Transcript of the UN humanitarian briefing in Amman, Jordan, 11 April

[David]

Nejib Friji, UN Spokesman

The Secretary General is going to speak at the Security Council, which is going to meet at 10 am New York time, on the issue of the UN cooperation with the regional organizations

Prior to that the Secretary-General will meet with Mr. Louis Ernesto Derbez, the Foreign Minister of Mexico, whose country is chairing the Council for this month.

You all recall that the Secretary-General noted that there appears to be no functioning government in Iraq and he recalled that the Security Council had reaffirmed that the coalition had the responsibility of the welfare of the people in the areas of Iraq under their control.

Referring to the scenes of looting, the Secretary-General said that law and order must be a major concern and he also referred to the Security Council that reaffirmed that the Hague Regulations and the Geneva Convention on the duties [of occupying powers] apply to this conflict and that the coalition has the responsibility of the welfare of the people in this area.

The Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura is convening a meeting at UNESCO Headquarters on 17 April 2003 of top international specialists in Iraqi cultural heritage. Over 20 experts, all of whom have experience of working in Iraq, will thus have the opportunity to exchange information and draw up a preliminary inventory of Iraqi heritage, with a view to the preparation of an emergency action plan.

This meeting, which will also be attended by representatives of ICCROM, ICOM and ICOMOS, is designed to map out the emergency action UNESCO will be required to conduct within the framework of the rehabilitation of Iraqi heritage, and prepare the intersectoral fact finding mission that the Director General has decided to send to Iraq at the earliest possible date.

David Wimhurst, Spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (UNHCOI)

Looting and lawlessness continues in Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk and Mosul. The UN is awaiting US CENTCOM's official policy position on this extremely critical situation. This was expected yesterday but has not yet been issued.

Baghdad - The International Committee of the Red Cross has been unable to visit hospitals yesterday or today. Many hospitals and health facilities in the city have closed their doors fearing attacks by looters. The Al Kindi hospital, which was ransacked yesterday, has now been abandoned by its staff. The fate of the patients in the hospital who were unable to seek shelter elsewhere, is unknown.

North -Significant numbers of people are reported to be returning to their homes in Dahuk city, Sumail and Zakho from the rural areas to which they had fled. In Sulaymaniyah and Erbil, work on IDP camps is slowing down or being put on hold as there are expectations of a stabilisation of the situation thus allowing the internally displaced to return to their homes.

Education is a concern throughout the three northern governorates. In Dahuk, for example, at least 134 schools are occupied by IDPs. Local authorities have publicly stated that the start of the school term will be delayed and the term lengthened to compensate for the disruption.

Lower south - Hospitals and health facilities are struggling to maintain services, in spite of staffing shortages, lack of medical supplies and inconsistent water and power. UNICEF is delivering water but insecurity is affecting operations. Water tankering to Nassriya has been postponed until further notice. In Umm Qasr, a tanker delivering water to a health centre had to withdraw due to an aggressive crowd.

Iran - The Iranian government has given official approval for cross border operations. A team from the Medecins du Monde has secured permission from all parties (occupying military forces, Iraqi and Iranian) to cross the Shalamche border crossing from Iran. It is not confirmed whether they have crossed the border yet but the team is heading for Basra where they will deliver Oral Re-hydration Salts and basic medical kits and make an assessment of the health conditions.

Turkey - UN consignments continue to cross into the three northern governorates.

Bela Kapur, Spokeswoman for the High Commissioner for Human Rights

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, has again expressed his serious concerns surrounding the deteriorating situation in Baghdad. Earlier, he had expressed his fear of the risk of anarchy following the fighting and has confirmed that the security situation poses a very grave danger to civilians.


The High Commissioner urges, as has the Secretary-General, the Coalition to immediately ensure the well being of the civilian population under its control, in accordance with its obligations under international humanitarian law.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is ready to send human rights officers, already based with the Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator in Larnaca and Amman, to Baghdad as soon as security conditions permit. Their role will be to simultaneously assist in the prevention of new human rights violations during this critical period, and also to monitor and document human rights violations that have taken place recently and in the past.

OHCHR is still confronted by the lack of funds to support its operations in Iraq. OHCHR recently requested US$1.6 million in the Flash Appeal to support its immediate activities to support the humanitarian assistance effort, a fraction of the costs of the total Flash Appeal.

