Sir, - Please allow me some space to make public the recent appeal from the bishops of Iraq to lift the sanctions imposed on their country for the past seven years, which are causing such widespread suffering and great loss of innocent life, especially among the poor. The bishops say:
"We appeal to all Catholics and to all Christians in America and the world. The sanctions are killing our people, our children, the ones Christ has given us to protect. They are killing our beloved Muslim brothers and sisters. They strike at our poor and our sick most of all. In the name of God's people we ask you: tell your Government to end the sanctions against Iraqi people. End the seven years of war against Iraq." The appeal is signed: "Immanuel, Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop of the Patriarch, Baghdad; Paul Dahadah, Latin Archbishop of Baghdad; Matti Shaba Matoka, Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad; and Paul Coussa, Archbishop of the Armenian Catholics in Iraq."
Some facts about Iraq as outlined by the bishops:
One million deaths occurred between1990 and 1995 as a direct result of the sanctions. Of these, 567,000 were of children under the age of five years.
The causes of death are malnutrition and related illnesses such as measles, diarrhoea and other treatable diseases for which there is no medicine available.
250 children die daily in Iraq. This is a UNICEF figure.
Hospitals in Baghdad and all over Iraq see 15 to 25 new cases of cancers weekly; especially prevalent is leukaemia in children. Before the Gulf War the incidence was 10 to 15 a month.
Health care is on the brink of collapse: there are no anaesthetics, blood products, cancer drugs or antibiotics, except on the black market at prices that few can afford.
Iraq has been at war for 17 years: first the war with Iran, then the Gulf War. Add to this a further seven years under sanctions and you will realise that there are young people in their late teens, who have lived without security or basic human rights all their lives.
UN resolution 986, "Oil for Food", does not come anywhere near supplying the total needs of the Iraqi population and there is widespread starvation - some estimate that one quarter of the population lives on less than the required daily intake of basic food.
I was in Iraq before and after the Gulf War. I travelled there with Mother Teresa in June 1991 to open a relief programme for poor children and needy families. I know what the situation is like
and I can vouch for the statement of the bishops. My plea is that the sanctions should be lifted to save the lives of innocent people from death by starvation. - Yours, etc., Fr Kevin Doheny, C.S.Sp., Chairman,
International Refugee Trust,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.