http://www.unicef.org/media/publications/iraqsitan2002complete.txt


Executive Summary

This Situation Analysis is produced in accordance with UNICEF 
procedures, which mandate such an assessment prior to the preparation 
of a new country programme.  Its conceptual framework draws on the 
principles of human rights, and in particular the Convention on the 
Rights of the Child. It adopts the causal analysis approach that 
examines the immediate, underlying and basic causes for specific 
outcomes.

The report begins by describing the political and socio-economic 
context of Iraq, a country which, after a decade of conflict in the 
1980s and early 1990s, has been under comprehensive United Nations 
sanctions for 11 years, and the the various arrangements put in place 
since 1996 to mitigate the impact of sanctions on the population. 
Overall, these efforts appear to have arrested the deterioration of 
the situation, but not to have greatly improved conditions for the 
majority of the population, which is now close to 25 million.

In terms of children's rights to life and survival the report notes 
that infant mortality today is 107 per 1,000 live births, over double 
what it was at the end of the 1980s (47), and that under-five 
mortality is 131 deaths per 1,000 live births, two-and-a-half times 
what it was a decade ago (56).  It also notes that 15.9 per cent of 
children suffer from being moderately to severely underweight or from 
general malnutrition; 22.1 per cent suffer from moderate to severe stunting 
or chronic malnutrition; and 5.9 per cent suffer from moderate-severe The 
immediate causes for this situation include disease and malnutrition, 
with preventable illnesses such as diarrhea and respiratory infections 
accounting for 70 per cent of the mortality.  In 1998, 22.8 per cent of 
children - more than one in five - suffered from malnutrition.  
Nearly a quarter of babies were low birth weight, indicating malnutrition 
in mothers.  Micro-nutrient deficiencies also affect the population.

The underlying causes include the paucity of resources to 
rehabilitate service sectors, including health, water and sanitation, 
and electricity, as well as in education.  Iraq's electricity 
"deficit" is estimated to be over 2,300 megawatts, and power cuts 
affect the majority of the population, with knock-on effects on the 
provision of clean water and treatment of sewage. Between 1990 and 
2000, the daily per capita share of potable water went from 330 
litres to 150 litres in Baghdad, 270 to 110 in other urban areas, and 
180 to 65 in rural areas. Some 500,000 tons of raw sewage are dumped 
into fresh water bodies each day.  At the household level, causes 
include poverty, with many Iraqis living on as little as $3 to $6 a 
month, as well as behaviours such as early marriage, insufficient 
birth spacing, and the low rate of exclusive breast-feeding.

Basic causes include systems-related as well as crises and 
sanctions-related causes. As regards systems, links between different 
sectors are weak; human resources are insufficient; very low user 
fees do not encourage conservation of scarce resources; government 
policies equate universal and uniform coverage with equity; and there 
is insufficient data for analysis and planning.  The cumulative 
effects of two major wars and more than a decade of economic 
sanctions have resulted, among other things, in the non-availability 
of sufficient financial resources to provide and support effective 
services; ad hoc, intermittent, and insufficient supplies; 
restrictions on purchase of local goods, and an increase in the 
number of female headed households.

Interventions have addressed the immediate and underlying causes, but 
not the basic causes. Interventions include screening of children to 
detect malnutrition and address it through therapeutic feeding; 
Vitamin A and other supplements; iodization of salt; an intensive 
immunization campaign; and some rehabilitation of services and 
utilities.

In terms of children's education, the Multiple Indicator Cluster 
Survey (MICS) undertaken in the year 2000 revealed that as many as 
23.7 per cent of children are not attending primary school, with nearly 
twice as many girls staying out of school as boys - 31.2 per cent 
of girls and 17.5 per cent of boys. Other worrying trends include 
the sharp decline in adult female literacy.

Immediate causes include the decline in coverage and quality, with 
two and sometimes three shifts in schools due to the shortage of 
buildings and teachers; few books and supplies; and little revision 
of the curriculum in recent years.  Underlying causes include the 
fact that some 8.613 school buildings are still in a deteriorated 
state, and 5,132 additional buildings are needed, and that sanitation 
and other services are lacking.  Underlying causes at the household 
level include poverty; family attitudes to education in general given 
that highly educated graduates are earning a living driving taxis; 
attitudes to girls' education; and early marriage.

Systems-related basic causes include a need for more emphasis on 
quality; weak linkages between sectors; insufficient community 
involvement; weak management information systems and the need for 
reform of key policies that inhibit effective targeting of assistance 
for the most vulnerable. Crises and sanctions-related basic causes 
include insufficient resources to rehabilitate and rebuild facilities 
and to meet new growth; the stagnant economy affects household 
incomes and drives teachers out of the system; and there is a 
difficulty in securing supplies and spare parts. Again, interventions 
have focused on immediate and underlying causes.  These include 
partial or full rehabilitation of 1,000 schools, and some in-service 
teacher training.

As regards the right of vulnerable children to protection, perhaps 
the most striking aspect is the lack of sufficient information. There 
is clearly an increase in the number of children working on the 
street, as well as in the number of orphans needing state assistance, 
together with an inability of existing institutions to meet the need 
of these children or of children with disabilities. The situation has 
improved a little during 2001, although more resources are necessary 
together with more social awareness of the issues.

In terms of women's human rights, there is a sharp increase in 
maternal mortality, which means that women are not getting emergency 
obstetric care when they suffer complications during pregnancy and 
childbirth.  There is also a lower rate of girls' attendance in 
primary school, and a dramatic rise in female illiteracy.  The 
discrepancy between females and males in this area can be attributed 
to poverty compounded by lingering negative attitudes to girls' 
education.  Economic need is driving low and middle income women into 
the work force, but opportunities are constrained by the overall 
economic situation.

The main conclusion from the analysis is that unless basic causes are 
addressed, the best that can be hoped for from programme 
interventions is a mitigation of the situation.  To date, programme 
interventions have not addressed basic causes.  Given this situation, 
the report concludes that, while programme interventions are 
important, rights-based advocacy should be top of the list of 
priorities so as to ensure that basic causes are addressed. 
Rights-based advocacy could promote the understanding necessary to 
secure a change in the present conditions and policies, and, in 
particular, to secure the resources necessary to rehabilitate key 
service sectors in a sustained and sustainable manner, to support a 
shift from humanitarian efforts to comprehensive long-term 
development planning and to review policies that inhibit the 
effectiveness of programme interventions - such as the inclusion of 
breastmilk substitutes in the universal food ration.   The report's 
recommendations for rights-based advocacy, research and programme 
interventions include:

Advocacy and Research


1. Advocacy should highlight the importance of securing the requisite 
resources to rehabilitate each of the water and sanitation, 
electricity, health, and education sectors both for present users and 
to meet population growth. Further research is necessary on the plans 
and resources for each sector, the inter-relations amongst these 
sectors, the obstacles to rehabilitation, the gaps in skills and 
capacities and the impact this has on the rights of children. 
Capacity for data collection and analysis should be supported in the 
relevant institutions to produce this research.

2. Another key issue for advocacy is the need to shift from a 
humanitarian approach, which by definition consists of discrete and 
standalone activities, to a comprehensive medium- to long-term 
development approach.

3. A further issue for advocacy is that Iraq should be able to use 
its financial resources to purchase locally supplied goods and 
services in order to ignite the economy and give families more 
opportunities to earn a living wage.

4. Advocacy to promote policy reform is needed in several areas 
including the composition of the food basket/ration (i.e. withdrawal 
of infant formula and inclusion of more food for pregnant and 
lactating women) and the promotion of targeted assistance to the most 
vulnerable groups (i.e female-headed households, out of school 
children) and communities.

5. The existence of vulnerable groups of children and women, and the 
need for resources to promote the human rights of these groups and 
their special needs, is an important point to highlight.

6. Advocacy for behavioural change is necessary on issues like girls' 
education and the use of scarce resources such as water and 
electricity.