Fadela Chaib, Spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO)


Security and Health
Without civil order, it is virtually impossible for hospitals to function effectively. The current situation being reported from Baghdad, Basra, Zubair, Kirkuk, Mosul and other towns across Iraq is extremely alarming. The World Health Organization urges the military forces and the remaining civilian authorities to act quickly to restore law and order and to ensure the safety of hospitals and hospital staff. WHO also calls on the civilian population to do everything they can to protect hospitals and medical staff. Those in authority must also do whatever is necessary to restore water and electricity supplies to the cities and towns to prevent further deterioration of the infrastructure and minimize the risk of outbreaks of disease.
Looting of hospitals and medical supplies is totally unacceptable and must be prevented. Without medicines and other supplies, doctors and nurses cannot treat either injured people or those who need ongoing medical care. Those with chronic illnesses such as cancer and pregnant women have a particularly urgent need for continuing treatment and care. The International Committee of the Red Cross reports that Al Kindi hospital in Baghdad has been completely emptied by looters. Even the beds are reported to have been stolen.

It is reported from Basra that after one incident of looting from a hospital, a tank was parked in front of the hospital to prevent any repetition. This helped to protect medical supplies. It is equally important that the safety and security of medical staff are ensured. WHO has received reports of doctors and nurses staying at home to look after their families rather than reporting to work. This is understandable in the current circumstances. However, it is obvious that without medical staff, hospitals cannot function. Therefore, security must be re-established so that people feel it is safe to leave their homes and go to work.

ICRC staff have also been unable to carry out their vital work of distributing water and medicines to the hospitals in Baghdad because of the total lack of law and order in the city. Shortages of medicines and supplies are reported from Baghdad, as well as from Najaf and Karbala.


Supplies
A truck containing some 13 metric tonnes of WHO medicines and medical supplies left Jordan for Baghdad on Tuesday morning. By the time the driver reached Baghdad, the situation there was changing rapidly and the government had apparently lost control of the city. WHO is now working with national staff and other partners in the Iraqi capital to ensure that the supplies are secured and available for delivery to the hospitals where they are needed as soon as it is safe to do so. Once this supply chain is shown to work, more urgently needed supplies will be made available.

Geoffrey Keele, Spokesman for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
The absence of any real improvement in the security situation in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities continues to cause great alarm. When chaos and lawlessness rule, the most vulnerable segment of the population - the country's children - are certain to suffer.

For instance, we continue to see footage of people looting local hospitals in Baghdad and other centres. UNICEF has worked with these hospitals for years to improve children's health and to successfully reduce malnutrition among Iraqi children.

The country's 63 pediatric hospitals house Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres to treat severely malnourished children. In the past 2 years, we have managed to reduce acute malnutrition by more than 50% as a result of the good work undertaken in these hospitals. Now however, when the children need these services the most, they are being dismantled, chair my chair, table by table, medicine by medicine. All steps must be taken by the coalition forces to ensure that vital social infrastructure is preserved. Otherwise all aid attempts will be hindered and quite frankly, people may die.

At the same time, in those parts of the country where security conditions have improved, UNICEF is extending its help to those in need.

In the south, we can report an encouraging development from yesterday. Four water tankers dispatched to Az Zubair spoke with locals and had them select a community leader to control the distribution of much needed water. The local Imam was identified, and he recruited a number of local men who were well known in the community. As a result, the outcome was an orderly process of distribution, providing welcome evidence that communities are starting to organize themselves in terms of the relief efforts.

A further ten tankers have left Kuwait for southern Iraq today. It is hoped that four will reach Umm Qasr and six will head for Az Zubair.

An update on the outbreak of diarrhea illness that we told you about yesterday in Umm Qasr. The latest figures we have suggest a growing problem. Out of 130 patients seen by a doctor at the Umm Qasr hospital on Thursday, 40 cases, or more than a third, were of severe diarrhea involving children under the age of five. This only underlines our belief that safe water - or rather the lack of it - remains the principal threat to civilian populations in Iraq.

