map at the Hillsborough talks.
Events on the ground in Iraq will change day by day. As the military phase of the crisis comes to an end, the priority will be to provide order and humanitarian relief and to establish an Iraqi interim authority so that the longer-term reconstruction effort can begin. I will keep the House informed. Reports on the humanitarian situation are being placed in the Library of the House each weekday morning.
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