Programme Interventions


1. More focus is required on reduction of neo-natal mortality 
(improved feeding and anemia prevention among pregnant and lactating 
women, prevention of low birth weight, withdrawal of infant formula 
from food ration, promotion of breastfeeding)

2. Programme interventions that support stronger links between the 
education, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation sectors 
would enable optimum use of scarce resources.

3. A better understanding of how the systems function in each of the 
sectors and where the national and local bottlenecks and capacity 
gaps are would greatly assist future development in general, and 
effective and timely co-ordination and decision making on 
cross-sectoral issues in particular.

4. A more comprehensive plan for health information campaigns would 
make better use of scarce resources, factoring in a range of health, 
nutrition, environmental, and behavioral issues, including family 
planning, birth spacing, early marriage, exclusive breast-feeding, as 
well as disease control, water quality, personal hygiene, and 
disposal of sanitation.

5. The quality of education emerges as a major issue, in particular 
the revision of the curriculum and investment in teacher and 
management salaries, capacities and skills.

6. Girls' education and related household factors need to be 
addressed through targeted support, as well as public awareness 
campaigns.

7. Further investment is necessary in management information systems, 
and data is needed in several areas, for example, what are children 
no longer enrolled in schools doing with their time?

8. More popular awareness of and community involvement in resource 
use, along with modest user fees would assist in conserving and 
rehabilitating the water and sanitation and electricity sectors and 
in protection of the environment.

9. More comprehensive planning would assist the rehabilitation of the 
water and sanitation sector.

10. Collaboration between the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs 
and the Ministry of Health could help to address the issue of 
avoidable disability during delivery.

11. For orphans and street/working children, it would be useful to 
put mechanisms in place to detect families and children at risk, who 
could then be given special support.

12. Introducing emergency obstetric care as part of regular services 
in clinics and at hospitals will save pregnant women's lives.

13. Support is necessary to expand the business and employment 
opportunities available to women, particularly female heads of 
household.

14. Special support for women's education and eradication of 
illiteracy is needed.

This Situation Analysis has been prepared by the United Nations 
Children's Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF programme procedures mandate such an 
assessment prior to the preparation of a new Country Programme. 1 The 
aim of a Situation Analysis is to:

  - Better understand the causes and linkages between problems 
affecting women and children in a country, and how national resources 
can help to address these problems;
  - Identify necessary action to realize the rights of women and children; and
  - Contribute to Country Programme strategy for priority 
interventions, future research, and rights focused advocacy.2

This introductory chapter sets out the conceptual framework and 
methodology used in the Situation Analysis.  Chapter 2 describes the 
national context, while Chapters 3, 4, and 5 review issues related to 
survival and education, as well as to children in need of special 
protection.  Chapter 6 addresses the human rights of women.  Chapter 
7 recommends priority interventions, and suggests areas for future 
research as well as advocacy.

Introduction

This introductory chapter sets out the conceptual framework and 
methodology used in the Situation Analysis.  Chapter 2 describes the 
national context, while Chapters 3, 4, and 5 review issues related to 
survival and education, as well as to children in need of special 
protection.  Chapter 6 addresses the human rights of women.  Chapter 
7 recommends priority interventions, and suggests areas for future 
research as well as advocacy.

a.Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework of this report has two main pillars: the 
principles of human rights, and the causal analysis approach.
Human Rights

Key to the first pillar are the human rights principles contained in 
the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on 
the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 
in line with the adoption by UNICEF of the human rights framework.

The four core principles of the CRC are: non-discrimination; the best 
interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; 
and respect for the views of the child.  They are covered by Articles 
2, 3, 6, and 12 in the CRC (these and other relevant articles are 
excerpted in appropriate sections of this report).  Given the context 
of Iraq which is described in Chapter 2, this Situation Analysis 
focuses in particular on the right to life and survival (Chapter 3), 
development (Chapter 4), and protection (Chapter 5).

The analysis will establish the extent to which the rights of 
children as well as those of women are respected, protected, 
promoted, and fulfilled by those in a position to do so, within the 
means at their disposal. "Duty bearers" responsible for the 
progressive realization of these rights are generally held to include 
parents and the extended family, the community, and national as well 
as local government.

In the case of Iraq, it is necessary to add the international 
community, in the form of the United Nations, to this list of duty 
bearers, given that United Nations resolutions have placed the 
country under comprehensive sanctions since August 1990.  The 
Situation Analysis will examine the role played by each set of duty 
bearers regarding the fulfilment of the rights of children as well as 
those of women.

Three more aspects of the international human rights framework are 
important to note with regard to this report's conceptual framework. 
The first relates to the inclusion of the rights of women in a 
Situation Analysis that deals with children, when both parents are 
equal duty bearers.  First, women's human rights are a good in 
themselves.  Second, the status of women's nutrition, health, and 
education has been shown to be directly related to the survival and 
development of their children, particularly during pregnancy and 
breast-feeding, that is, at the beginning of the child's life-cycle3. 
Women who do not enjoy their human rights - throughout their own 
life-cycle - are not in a position to effectively provide for the 
survival and development of their children.

This report addresses the rights of women in two ways.  First, where 
possible, it disaggregates the data presented in Chapters 3, 4, and 5 
to examine not just the overall status of children but also the 
status of girls vis-à-vis that of boys, at different stages of their 
life-cycle.  Second, it includes a chapter dedicated to the human 
rights of women.

However, the inclusion of the rights of women should not be 
interpreted to mean that women's roles are restricted to motherhood, 
or that men's roles as fathers are not critical to their children's 
survival, well-being and development. Both parents are considered to 
be equal duty bearers in terms of ensuring, within the resources 
available to them, a social and economic environment that promotes 
their children's development.

By the same token, women have rights and responsibilities to 
themselves and to society that are separate from those of their 
children. This report does not use the phrase "women and children", 
in order to avoid the tendency to think of women only in connection 
with their children, and not to think of men in connection with their 
children.

The second aspect to note regarding the human rights framework is the 
importance of the right to development.  The right to development is 
not embodied in a separate convention, but after a decade of debate 
it was recognized as a right by the consensus of the international 
community at the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in 
1993.  Without impinging on the principle of indivisibility of all 
human rights - civil,  political, economic, social, and cultural - 
the right to development brings economic, social and cultural rights 
to the fore, and shows how these can be achieved in tandem with civil 
and political rights.  This was a major step forward for human 
rights, because the content of economic, social and cultural rights 
had previously been far less fully developed than that of civil and 
political rights.

The challenges of fulfilling economic, social and cultural rights 
have long been recognized.  Many civil and political rights can be 
secured by acts of political will, whereas economic and social rights 
require the availability of resources, as well as the capacity to 
manage and the commitment to use those resources to good effect. 
Moreover, it has been difficult to "measure" the fulfilment of 
economic and social rights.  In this respect, the development of 
targets and indicators during the world conferences of the 1990s has 
been very helpful in setting standards for the international 
community, and in developing the content of economic and social 
rights.  The UNICEF End-of-Decade goals provide a way to assess the 
fulfilment of children's rights within and across countries.

The right to development is particularly important to consider in the 
case of Iraq, which, it can be argued, constitutes a unique case of 
"de-development".  This will be discussed in Chapter 2 dealing with 
the national context.

Finally, the third aspect to note regarding the human rights 
framework, is what could be considered as the "rights of future 
generations".  The question of the needs of future generations was 
first addressed in the context of environmental sustainability by the 
international community at the United Nations Conference on 
Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.  The Rio Declaration 
on Environment and Development adopted by consensus on 14 June 1992 
proclaims, in Principle 3, "The right to development must be 
fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and environmental 
needs of present and future generations".

In the 1994 Human Development Report, the concept of the 
"universalism of life claims" is put forward as the "common thread 
that binds the demands of human development today with the exigencies 
of development tomorrow.... The strongest argument for protecting the 
environment is the ethical need to guarantee to future generations 
opportunities similar to the ones previous generations have enjoyed".