In the north, meanwhile, seven trucks will cross into northern Iraq this afternoon from south-eastern Turkey. The trucks are carrying much needed water and sanitation material, such as pumps and distribution pipes, together with a range of medical supplies.

Khaled Mansour, Spokesman for the World Food Programme (WFP)

In Iran, WFP is preparing to send a food convoy across the borders into northern Iraq.

The Iranian borders have been closed to regular traffic since the war started in Iraq, but humanitarian agencies have been authorized to send aid convoys in. Pending the issuance of final clearance from Iranian authorities, WFP's first humanitarian convoy from Iran is expected to cross the border early next week with 200 tons of oil to Sulimania in northern Iraq.

In Iran, WFP has already pre-positioned 2,800 metric tons of food supplies in the western town of Kermanshah (550 Kms. northwest of Tehran) while further 10,000 tons of wheat flour are being procured locally.

WFP staff in the three northern Kurdish controlled provinces say more families are now returning to their homes from rural areas and life is gradually returning to normal. WFP property and warehouses are safe.

With the arrival of around two thirds of the 6,000 tons consignment of wheat flour dispatched into northern Iraq from Turkey, distributions of this staple commodity have been completed in Dahuk and have begun in Erbil.

Like all aid agencies WFP - while able to work in somewhat stable and safe areas in northern Iraq - is urging the occupying forces to do their best to maintain law and order to enable our work to expand quickly to the rest of the country. Though we have no reports of extreme food shortages anywhere in the country, to become able to distribute 27 million rations of food to the entire population in Iraq in May, a lot of work will have to be done on the ground to make such a gigantic task possible and orderly. Establishing law and order is essential to carrying out such a task.

WFP personnel who joined a UN assessment team in Umm Qasr yesterday found out that 32 food agents were in place. These food and flour agents are not currently functioning because they have no food stocks and they say that the food they were due to pick up from Basra has been looted.

The public distribution system for the monthly food rations in Iraq is a cornerstone of our plans to ensure that the population who are dependent to one degree or another would receive their regular food handouts as of May. There are 44,000 food and flour agents across the country. It is a good sign that a majority of those in Umm Qasr are willing to re-open when they have stocks.

Also in Umm Qasr, schools are expected to re-open on Saturday and people interviewed expected to go back to work in the port. This will be another encouraging sign as this port could become very pivotal in bringing massive aid shipments to Iraq.

Peter Kessler, Spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR)

Large groups of Iraqis and other foreign nationals are reportedly still moving from Baghdad and other cities, trying to find security and safety.

Up to 30,000 displaced Iraqis have reportedly reached the Iraqi border town of Badrah, near western Iran, seeking assistance after fleeing fighting in Baghdad and Nasiriya. A UNHCR team dispatched to the Iranian border town of Mehran, 16 kms from Badrah, yesterday (Thursday) met at the border with representatives of the displaced Iraqis and was told that they have no immediate intention of crossing into Iran. They said that they fled Baghdad and Nasiriya earlier this week and were tired and simply wanted to remain in the area with relatives and friends. Iranian authorities sent food, water and medicine to Badrah, a town of about 6,000. More aid is being requested.

The UNHCR team in Mehran was unable to confirm Iranian news reports that up to 100,000 displaced Iraqis had converged on Badrah. There have been no refugee arrivals reported in Iran since the war broke out in Iraq, but there have been reports of the presence of small groups of Iraqis on the Iraqi side of the frontier who have requested assistance but have made no effort to cross into Iran.

Iraqi taxi drivers arriving at Jordan's Al Karama border have said they saw many people gathered at Ramadi, about two hours west of Baghdad. According to them, and to others arriving at the Jordanian border, people are not being prevented from leaving, though there are reportedly many checkpoints along the route.


Those who have so far arrived at Jordan's eastern frontier say that they are fearful of the growing anarchy and lawlessness. We are negotiating with the Jordanian authorities to give temporary protection to some Iraqis at the border and to allow other foreign nationals into the country. Some of the 14 persons now stuck in the no-man's-land on Iraq's frontier have been there for several days. Our refugee camp at Ruwaished stands ready, and we want to see these desperate people given the temporary protection they need.

