The Hindu : Prevent an imminent disaster

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 28, 2003

Opinion

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Prevent an imminent disaster

AFTER SEVEN DAYS of devastating bombardment, Iraq has begun to show the scars of a war that is a blot on humanity. The civilian population, already deprived of the basic needs by a decade of suppressive rule and debilitating sanctions, faces an imminent disaster that could easily lead to epidemics and starvation in the desert regions. The images coming out of the capital Baghdad and the southern region of Basra in the last two days attest to the threat of a very real humanitarian calamity about to happen. If the carnage left by the two cruise missiles that struck a residential area in a Baghdad neighbourhood on Wednesday testifies to the tragic consequences on the civilian population, the dismaying scenes of scramble for food witnessed in Umm Qasr in the south reveal the desperation of a population in total deprivation. As the war has progressed in the past week, it is clear that before the resistance in cities like Basra and Baghdad is broken, the number of civilian victims of war and want will multiply. If such a disastrous outcome is to be averted, the Security Council which in its majority echoes the voice of the international community must call a halt to the war and authorise the launch of relief measures on a commensurate scale. There may be no time to lose in a situation where no party apparently cares to observe the requirements of international humanitarian law by doing everything in its power to shield the civilian population from the war's grim consequences.

To understand the intolerable conditions in Iraq, it would suffice to quote from the statement of the U.N. Secretary-General made before the Security Council on the eve of the war on March 19. Kofi Annan reported that Iraq's vital infrastructure, devastated by two decades of wars and conflict, no longer meets the needs of the most basic requirements for clean water, health and education. "Already, Iraq's most vulnerable citizens — the elderly, women and children and the disadvantaged — are denied basic health care for lack of medicine and medical equipment. Already, nearly one million Iraqi children suffer from chronic malnutrition. Iraqis are heavily dependent on the food ration, which is handed out each month to every family. For more than 60 per cent of the population this ration is the main source of income. Yet, many families have to sell part of the ration to buy clothes or other essentials for their children." Warning that things could only start to get worse, Mr. Annan underlined the responsibility of the belligerents to protect civilians in a conflict.

The Indian Government, which has pursued a policy of excessive caution, must respond to the emerging situation and immediately explore ways in which to offer humanitarian relief to the civilian population. The World Food Programme of the U.N. has appealed for funds to finance a massive programme of relief. Drinking water and medicine are two other essentials. As every third world nation knows, diseases like cholera are a very real threat in a parched land where scorching heat is part of everyday living. One positive element in this gloomy setting is that over the past half a century and more, relief agencies have acquired enough expertise to reach supplies to the needy when conditions are safe — for them and for the civilians. The Bush administration, which launched the campaign based on the doctrine of a war without civilian victims or its own losses, must cease all actions that hold the danger of a humanitarian disaster. It is time Washington admitted that what has been happening in southern Iraq and indeed in the neighbourhood of Baghdad in the past week has demonstrated the meaninglessness of this doctrine.

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