While the "rights" of future generations have not been captured in a 
convention, serious thought is clearly being given to the subject. 
This concept is especially relevant to children, who are the next 
generation, as well as the parents of generations to come. The 
importance of such a concept in the case of Iraq cannot be 
overstated.  Whatever is visited on the children of Iraq today will 
affect the development of many future generations.  This issue will 
be kept in view as the analysis unfolds.

Causal Analysis

The second pillar for the conceptual framework of this report is the 
causal analysis. There are three levels of inter-linked causes that 
can lead to the non-fulfilment of rights:

  - Immediate causes, such as disease and  inadequate nutrition, which 
directly relate to life, survival and development rights;

  - Underlying causes, such as the status of household food and 
nutrition, as well as social services like water and sanitation, 
health, and education, which promote or prevent well-being and 
development;

  - Basic causes, which relate to issues such as control and 
distribution of national resources, institutional arrangements, and 
social organization (including the status of women) - which provide 
the environment in which rights may or may not be fulfilled.

The causal analysis approach is particularly helpful in the case of 
Iraq, where it is important to be able to distinguish those basic 
causes attributable to the sanctions regime it from other basic 
causes, as well as from underlying and immediate causes. 

Sanctions-related basic causes can only be addressed in the context 
of an international political resolution of the present situation, 
and, as such, are not under the control of national authorities 
responsible, for example, for social services.  However, other basic 
causes related, for instance, to institutional arrangements can be 
addressed by national authorities if a convincing case is made that 
these are relevant to children's survival and development.

In addressing the rights of children to life, survival and education, 
this report will first assess the situation, and then examine the 
immediate, underlying, and basic causes for current conditions.

b. Methodology

The Situation Analysis is based on primary and secondary data, as follows.

  - Desk Review  This was greatly facilitated by the fact that, in the 
year 2000, the Government of Iraq and UNICEF jointly conducted a 
comprehensive programme review of the past decade of technical 
cooperation.  The review process involved about 400 counterparts and 
stakeholders over a period of nine months, with the technical support 
of a team of 12 international advisers.  Five sectoral workshops were 
conducted, and findings were discussed at a plenary conference 
chaired by the ministers of education and health.  The resulting 
documentation was reviewed, as was the Government of Iraq's National 
Report on Follow-Up to the World Summit for Children, the report of a 
Future Search conference bringing together 86 stakeholders, and other 
documents (see References).

  - Interviews  Structured discussions were held with UNICEF staff as 
well as with civil servants, members of institutions such as Beitul 
Hikma, and non-governmental organizations such as the General 
Federation of Iraqi Women.

  - Visits  Schools, orphanages and health centres were visited, to 
form a firsthand view of both progress and obstacles in addressing 
the situation of children.4

  - Brainstorming Workshop A two-day brainstorming workshop was held 
under the auspices of the Planning Commission to discuss the proposed 
outline of the Situation Analysis.  Some 50 representatives of 
ministries and institutions participated, and the discussion 
generated new insights into the existing material.

Information gathered as a result made it possible to form an 
assessment of the situation and then to analyze causes with a view to 
recommending priority interventions. However, it should be pointed 
out that it is very difficult to form a clear picture of the 
situation in Iraq based on accurate data. Political factors make the 
release of data sensitive in the country.  In addition, the capacity 
of national authorities to capture and analyze data has been 
adversely affected over the past decade. Therefore, some of the 
findings draw on observation and even anecdote rather than on 
comprehensive data.

National Context:  Development in Iraq

Iraq covers an area of 435,052 sq km; it shares borders with Turkey, 
Syria, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.  Some 25 per cent of the 
land is arable, and about half of this land is cultivated.  There 
are four major physiographic regions: mountains (21 per cent), alluvial 
plain (30 per cent), desert plateau (39 per cent), and upper plains 
10 per cent).  The climate ranges from cool to cold winters and hot to 
extremely hot summers.

Rainfall is irregular; the country suffered a prolonged drought at 
the end of the decade, which severely affected cereal production. The 
2000 harvest was 47 per cent below the 1999 harvest level and 64 per cent 
lower than the average of the previous five years.5

The drought also reduced water resources in rivers, dams, lakes and 
canals. The Tigris was reported to be flowing at just 40  per cent of 
its normal levels and the situation of the Euphrates was said to be no 
better. In 2001, the rains were plentiful.

a. Political Context

Iraq has been a republic since the monarchy was overthrown in 1958. 
It has been ruled since 1968 by the Baath Party.  The Revolutionary 
Command Council is the highest authority, and its resolutions have 
the force of law. Executive responsibilities are assumed by a 
cabinet.  The President of the Republic, Saddam Hussein, who has 
ruled since 1979, also serves as prime minister.  A National Assembly 
was formed in 1980.

The main administrative structure is the governorate, of which there 
are 18, five northern, nine central, and four southern.  Each 
governorate is divided into districts (qada'a) and sub-districts 
(nahiya).  The governors are responsible for implementation of 
policies, plans and development projects.  Local government is made 
up of the qaimmakam, the administrator of the district level, and 
mudeer al-nahiya, at the sub-district level.  Villages are run by the 
mukhtar.   Local People's Councils are an additional forum for 
popular mobilization.  There are also professional and cultural 
organizations, such as the General Federation of Iraqi Women and the 
General Federation of Iraqi youth.

The past two decades have been extremely difficult for the Iraqi 
people.  War broke out between Iraq and Iran in 1980 and lasted until 
1988.  Relations between the two countries have recently improved. 
The Iraqi war with Kuwait in August 1990 resulted in the imposition 
of comprehensive sanctions on Iraq by the United Nations, which 
continue to this day. 6

In order to improve the situation of the population under sanctions, 
a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was agreed between the Government 
of Iraq and the United Nations.7 This became known as the Oil for 
Food Programme, and has been renewed by the Security Council on a 
six-monthly basis.  At the inception of the Programme, Iraq was 
enabled to export $2 billion worth of oil every 180 days, and to use 
the funds to procure essential humanitarian supplies.8  Restrictions 
of the value of oil that could be exported were later eased and then 
lifted.

Applications for supplies had to be submitted to the Secretariat of 
the 661 Committee. It took some months for the MOU to become 
operational; the first applications for exports of humanitarian 
supplies were approved by the Secretariat of the  661 Committee in 
January 1997; commodities began arriving in the country in March 1997.

The MOU was restricted to supplies in the first seven phases, and 
complementary cash resources had to be generated from other sources 
for the south and centre of Iraq, unlike the north where a cash 
component was made available in the MOU. The lack of a cash component 
for the south and centre of Iraq imposed serious constraints on 
national ability to use the supplies in an effective and efficient 
manner. Local costs such as transportation, storage and inventory, 
installation of equipment, and training to ensure proper operation 
and maintenance of equipment, could not be covered through the 
programme. It is also worth noting that funds from oil sales 
generated under the MOU could not be used to purchase locally 
produced supplies, which would have helped move the weak domestic 
economy.

A proportion of local costs were met from funds made available by 
humanitarian agencies working in Iraq, and the Government also 
covered part from its own resources. However, this was not sufficient 
to repair and maintain water and sanitation, health, and education 
sectors, let alone to invest in meeting the needs of the growing 
population. For example, the electricity deficit in Iraq is estimated 
to be over 2,300 megawatts, with the prolonged drought causing a 
dramatic reduction in hydro-generation 9.   As a result, long power 
cuts still affect the majority of the population, although the 
situation has improved in Baghdad in 2001.  The power cuts are 
especially damaging during the hot summer months, and have a very 
negative knock-on effect on the capacity of water and sewage 
treatment plants as well as primary health care centers and other 
vital facilities.