It is vital that anyone who feels unsafe or threatened during the war and the chaos that has engulfed various Iraqi cities be given the protection they need. Very little of what is going on inside Iraq is known to outside observers, but what we do know is that some groups have gone out of control, with pillaging and other violence apparently widespread. During this period of both continued fighting in some areas and anarchy in others, desperate people fearing for their lives have the right to seek the protection of temporary asylum in a neighbouring country.

Among those stuck at Jordan's border with Iraq is one Iraqi man with three dependents who reached the border yesterday. His wife and son was reportedly killed during the bombing campaign. Five other Iraqis are also at the border seeking entry into Jordan. Others caught at the frontier include a Canadian citizen of Iranian origin and three Iranian refugees with French and German travel documents, as well as a Palestinian family.

Chris Lom, Spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM)

IRAQ- IOM this week deployed an assessment team from Kuwait to Umm Qasr in southern Iraq to identify people internally displaced by the war and assess their needs.

In the city, 64 internally displaced people (IDPs) are currently sheltering in the former UNIKOM liaison office, and according to military sources, as many as 1,500 others are staying with extended family and friends.

Most of the IDPs in the former UN building told IOM that they came from Basrah and said that they had fled their homes for a variety of reasons, including fears for their personal safety and destruction of their houses during the fighting.

Yesterday IOM met with officials of Umm Qasr's interim city council - a group of community leaders. They underlined the widespread needs in the city and warned of social tensions and the risks associated with relief agencies focusing exclusively on vulnerable groups such as IDPs.

Yesterday Kuwait announced that it would provide US$1 million to assist IOM's humanitarian relief work inside Iraq. IOM's response to the Iraq crisis has also received contributions of some US$10 million from the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, as well as an advance of US$1 million from the UN's Central Emergency Revolving Fund.

IOM's IDP relief programme in Iraq was set up at the request of the UN under the overall responsibility of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Ramiro Lopes da Silva.

It will include coordinating the efforts of agencies operating in the 15 south and central governorates of Iraq to register IDPs, manage IDP camps, distribute non-food items, and eventually help people to return to their homes. The objective of the coordination is to target relief to the most vulnerable IDPs and avoid duplication.

In Umm Qasr, IOM will work closely with Save the Children (US), the NGO that will act as the IDP focal point for agencies working in the Basrah governorate. Other IOM partner NGOs coordinating IDP relief in different governorates will include ACTED, Concern, the Danish Refugee Council, GOAL, IRC, the Lutheran World Federation, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Mercy Corps, Ockenden International, and World Vision.

Another IOM programme associated with the Iraq crisis has been assistance to third country national fleeing the country. Over the past three weeks, IOM has helped 948 third country nationals to return to their countries of origin from Jordan (547), Syria (257) and Iran (144). At the beginning of the crisis, it also helped 491 Jordanian students stranded at Jordan's border with Iraq.

Questions and Answers

Q: Do you have any information about the situation in Mosul today?

A: D. Wimhurst: We know looting has been going on in Mosul, a bank has been looted & it seems to be the general pattern of the breakdown of law & order that we have seen in other cities. Beyond that I don't have any specifics.

Q: Concerning the water tankers that turned back from Nasiriya, where did they start from, how far did they get & why were they forced to turn back?

A: D. Wimhurst: We said the operation has been suspended; the turning back was from Umm Qasr. There was a large hostile crowd that surrounded the tanker & the driver was unable to continue so he pulled out. Even Umm Qasr still has some security problems.

Q: My understanding is that a lot of these agencies have pulled out of Iraq at this time; do you have a timetable of when you are going to return to Baghdad & Iraq & set up operations to move from Amman to Iraq & have these briefings there?

A: D. Wimhurst: If it were up to us, we would go tomorrow, but the security conditions do not allow us to go in. What we want to do is get humanitarian relief into not only Baghdad, but also the other cities that desperately need it. It is all about security, we can't deliver humanitarian aid as long as there is general lawlessness. We have seen food warehouses being ransacked; we have seen water tankers being forced back & so on. We still hope that the 13 metric tons that we delivered to Baghdad will end up in safe hands. It is extremely volatile & unstable, so until we have minimum security conditions, and we are not afraid of being in tough situations, we have worked there before, but we have to have the minimum security situation to go in. They are not there yet & we don't know when they will be there. We hope that the occupying power will able to restore law & order as soon as possible. We are waiting along with a lot people to get into Iraq.

