Iraq: go-ahead for 'oil-for-food' agreement.

The Security Council on 9 December gave the go-ahead for implementation of a long-delayed "oil-for-food" agreement with Iraq, enabling that country to sell a limited amount of oil on the world market for the first time since sanctions were imposed following Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Under the agreement concluded in May, but held up by complexities and disputes over implementation, Iraq will be able to sell up to $2 billion of Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products over the next six months. Most of the revenues from the sale will be used to purchase humanitarian supplies, including food, medicines and other health supplies for the civilian population.

Both the oil sales and the purchase of humanitarian supplies are to be done under stringent monitoring by the United Nations. The first report on Iraq's compliance is due in 90 days. If all goes well over the next six months, the Council may then decide to renew the agreement.

The money earned from the limited oil sales will be banked through a United Nations-administered escrow account at a New York branch of Banque Nationale de Paris. About $260 million will be earmarked for northern Iraq, where the Kurdish population is located. Another $600 million will go to a compensation fund established to aid victims of Iraq's 1990 aggression against Kuwait. The rest will be distributed around Iraq, with the exception of $20 million that will go to the operating expenses of the Special Commission - the body set up to oversee the destruction of Iraqi weapons (see graph).

The cumulative effects of war, economic sanctions, hyper-inflation, unemployment and a 30-per cent drop in crop production were starting to exact a terrible humanitarian toll, especially among women and children, more than half of whom were receiving less than 50 per cent of their caloric needs. "Malnutrition, particularly among children under five, has become rampant. In the north, the effects of the recent conflict have further worsened the situation", the appeal warned.

Human rights

On 15 October, Max van der Stoel, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iraq, said (A/51/496 and Add.1) there was no improvement in the human rights situation in the country. A large numbers of persons have again chosen to flee across international frontiers through difficult terrain and to unknown circumstances in search of refuge.

Mr. van der Stoel has been unable to gain direct access to locations within Iraq due to its Government's continued refusal to allow his return or for the stationing of rights monitors in the country.

Nuclear capability

On 29 October, the General Assembly stressed the need for Iraq to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve the remaining inconsistency concerning the full, final and complete declaration about its nuclear- weapons capability in order to achieve implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions. While noting that Iraq had adopted a more constructive approach over the past year, the Assembly expressed concern regarding that country's failure to provide immediate access to an IAEA team in July, and that it had previously withheld information about its nuclear-weapons programme in violation of its obligations under relevant Council resolutions.

'The Sanctions Toll'

The effects of international sanctions have taken a severe toll on the most vulnerable Iraqis, particularly children, with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimating that 4,500 children under the age of five were dying each month from malnutrition and disease.

On 28 October, a joint appeal for urgent contributions to the United Nations Humanitarian Programme for Iraq said the situation for tens of thousands of Iraqis already living well below the poverty level was expected to become critical with the onset of winter.