The serious limitations caused by the absence of a cash component 
were eventually recognized, and SCR 1330, which took effect on 6 
December 2000, allowed for a cash component within the SCR 986 
programme. The resolution provided for 600 million Euros to be 
allocated in cash to the oil sector, and allocated 5 per cent of the oil 
revenues (from the amount previously allocated to the Kuwait 
Compensation Fund) to meet the needs of the most vulnerable groups. 
However, by November 2001 there was still no agreement on the 
modalities for the cash component, and the constraints on national 
capacity to implement the Oil for Food Programme remained in place.

Other weaknesses of the Oil for Food Programme stem from long delays 
in submissions and contract approval procedures. This was addressed 
in SCR 1284, which included provisions for accelerated approvals of 
contracts pertaining to food, health, agriculture, and education 
supplies.  A "green list" of authorized supplies was drawn up to 
speed up the slow approval process. Nevertheless, the number of 
contracts on hold with the 661 Committee remained very high.  As of 
31 October 2001, contracts on hold and inoperative for the Water and 
Sanitation sector reached 123, worth over US$537 million; the 
Education sector also had 98 contracts on hold or inoperative, worth 
US$181 million.

Although the Oil for Food Programme has ameliorated the situation, it 
is not an adequate replacement for national development planning, 
which would overhaul all sectors in a comprehensive manner. Nutrition 
surveys carried out by UNICEF, as well as an FAO/WFP nutrition 
assessment mission in May 2000, showed that since the introduction of 
the Oil for Food Programme, the nutritional status of children has 
not improved. One in five children in the south and centre of Iraq 
remain so malnourished that they need special therapeutic feeding, 
and child sickness rates continue to be alarmingly high.10 Subsequent parts 
of this report will point to the close linkages between health, nutrition, 
water and sanitation, and electricity, which need to be addressed in an 
integrated way so as to overcome disease and physical under-development.

In February 2000, the Government decided to reintroduce national 
development planning, which had been suspended over the past decade 
due to the country's circumstances and lack of control over national 
resources.  Work is now complete on a five-year plan, for which 
national accounts and data sets were reportedly thoroughly revised 
and updated (a national census was concluded in 1997).11   The Plan's 
contents have not been released; it is to be managed in tandem with 
preparations for a 2006-2010 national development plan.

b. Socio-Economic Development


The modern Iraqi economy has been largely dependent on oil exports, 
as well as on extensive imports of machinery and other inputs for 
economic growth.  The dependence on imports has of course increased 
over the past decade, given that funds made available through the Oil 
for Food Programme have been restricted to imports since 1997. 
Imported equipment and supplies have become especially visible over 
the past year: shiny new garbage trucks, high-protein biscuits, air 
conditioners.

In 1989, the oil sector comprised 61 per cent of GDP, services came second 
with 22 per cent of GDP, then industry with 12 per cent, and agriculture with 
five per cent.  It is difficult to form a clear quantitative picture of the 
Iraqi economy today.12  Clearly, oil is even more of an economic mainstay than 
in the past, given sanctions-related restrictions on trade, since it is the major 
source of  foreign exchange and government revenue. However, analysts point 
out that the oil sector does not have strong horizontal and vertical linkages with 
the rest of the economy, and that the scale of oil production does not exert 
significant direct influence on other sectors.

Other sources of Government revenue include organized "religious 
tourism" with Iran, which reportedly brings in around $2.7mn in hard 
currency each month, and oil-for-goods and services barter trade with 
Turkey and Jordan.  In addition, the Government has recently 
introduced service fees to cover costs.  For example, hospitals are 
now supposed to cover half their budget from fees, and to pay for 
maintenance and new construction themselves.  Government continues to 
be responsible for providing equipment and supplies.  A separate fee 
structure applies to low income groups.

In recent months, the Government has reportedly distributed 300,000 
plots of land to citizens, which are now being registered. 
Construction of homes on this land would help to jump-start the 
economy, given that this is a sector that uses local materials and 
skills.

In 1989, GNP was about 14bn Iraqi dinars at constant 1980 prices. 
This then declined at a rate of approximately 23 per cent until it reached 
2.9bn dinars in 1995.13  After fluctuating, GNP rose to $4.3bn in 1996, in 
the wake of a redirection of economic policy, including reduction of non-essential 
spending, and inflation was brought under control.

The Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts that Iraq's GDP will grow 
at rates ranging from 15 to 18 per cent between 2000 and 2004 (see Table 1). 

It notes that although GDP growth appears high, it is taking place 
from a very low base, and in real terms the economy will be smaller 
than it was in 1989 despite a significant increase in population. 
Furthermore, any growth is likely to be almost entirely oil-dependent.

A worrying issue for the population's future well-being is that 
Iraq's pre-Gulf War debts are now said, according to various 
estimates, to total between $130 and $180bn, which will burden the 
economy even in the absence of sanctions unless the debts are 
renegotiated and rescheduled.  Moreover, no figure has been set on 
the ultimate amount of reparations Iraq is expected to pay; since the 
MOU was signed, 30 per cent of the oil revenue was set aside for reparations, 
however in SCR 1330 this was reduced to 25 per cent.

Unemployment in 1987 was estimated at 4.49 per cent, with female unemployment of 
7.28 per cent higher than male unemployment of 4.13 per cent. By 1997, female unemployment 
was reported to have doubled, reaching 17.6 per cent; reasons included the drop in 
GNP and the pressing need for more family income, which lead to an increase in 
the number of women looking for work.  In any case, even those who are employed seek 
second and third jobs.  Teachers, whose salaries are as low as $3 a month, doctors, 
and civil servants seek income where they can find it, driving taxis, giving special 
lessons, or opening private practice.  Studies quoted in the National Report estimated 
that as many as 81 per cent of the population was living beneath the poverty line in 1993, 
although this had improved to 55 per cent by 1997.

Children are also being forced into the workforce due to family need. 
The last data on children's work dates to 1987, when 442,349 children 
aged 7 - 19 were estimated to be in the workforce, of whom the 
majority - 389, 429 - were in the in 15 - 19 age range.  Even though 
figures are hard to come by today, there is a visible rise in the 
number of children selling goods on streets, and in the number of 
child beggars, a recent phenomenon.

For most Iraqis, household food security has been dependent on the 
rations they receive from Government, a system put in place after the 
Gulf crises.  Prior to the MOU and after sanctions were put in place, 
the Government provided rations of some 1,093 calories per person, 
approximately 40 per cent of daily requirements.  After the MOU, rations were 
increased to 2,030 calories in Phase 1, and further improved to 2,472 calories 
in Phase VIII.  However, the proportion of income spent on food is still 
around 72 per cent of the average household income, because monthly food rations 
only last two thirds of the month according to an FAO/WFP mission in April 2000 
and because of low personal incomes. Average salaries only range between $3 and 
$6 a month.14

Sectors critical to the population's well-being - electricity, water 
and sanitation, health,  and education - have yet to recover from the 
damage of two wars both in terms of physical plant and human 
capacity. Roads are still of high quality, and bridges and many 
Government buildings have been repaired.  There is some new 
construction of schools, mosques and other facilities.

However, the overall trends are of steep decline. It is important to 
keep in mind that the sanctions were imposed on a country that had 
just had its infrastructure seriously damaged in a devastating war in 
1991.  It was only after 1996, five years later, that some mitigation 
of the effects of sanctions took place. Efforts to alleviate the 
effect of sanctions concentrated on the humanitarian needs of the 
population, and did not address the massive investment necessary to 
overhaul the country's infrastructure.