Q: (unrecorded) we seem to get a response that indicates that they either don't feel it is their job or they don't have enough people there to handle the security situation. It seems that if this is what we are waiting for, then that is not going to happen. What do you consider is a solution?

A: N. Friji: I am afraid that we have to refer you to what the Secretary-General said, that it is the full responsibility of the occupying powers to look after the welfare of the civilians & it is their duty under the international law, Geneva Convention & Hague Treaty to secure the civilians & any food or humanitarian assistance provide by the UN, civil societies or international community. Until the security condition is met, then we will be facing a serious problem to reach the people of Iraq.

Q: I don't mean to be argumentative, given they know this call is being made & their response haven't been pro active, in the meantime you see people dying, if they don't respond, is there anything the UN can do without their help?

A: D. Wimhurst: The basic situation is that the occupying military forces are responsible; they are the only ones who can take action. We have all urged, from the Secretary-General down, the military forces to face their responsibilities, yet we don't have a reply. We are waiting patiently for some action to be taken. It is not happened yet & until it is taken we are in a situation that we have described earlier. We are waiting, we cannot go & deliver safely otherwise.

Q: What has been the response of Center Com. to the appeals, anything definite?

A: D. Wimhurst: We are still waiting for a response.

P. Kessler: People are fleeing because they are afraid, they are fleeing because they are desperate & frightened of the chaos going on in the streets around them. It is absolutely imperative that the coalition forces provide a policing function so that there is security on the streets & the cities of Iraq. Right now, we are at a very delicate time, when we could really begin to see refugee movement & seeing significant displacement.

Q: You say you are waiting for a response, have they been telling you that they will look into the matter or are they saying the same thing they are saying Doha, that it is not really their job?

A: D. Wimhurst: No, we haven't had a response, we are waiting for it, & we expected it yesterday.

Q: BBC: Is there a precedence of army, which is waging a war & take the policing role of cities, which they have occupied?

A: D. Wimhurst: I am not a military historian but I do know that under the Geneva Conventions they have a responsibility. Presumably if you plan a war & you spend an enormous amount of money to execute it & you go in & achieve your military aims, part of your strategy & tactics would cover this very important element. It is not unforeseeable, that when you topple a regime there is going to be some extreme reaction on the street. That appears to not have been calculated into the plan, that is the position that seems we are facing & we are waiting for a response to turn it around.

Q: There have been some reports that because of previous sanctions against Iraq, it could be difficult for humanitarian relief to be brought into the country due to the way that the rules are set up, that it will be difficult for the Security Council to make changes. How will all of that affect your job in Iraq?

A: N. Friji: We would like to remind you that the Oil-for-Food programme established one of the most efficient networks of channeling food supplies & the UN organization had not less than 3000 Iraqi nationals who have been working very closely with the UN agencies, not only in channeling humanitarian aid, but also in implementing various social, economic & social development projects.

Q: There has been some concern about the way things have been set up, it may be difficult to send in massive aid from the UN or NGO's through the country. Will that hinder the humanitarian efforts in Iraq?

A: D. Wimhurst: The Oil-for-Food programme provides the staple diet for food for all Iraqis, where 60% of the population depend on it entirely. It has been readjusted by the Security Council so that we have new entry points through Kuwait, Jordan, Turkey & Syria. At least a billion dollars in resources have been identified & are being positioned so that they can come in. Once they are in, which depends entirely on the security situation, we would in the south, reactivate the distribution centres, which have been run by the Iraqis for many years, north we will continue to distribute through the UN system, which we have been doing for several years. We don't foresee a problem, apart from the security problem, as long as humanitarian assistance provided by us, is carried out independently, impartially & completely separately from any military activities.

K. Mansour: The contracts that have been identified so far, one exceed $100 million, when we talk about our programme for the next 5 years, we are talking about $1.3 billion, so you have two parallel tracks, if you have money through the UN, supplies will come through & aid agencies will distribute them. But if you have money coming through your appeal to the international donors directly, then they will also go through the same distribution system. What is preventing the immediate humanitarian supplies is not a Security Council resolution, we need security & funding & we are not there yet with either.