Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq

PLEASE NOTE THIS SITE IS NOW AN ARCHIVE, AND IS NO LONGER UPDATED. 

For information on Iraq since May 2003, please visit www.iraqanalysis.org.
   
         
   
   

Information Sources:
The United Nations

Tip: To locate a specific item within this page, use your browser's Find in page or Find (on this page) command, which can be found on the Edit menu.

Click on a name on this list to go straight to the documents of the relevant section of the UN:

UN | OIP | Secretary-General | SC | GA | OHCHR | Permanent Missions | Treaty-Monitoring Human Rights Bodies | Unicef | UNCHR | UNCC | UNDP | FAO | IAEA | UNIKOM | ITU | UNMOVIC | OCHA | UNOHCI | UNSCOM | WFP | WHO

The United Nations as a whole

Office of the Iraq Programme [important]

The Secretary-General

Security Council

General Assembly

  • The General Assembly has passed annual resolutions on the "Human rights situation in Iraq". In recent years, these have incorporated references to sanctions. Resolutions include:
    • General Assembly Resolution 56/174 (19 December 2001): press release here. The full text of the resolution does not yet seem to be available.
    • General Assembly Resolution 55/115 (4 December 2000), which takes notes of the claim by various UN bodies that there is an "adverse effect of sanctions on the daily life of the population", expresses its concern at "the dire humanitarian situation in Iraq" and appeals "to all concerned to fulfil their mutual obligations in the management of the humanitarian programme."
    • General Assembly Resolution 54/178 (17 December 1999), making the same points as above.
    • General Assembly Resolution 53/157(9 December 1998), which takes note of various reports of significance to sanctions, but makes no further comment.
    • General Assembly Resolution 52/41(12 December 1997), which makes no direct reference to economic sanctions.
  • UN General Assembly report by Graça Machel, "Impact of Armed Conflict on Children" (UN Doc. A/51/306), 26 August 1996. Section E is on the effects of economic sanctions, and provides brief guidelines for future use. A follow-up document from the same author from September 2000 is available here.
  • The Inter-Agency Standing Committee was established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 46/182 of 19 December 1991. It consists of a number of humanitarian and development agencies, from the UN, NGO and intergovernmental sectors.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

The OHCHR was established in 1997 by the United Nations Secretary-General in co-ordination with the General Assembly in order to promote and protect human rights across the range of the United Nations' work. It is headed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Permanent Missions to the United Nations

Websites and contact details of permanent missions to the United Nations.

Treaty-Monitoring Bodies of the United Nations Human Rights System

Under the auspices of the United Nations, various human rights treaties have been concluded by States since 1966. Many of these treaties have established committees ("treaty-monitoring bodies") to oversee the implementation of these treaties and to call attention to abuses. All of these committees are composed of independent human rights experts.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) [important]

Unicef has produced some of the most important independent assessments of the humanitarian situation in Iraq, including their August 1999 mortality survey.

United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR)

The CHR is a "functional commission" of the Economic and Social Council, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. It was established in 1947, and is currently made up of 53 member States.

United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC)

Body responsible for processing claims for damages arising from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Charged by the Security Council with the task of monitoring Iraq's nuclear-weapons-usable materials and potential nuclear facilities (together with UNSCOM / UNMOVIC, see below).

International Telecommunication Union

United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM)

Established in April 1991 to monitor the demilitarized zone along the Iraq-Kuwait border.

  • Press statement from Unikom, 20 November 2001. This statement recognises that earlier claims that Iraq had fired a mortar at Kuwait on 11 November may be inaccurate; and notes the existence of "planes violating the airspace of Iraq". This statement also includes Unikom's contact details.
  • The list of latest reports by the U.N. Secretary-General on Unikom are listed above.

UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC)

Established by the United Nations Security Council in December 1999 to replace UNSCOM (below).

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

OCHA was established by the UN Secretary-General in 1992 (it was called the Department of Humanitarian Affairs until January 1998), in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 46/182. Its function is to co-ordinate UN assistance in situations of humanitarian crisis, and to provide information and analysis on humanitarian issues through its ReliefWeb project.

UN Security Section - UNOHCI - Baghdad

UNSCOM (Special Commission on Iraqi weapons)

  • October 1998 Washington Post Article, "Arms Inspectors 'Shake the Tree'", reporting experiences of former UNSCOM insepctors.
  • Former Unscom chief Richard Butler is interviewed in a Washington Post webchat (15 June 2000). On 4 June, he was interviewed on BBC's Talking Point (video link available).
  • UNSCOM reports of 25 January 1999, on the current state of Iraq's proscribed weapons, and on the monitoring and verification regime then underway in Iraq. These reports are contained as an annex to a letter (S/1999/94) of two permanent representatives to the Security Council, and constitute perhaps the most thorough analysis of these issues produced by UNSCOM.
  • S/1998/1172, Unscom's last report which the US and UK took as sufficient justification to bomb Iraq although the Security Council had yet to debate the report (15 December 1998).
  • S/1995/1017: Export/Import monitoring mechanism (7 December 1995).
  • A more extensive list of UNSCOM documents has been compiled by Iraq Watch: see here.

World Food Programme (WFP)

World Health Organization

   
         
   

This archive site is hosted by the Iraq Analysis Group, to whom queries should be directed