The evidence points to the impact of sanctions on the population's 
well-being and on the national economy.  By all accounts, even during 
the eight years of war with Iran, the country's overall development was 
not dramatically affected, and the Government continued to invest 
heavily in social services. By 1990, primary health care reached 
about 97 per cent of the urban population and 78 per cent of the rural 
population; primary school attendance reached about 83 per cent. 15

Even after the war with Iran, Iraq was ranked 50th out of 130 
countries on the 1990 UNDP Human Development Index, which measures 
national achievements in health, education, and per capita GDP. It 
was close to the top of the "medium human development" category, a 
reflection of Government's continued investment in basic social 
services.  By 1995, Iraq had slipped to 106th out of 174 countries, 
and by 2000 it had plummeted to 126th, behind Bolivia, Mongolia, 
Egypt, and Gabon, close to the bottom of the medium human development 
category. 16

According to the HDI, an Iraqi born in 1987 could expect to live 65 
years. But whereas citizens in neighbouring Jordan saw their life 
expectancy improve from 67 years in 1987 to 70.4 years in 1998, life 
expectancy in Iraq dropped to 63.8. Whereas Jordan saw its literacy 
rate rise from 75 per cent in 1985 to 88.6 per cent in 1998, Iraq's 
dropped from 89 per cent to 73.5 per cent. In the 1990 HDI, Iraq ranked 
three places above Jordan. By 2000, it ranked 34 places below.

Medical specialists note that a country which had infant mortality in 
the range of 40 to 60 per 1,000 live births, as Iraq did in 1990, 
should by now have an infant mortality rate of between 20 and 30 per 
1,000 live births.  However, infant mortality in South/Centre Iraq 
rose to 107 per 1,000 live births between 1995-99.  As for under-five 
child mortality, this rose from 56 deaths per 1,000 live births in 
1985-89 to 131 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1995-99.  Figure 2 
compares the situation regarding infant mortality in Iraq to that of 
other countries over the past decade.

As there has been no major change in government in Iraq since 1978, 
one can only conclude that if the Government had had the resources, 
it would have invested in social services, as in the past.  This 
erosion of human development - which one can effectivel term 
"de-development" - therefore appears attributable to the lasting 
effects of the crises of 1990/91 including the resulting sanctions 
regime, in spite of the attempts by the Figure 2 is one of the most 
striking evidences of the deterioration of the situation of children 
in Iraq. It shows that the mortality rate of under-five year old 
children has increased by 160 per cent over the last decade. This is 
on average ten times more than civil strife (Rwanda) or HIV/AIDS 
(South Africa) affected countries in east and southern Africa.

Security Council to alleviate the impact on the population. 
De-development on such a scale is unprecedented, and it will require 
decades of investment for the people of Iraq to reach the point at 
which they were in 1989.

Given the recognition of a right to development by the 1993 Vienna 
Conference, as well as of the right of children to development as set 
out in the CRC, and the right of women to development as set out in 
CEDAW, the international community may wish to review the 
contribution of sanctions to de-development in Iraq, so as to ensure 
that the United Nations is not supporting a violation of the human 
rights of the Iraqi people, and in particular the rights of children 
to survival, health and education.

c. Demographic Profile


According to the 1997 national census, the Iraqi population had 
reached almost 22 million, with an average annual growth rate of 2.95 
between 1987 and 1997.  The National Report on Follow-up to the World 
Summit for Children noted that the total had reached 23.9 million by 
the year 2000, with males accounting for 11,925,000 of the total, and 
females for 12,046,000.  It estimated the rate of growth at 2.94.

The population is marked by its youth, with some 45 per cent of the total 
being under 14 years of age.  Over-65s account for just 3.5 per cent of the 
total.  This is a high dependency rate on income-earners.  The rate of 
urbanization was high between 1957 and 1980, but stabilized thereafter. According 
to the National Report, 68 per cent of the population now lives in urban areas, a 
drop from the 70.2 per cent in 1987.  It attributes return migration to the country 
side to the attraction of the agricultural sector due to stagnation in other sectors.

Data on the demographic profile of children in Iraq are provided in 
Table 2.  Over the past decade, children's proportion of the 
population has declined from 53.5 per cent to 49.6 per cent.  The National 
Report attributed the drop in the proportion of children to the total 
population to a lower birth rate, on the one hand, and to the increase in 
infant and child mortality, on the other.

However, other sources believe that the population growth rate is 
higher than previously thought, and has not dropped as much as had 
been expected as a result of conditions of poverty and deprivation. 
The Mortality Survey found a high total marital fertility rate of 7.7 
in the three years before the survey. A high birth rate puts great 
pressure on the household to provide for its members, and on the 
state to provide basic services for a rapidly growing population.

Family planning methods are freely available, but the Iraqi Family 
Planning Society has only 136 centres throughout the country, and 
clinics are understaffed. Some 20 per cent of women who visit PHC 
Centres for other purposes do ask about family planning methods, 
according to staff.

A Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted in 2000 provides 
new insights into the population structure and dynamics.17   This is 
the second such survey; the first MICS was conducted in 1995.

MICS 2000 covered all 18 governorates in Iraq.  The sample was set at 
13,430 households; 13,011 households actually participated in the 
survey, of which 61 per cent were urban and 39 per cent rural. Of the 
female respondents, 43.8 per cent had never married and 26 per cent had 
never attended schools.  The survey revealed a strong correlation between 
women's education and fertility rates.  Women with no education accounted 
for 26 per cent of the total, while the children of mothers with no education 
accounted for 31.8 per cent of the total; women with primary school education 
were 38 per cent of the total, while their children accounted for 41.1 per cent 
of the total; and women with secondary education were 34.7 per cent of the 
total while their children accounted for 25.3 per cent.

d. Psychosocial Profile


According to a report commissioned by UNICEF, current conditions have 
seriously affected the psychosocial conditions of Iraqis.18
Regarding early childhood (ages 0 - 6), the Report stated: "The 
number of persons attending outpatient clinics for mental/psychological 
disorders has risen from 200,000 in 1990 to 220,000 in 1994 and 510,000 in 
1998 (Work Group Assessment Report on Health)....  NGOs observe an increase 
of family conflicts, divorce and polygamy".

Regarding young children, the Report pointed out that "Exhausted 
parents who can hardly meet the family's basic needs are naturally 
less sensitive and caring towards their children, and deprived 
children often add through their consequent difficult behavior to 
parents' distress.  Families whose resources for loving care are 
depleted through long-term multiple distress can no longer provide 
their children with a sense of belonging, which is necessary to 
promote young children's curiosity, exploratory activities and 
tolerance for unfamiliar situations.  Finally, the home environment 
of many young children has become depleted of essential commodities, 
toys, books and other opportunities for self-directed learning and 
achievement".

Regarding adolescents, it found that "many adolescents of both sexes 
suffer from malnutrition and related health problems, but also from 
depression as they see very little hope for their future".

The Report noted the dearth of information on children in need of 
special protection, which imposes reliance on observation.  It made 
two recommendations: "An expansion of present humanitarian programmes 
to respond in an exhaustive manner to Iraqi children's psychosocial 
and development needs, and the establishment of a comprehensive 
monitoring system that allows to document changes of their 
psychosocial and development status through valid and reliable data".

e. Legislative Framework

Iraqi Civil law defines a child as any person who is under the age of 
eighteen. The law for Juvenile Care No. (76) of 1983 uses the 
following terms to designate children in various age groupings: a 
minor, if the child is older than nine and younger than 18; a 
juvenile, if older than nine and younger than 11; a boy, if older 
than 11 and younger then 15; and an adolescent if older than 15 and 
younger than 18.

The National Pact of 1971 ensured that all Iraqi citizens have a 
right to free education at all levels. In 1976, legislation made 
primary school education compulsory. It was planned that this law 
would be reinforced in 1991, by making school attendance mandatory 
through the intermediate level, but this has not been accomplished. 
Centres aimed at eliminating illiteracy were also established soon 
after enactment of the "Illiteracy Education Law" of 1978 
(GOI-UNICEF, 2000d).

Iraq ratified the CRC with a reservation to article 14.1 concerning 
the right of the child to choose a religion, as this clashed with the 
Islamic Sharia.  It embodied the CRC into existing legislation by law 
No 3 of 1994, issued in the Official Gazette No 3500 on 7 March 1994.

