Humanitarian situation in Iraq has improved under oil-for-food programme, says UN official.
17 November -- The humanitarian situation in Iraq has improved considerably since the United Nations oil-for-food programme was implemented three years ago, a top UN official told the Security Council today.
Benon Sevan, the Executive Director of the Iraq Programme was briefing the Council on the sixth phase of the oil-for-food programme, which expires on Sunday. He said that the range of commodities en route as well as those waiting distribution and utilization meant that the potential impact of the programme was even greater.
"It is also very clear," he said, "that much more must be accomplished if the programme is to realize its potential to improve the health and well being of the Iraqi people."
The programme was set up in 1996 to allow Iraq to sell oil in exchange for badly needed humanitarian goods such as food and medicine. During the current 180-day phase the total revenue is expected to reach $7.2 billion, which is still $1.3 billion short of the increase in revenues that was authorized by the Council last month.
Mr. Sevan noted that over the past 180-day period, contracts for a total of $389 billion worth of oil were approved. There had been a welcome improvement in the arrival of contracts for targeted nutrition supplies and for the food basket items such as pulses and full cream milk that was previously in short supply. However, he expressed concern that relatively few applications have been received in the current phase for health, oil spare parts, education, water, sanitation and other infrastructure.
The Security Council's Sanctions Committee continues to place a large number of holds on applications for Iraqi imports, said Mr. Sevan. As of 15 November, the total value of applications placed on hold was $1.042 billion, compared with approved applications worth $8.770 billion since the start of the programme. Holds were placed on nearly $750 million worth of applications in the electricity sector, he said, noting that Iraq's electricity supply could increase by 50 per cent if the holds were released.
To date, there are around $73 million worth of contracts on hold in the agriculture sector. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates that some of these holds have caused significant reductions in the use of land for grain crops and the loss of as much as 20,000 tons of wheat production. Delays in the arrival of vaccines have also resulted in a loss of some 7million tons of meat, the FAO estimates.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