CSO established a mother and child unit in 1990.  It prepared a 
National Plan of Action for Children, and became responsible for 
monitoring and following up the Summit goals. The National Plan was 
finalized in 1995, but due to the circumstances in the country it was 
not implemented.  A Child Welfare Commission was established, 
bringing together several ministries and bodies. The first conference 
on children was held in Iraq 11 - 13 May 1993, and organized by CSO 
in coordination with UNICEF and the Child Welfare Commission.

During the year 2000, the CWC was brought under the chairmanship of 
the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, but still linked to the 
office of the Vice President, in accordance with an RCC decree. One 
of the major tasks of the CWC is to ensure the implementation of the 
provisions of the CRC.19    However the Child Welfare Commission has 
not taken a leadership role in this area and the Ministry of 
Education was given responsibility for the Iraq national report on 
the follow-up to the World Summit for Children.

More significantly, the new amendment has authorized resources for 
the CWC: allocations within the annual and the investment budgets; 
resources and revenues generated from CWC facilities; and donations 
and grants from within the country. External donations are subject to 
presidential approval.

It is worth noting that birth registration of children aged 0-59 months at 
official bureaus is very high. The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted 
in 2000 indicates that 98.1 per cent of children under five years have been 
registered, 98.7 per cent urban and 97.2 per cent rural. 

It is worth noting that birth registration of children aged 0-59 months at 
official bureaus is very high. The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted 
in 2000 indicates that 98.1 per cent of children under five years have been 
registered, 98.7 per cent urban and 97.2 per cent rural. 

Children's right to Life and Survival

This Chapter provides an assessment and analysis of the situation concerning 
children's right to life and survival, and particularly their access to adequate 
nutrition and health care.

a. The Situation: Mortality and Physical Under-Development

After falling between 1975-79 and 1985-89, infant mortality rates in 
South/Centre Iraq jumped from 47 deaths per 1,000 live births between 
1985-89 to 79 deaths between 1990-94, and to 107 between 1995-99. 
The infant mortality rate is 102.1 in urban areas and 116.4 in rural 
areas.  Figure 3 illustrates the dramatic and continuous rise in 
mortality.  Similarly, under-five mortality rates gradually fell 
until 1985-89, and then rose sharply from 56 deaths per 1,000 live 
births to 131 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1995-99.20  Under-five 
mortality rates are 120.9 in urban areas and 144.9 in rural areas. 
Neo-natal mortality accounts for two-thirds of under-five mortality.
As for the physical development of children under five years of age, 
MICS 2000 shows that 15.9 per cent of these children suffer from being 
moderately to severely underweight or from general malnutrition 
(Weight/Age); 22.1 per cent suffer from moderate to severe stunting or 
chronic malnutrition (Height /Age ); and 5.9 per cent suffer from 
moderate-severe wasting or acute malnutrition (Weight/Height). In 
particular, the rate of stunting shows a steep rise from 18.7 per cent 
in 1991 to 32 per cent in 1996, decreasing to 20.4 per cent in 1999.

The MICS reveals that boys and girls under five years of age are 
equally affected by being underweight, stunted or wasted.  If 
anything, boys are more affected: 16.1 per cent of the  boys and 15.6 
per cent of the girls suffer from being underweight ; 22.2 per cent of 
the boys and 22.1 per cent of the girls suffer from stunting; and 6.1 
per cent of the  boys, and 5.7 per cent of the  girls suffer from wasting.  
This is an indication that one sex is not being favoured above another in 
terms of access to nutrition.

Overall, the situation is that infant mortality has more than doubled 
in Iraq over the past decade, while under-five mortality increased by 
two-and-a-half times.  In spite of some improvement, over a fifth of 
children still experience stunted growth.  For these children, the 
human rights to life and survival are not being fulfilled.  The 
causes will be described over the next few pages.

b. Immediate Causes: Disease and Malnutrition

The immediate causes of mortality and physical under-development are 
disease and malnutrition. Tragically, most of the children who are 
dying in Iraq are dying from preventable illness. Diarrhea leading to 
death from dehydration, and acute respiratory infections (ARI) 
together account for 70 per cent percent of child mortality in Iraq.  In 
1999, the case fatality rate due to diarrhea in children under five 
years stood at 2.4 per cent, while the rate of case fatality due to 
ARI for the same age group was 1.4 per cent. This is a tenfold increase 
over the past decade.21   A study carried out in May 2000 showed that 
close to half of children under five suffered from diarrhea within two 
weeks of that month; over a third of the children suffered from acute 
respiratory infections; and nearly half suffered from fever.22  The 
child suffers as an average 14.4 diarrhea spells which represents an 
increase of about three times the 1990 average of  3.8.

Moreover, many diseases which are locally endemic, such as malaria, 
cholera, visceral leishmaniasis, intestinal parasitic infestations 
and hepatitis have been reported to be re-emerging.23   An outbreak 
of polio affected the country in 1999, but was quickly dealt with 
(see Section 3/e).

The prevalence of malnutrition has shown a sharp increase since 1991 
and has remained at an unacceptably high level since 1996.  A 
Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in 1996 showed that 23.4 per 
cent of children below five years of age suffered from underweight. 
The 2000 MICS (provisional figures) revealed that the prevalence of 
underweight is 19.6 per cent, which means that one in five Iraqi 
children are underweight. Figure 4 shows malnutrition trends during 
the1990s for southern and central governorates.

The already reduced protein and energy intake of food has been 
further aggravated by major deficiencies of micro-nutrients such as 
Vitamin A (necessary for functioning immune systems and the 
prevention of eye damage and blindness), iron, the B group of 
vitamins, and iodine. While these deficiencies manifest themselves 
slowly, they have severe consequences for growing children, and 
increase the prevalence of anemia among pregnant women and children 
below 5 years of age (estimated to have reached 51 per cent and 61 
per cent, respectively, in the years 1994-96). 24

Malnutrition amongst mothers has led to an increase in the number of 
low birth weight babies from 4.5 per cent in 1990 to 23.8  per cent in 
1998.25   In other words, this phenomenon affects nearly a quarter of Iraqi 
children.  Low birth weight babies are 40 times more likely to die in the 
first month of life as compared to babies with normal weight. Those who 
survive are more likely to be stunted for the rest of their life.  MICS 
2000 revealed that malnutrition indicators vary inversely with the educational 
level of the mother.  Children of mothers with secondary education have a 
lower level of under nutrition than other children.

It is worth noting that malnutrition not only prevents children from achieving 
the full potential of their physical and mental development but also leads to 
high mortality, since it increases the susceptibility to common childhood 
sicknesses like diarrhea, ARI, and measles. Thus, according to the UNICEF-GOI 
Programme Review on Health and Nutrition, malnutrition needs to be viewed as 
an important pubic health issue.

c. Underlying Causes: Services and Household Factors


The underlying causes that lead to malnutrition and disease can be 
traced to the services and utilities responsible for good public 
health and a safe environment, such as a  safe water 
supply/sanitation system, as well as to household factors, including 
the family's economic situation and level of awareness of health and 
nutrition risk issues.

    i.     Services: Water and Sanitation, Electricity, Health, Education

Water and Sanitation These services are often referred to as the 
first line of defense against disease.  In the case of Iraq, 
deterioration in water quality is one of the key causes for the 
increase in childhood disease. Most of the water distributed is drawn 
from the Tigris, the Euphrates, and their tributaries and irrigation 
canals. These are all surface water sources and are, therefore, 
susceptible to both pollution and infestation. Water needs to be 
purified, and chlorine is critical for this purpose.

There has been both a drop in coverage since 1990 as well as a 
serious erosion of water quality. Before 1991, the potable water 
coverage for urban and rural areas was 95 per cent and 75 per cent respectively. 

This was achieved through an advanced water system composed of 218 
fixed water treatment plants, 1,191 mobile compact water treatment 
plants, 51 boosting stations and hundreds of thousands of kilometers 
of water conveyance pipes. There was little difference between urban 
and rural water supplies in the central and southern parts of the 
country, the main one being that the first secured high percentages 
of water via fixed treatment plants, while the second depended mainly 
on mobile plants. Urban coverage declined to 94 per cent in 1997 and 
92.4 per cent in 1999, while rural coverage dropped to 41 per cent in 
1997 and improved to 45.7 per cent in 1999. Between 1990 and 2000, the 
daily per capita share of potable water went from 330 litres to 150 litres 
in Baghdad, 270 to 110 in other urban areas, and 180 to 65 in rural areas  
(see Table 4).

Water quality has been heavily compromised during the 1990s and while 
restoration work is underway, children and women are exposed to 
water-related health hazards. Water Quality results reported by the 
Ministry of Health and WHO, show high contamination of water samples, 
sometimes beyond 40 per cent. The situation is especially serious in the 
southern governorates. According to Iraq Standards, the turbidity of 
water reaching the population should not exceed 1 Nephelometric 
Turbidity Unit (NTU). However more than 70 per cent of water currently 
distributed is of a turbidity exceeding 10NTU. In some places the 
turbidity has even exceeded 25NTU. In a number of instances, 
especially in the southern governorates, treated water is blended 
with raw water (directly from the source) to cope with the increasing 
demand, particularly during the summer.

About 40,000 km of pipes form the water conveyance network. Water 
pipes' breaks and leaks are causing water losses and water 
contamination; water losses through inefficiency in the network are 
estimated at 35 per cent of treated water.26  Water schemes are currently 
operating at about 60 per cent of their normal efficiency.

As for sanitation, about 25 per cent of the population, all in urban areas, 
use piped sewerage systems; about 50 per cent use household cesspools, septic 
tanks and pit latrines; the rest of the population dispose of their sewerage 
directly into rivers, streets or open areas, forming ponds of stagnant water 
and causing contamination and environmental hazards in both urban and rural 
areas.  It is estimated that 500,000 tons of raw sewerage are dumped directly 
into fresh water bodies every day. 

Most treatment plants are malfunctioning due to lack of spares, 
equipment, proper maintenance and skilled manpower.  Many tanker 
trucks for cesspool pits have broken down because of lack of spares, 
tires and batteries. 27

Garbage collection vehicles face a similar problem to that of 
cesspool tankers lacking spares, tyres, batteries, etc. In 1990, in 
Baghdad City alone, there were 800 garbage collection trucks with a 
capacity of 8m3/collector (about 4 tons each) making two trips per 
day serving 4.25 million with an average garbage disposal of 1.5kg 
per capita per day. Now, with a population of 5.6 million inhabitants 
disposing of 0.5kg per person per day, there are only 80 garbage 
collectors with much lower capacity, assisted by 400 hired garbage 
collectors. As a result, more garbage accumulates between residences 
(about two thirds is not being removed) and the garbage disposal 
areas are getting nearer to the city as collectors carry less and 
travel shorter distances.

Auxiliary machinery and equipment such as garbage collectors, 
tractors, loaders, lorries excavators, water and sewerage tankers, 
jetting vehicles, personnel and transport vehicles, have dropped from 
an estimated 6,500 units to 700 in 1996. By 2001 services have 
improved with approximately 3000  vehicles in service. The number of 
operational workshops has also dropped from more than 60 to less than 
20.  Foreign labour and maintenance staff in the sector, who 
previously formed about 20 per cent of the total, left the country in 1991. 

As in the other sectors, experienced local staff, including 
engineers, technicians and operators, also left in search of more 
rewarding jobs. This reduced the number of personnel working for the 
General Corporation for Water and Sewerage from 20,000 to only 
11,000. The estimated average number of years of experience dropped 
from 20 to only 9 years. 28

As a result, safe drinking water is now a nation-wide problem. As 
noted earlier, cases of diarrhea have increased from an average of 
3.8 episodes per child/year in 1990 to 15 episodes per child/year in 
1996. During the same period, typhoid fever increased from 2,240 to 
over 27,000 cases.  The drop in coverage compared to the rise in 
water-related disease like typhoid is shown in Table 4.

Electricity As noted above, the electricity deficit in Iraq is 
estimated to be over 2,300 megawatts, with long power cuts affecting 
the majority of the population.  The impact of power cuts on the 
water and sanitation sector is considerable.  At least 70 per cent of 
the standby generators in water projects are out of order for lack of 
batteries and spares, so for many water projects a power cut now 
means the total shut-down of the plant.

According to a water and sanitation survey conducted by UNICEF in 
1999/2000, the ripple effects of power cuts include: reduced water 
pressure; no water reaching communities; increased likelihood of 
water becoming contaminated; and disease. The survey noted, "The 
effects of power cuts are even longer and more widespread than the 
actual duration of the power outage, especially in water treatment 
plants. Re-commissioning of the plant and refilling the main pipes of 
the network usually take a lot more time than the outage time". 29

Because of the lack of supplies, poor maintenance and long power 
cuts, sewers are frequently clogged with sediments of the sewerage 
solid particles causing back flow of sewerage into living quarters 
and residences. In Baghdad city for example, the long-duration of 
power cuts caused severe damage to the piping network resulting in 
18,000 pipes' settlements and breaks during 1990 - 1997 compared to 
only 18 during the period 1985 to 1990. The formation of hydrogen 
sulphide with its aggressive acidic action results in the corrosion 
and disintegration of pipes, disintegration of soil below and 
eventually the collapse of the pipes.30

Another aspect that is worth noting is that the cold chain system has 
been adversely affected by frequent electricity failures. Owing to 
this problem, the system had to be changed from electricity supported 
equipment to kerosene refrigerators at the primary health care level.

Health Services  The health service system has been badly eroded over 
the past decade. The Ministry of Health had an annual budget before 
1990 of $450mn to cater for a population of less than 20 million. 
This dropped to a current level of approximately $22mn, or approximately 
5 per cent of the original budget for a population increased by 10 to 15 
per cent.  According to the Programme Review on the Health and Nutrition 
Sector, the effects of the drop in resources "are easy to see. Staff 
salaries are poor (due to hyperinflation) and motivation has sunk to very 
low levels".  Prior to 1990, 97 per cent of the population in urban areas 
and 79 per cent of the population in rural areas had access to health care.  
Currently, there are just 929 primary health care (PHC) centres remaining 
out of a network of 1,800 prior to 1990.  Many skilled personnel have emigrated, 
and the remaining personnel have experienced technical isolation.  There is 
shortage of supplies, including medical equipment.

User fees were introduced in 1999, under a plan whereby hospitals 
would "auto-finance" and be responsible for half their budget, 
covering furniture, maintenance, and construction, while the Ministry 
would provide equipment, supplies and medicines. User fees were due 
to start at PHCs in May 2001.  A two tier fee structure is in place 
with low income groups paying about a quarter of what middle to 
higher income groups pay. For example, an examination is ID100, as is 
a laboratory test.  While it was not possible to ascertain the extent 
to which the introduction of user fees has impeded the population's 
access to health, there is evidence in some areas of reduced demand 
for health services after fees were implemented.

It must be noted however that fees do not affect preventive  mother 
and child health care. The auto-finance system does appear to be 
working as regards hospital funding and management (see Box 2).

Education  The state of many of the schools in Iraq is not just a 
disincentive to education but also a public health hazard for 
children  (see Chapter 4, in particular Box 4).  The lack of 
electricity means somehow coping with the extreme heat in summer and 
cold in winter.  Broken down and backed up sanitation systems mean 
there are no toilet facilities to use, and children are released to 
go home when they need to use toilet facilities.

     ii.     Household Factors

Several factors at the household level contribute to child mortality 
and under-development.  The most important is poverty, which makes it 
difficult for parents to provide adequate nutrition for their 
children and care for their health and well-being. As regards 
nutrition, for example, the 1,093 calories Government was able to 
provide pre-MOU was raised to 2,030 in Phase I and to 2,472 in Phase 
VIII (based on the UN Secretary General's recommendation in February 
1998 that the nutritional target value be increased, given its 
inadequacy).

However, the food basket, even if distributed fully, does not fulfill 
the monthly food requirements for the majority of the population. As 
noted earlier, the May 2000 FAO/WFP report confirmed that supplies 
from the food ration were not sufficient for the whole month. It 
revealed that wheat flour lasted for 21 days and milk powder 12 days. 
Moreover, the food basket has a very low vegetable protein and does 
not include any animal protein, and the need to achieve a balanced 
intake of foods means that families have to buy additional food 
items.  The amount spent by families each month is estimated at 
almost ID21,966, and is almost double the estimated market price of 
the food in the ration (ID10,086). This means considerable hardship 
for families, especially since income for most public servants ranges 
from 5,000 - 10,000 ID/month ($3-6) per month. 32

The education of the mother is an important factor in children's 
health and well-being. All three indicators of nutrition status 
(underweight, stunting or wasting) vary inversely with the 
educational level of the mother. Children of mothers with at least 
secondary education have lower level of malnutrition than other 
children according to all three indicators.

Moreover, many mothers are malnourished themselves: more than half of 
pregnant mothers are anemic, due to inadequate food intake in terms 
of both quality and quantity. Poor quality of care during pregnancy 
and delivery leads to a large proportion of babies born in hospitals 
with low birth weight.  As noted earlier, this affects nearly a 
quarter of babies born in Iraq; low birth weight babies are 40 times 
more at risk of under-development during the rest of their lives. 
Hence, it is important that care be improved for the mother and the 
new born to ensure their survival. 33

Other factors at the household level include early marriage and short 
birth spacing. The Mortality Survey revealed that some 40 per cent of 
women in Iraq were married before 18 years of age and only 14 per cent 
were married at 24 years or later.  Birth intervals were also too short: 
41 per cent births were spaced less than 2 years and 20 per cent less 
than 18 months. 

Only one-third of births were spaced by more than three years.  There 
was also a high total marital fertility rate of 7.7 in the three 
years before the survey.

MICS 2000 revealed that only 17.1 per cent of mothers of infants less than 
4 months of age exclusively breast-fed their infants. There was not 
much difference between breast-feeding of boys (17.8 per cent) and girls 
(16.4 per cent) of less than four months of age.   Rural mothers were almost 
twice as likely to exclusively breast-feed their infants (24.6 per cent) than 
urban mothers (13.1 per cent) during this period.  Some 51 per cent of mothers 
continue to breast-feed their infants aged six to nine months, together with 
complementary food, and 58.6 per cent continued to breast-feed between 12 and 15 months.

An earlier survey (MOH/WHO 1998) had revealed that 61.7 per cent of mothers gave 
their children water during the first month of life, 31.7 percent per cent of these 
children being given unboiled water. Mothers' decision to stop breast-feeding or 
to use complementary foods is facilitated by the inclusion of infant formula in the 
food basket of rations provided under the MOU, which has been identified as an area 
of concern in terms of children's survival and well-being, in normal times but 
particularly in the conditions that currently prevail with regard to water, sanitation, 
and probably inappropriate hygiene practices.

The national authorities and international organizations support 
community awareness campaigns targeted at specific issues - ARI, 
breast-feeding, vaccinations, family planning, and so on.  However, 
these appear to be managed in an isolated and vertical fashion, 
rather than through a comprehensive approach that covers a range of 
critical issues, and which would better use scarce human and 
financial resources.34

d. Basic Causes:


Most major basic causes are directly related to the management of the 
services themselves. Perhaps the most important are the weak linkages 
between the water and sanitation sector and the various levels of the 
health system, as well as weak linkages between these two sectors and 
the education sector.

In addition, the absence of a coherent policy, legal and institutional 
framework has been identified as a basic cause in the case of the water 
and sanitation sector.35   Indeed, the difficulty of moving beyond ad hoc 
patchwork arrangements and on to more comprehensive planning has affected 
all sectors over the past decade, due in large part to loss of staff and 
resources.  This is an issue that may be addressed through the recent resumption 
of five- year development planning.

The fact that user fees in the water and sanitation sector are modest 
and are far from covering costs has been identified as a systems 
issue.  At their current level, the fees do not reflect scarcity, and 
hence are not conducive to efficient and rational use by the 
community to preserve scarce water resources. A more steeply 
escalating user fee system could be considered.  The same could be 
said for electricity, where use of newly available air conditioners 
and generators appears in some cases to be without regard to real 
energy costs. 36  As noted above, user fees have been introduced in 
the health sector with some success. Although the possible impact 
upon the fall in demand for services must be assessed.  It has also 
been noted that there is limited community involvement in the water 
and sanitation sector.

A point to note is that while data on some service systems - for 
example, water and sanitation - seems to be plentiful, information on 
others such as health and education - is more sparse.  This makes it 
difficult to address the question of how the systems themselves 
function and how they have coped with the impact of sanctions.

The deteriorated physical infrastructure of the social sectors can 
also be seen as a basic cause. In November 2001 the numbers of 
primary health care centers, primary schools, water treatment plants, 
and sewage treatment plants still in need of rehabilitation 
respectively amounted to 500, 4,500, 960 (including 880 compact 
units) and 17.  Up until the end of the 1980s, the abundance of 
foreign exchange and public revenue combined with a scarcity of 
labour drove this sector, in particular, to rely almost exclusively 
on labour saving, capital intensive infrastructure. Now with a 
scarcity of foreign exchange and public revenue the ability of 
authorities to maintain, let alone further develop this 
infrastructure has been severely diminished.   The continuing 
isolation of Iraq has limited the authorities' ability to explore and 
introduce more appropriate low cost technologies. The disparity in 
urban/rural infant and child mortality rates highlights both an 
institutional bias in focus towards both urban areas and towards to 
capital intensive infrastructure which is often not appropriate for 
serving widely scattered and sparsely populated rural areas.

Causes that reflect the impact of crises and sanctions on systems 
include inadequate capacity for efficient and effective management of 
health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and education systems and 
services.  The erosion in numbers and skills staffing in the public 
sector is due to low levels of pay due to the absence of resources. 
This has been documented particularly well in the water and 
sanitation sector, where the number of staff at the Corporation for 
Water and Sewerage dropped from 20,000 to 11,000, eroding the average 
number of years of experience from 20 to only 9 years. The government 
has tried to make up for low salaries by introducing allowances and 
incentives, but this does not raise wages sufficiently to meet needs. 
Lack of resources also means less opportunities for training and 
career development.

A basic cause for non-fulfilment of the rights to survival and 
development cuts across all sectors: the lack of financial resources 
available to national authorities, whether overall resources to 
overhaul a sector to its pre-1990 capacity and to develop it to meet 
growing population needs, or to simply distribute and install the 
supplies and equipment provided through MOU arrangements.

As noted above, the Ministry of Health annual budget dropped from 
$450mn in 1990 to less than $20mn, affecting staff levels and 
services. In the case of water and sanitation, implementation of 
activities under the SCR986 programme started in early 1997 with a 
view to rehabilitating existing systems. However, while the 
requirements of the sector stood at more than $700 million, the 
sector allocation in the first four phases (two years) provided only 
about $50 million.  It is estimated that full rehabilitation of the 
water and sanitation systems would require around $1 billion. 
Meeting the demand of unserved and under-served populations, and 
putting systems in place for future population growth, would require 
several billions more.

Moreover, the absence of a cash component within the SCR 986 Oil for 
Food Programme made it difficult to support activities like 
transportation of supplies, timely delivery of commodities at end 
user level within the country, training and capacity building, 
maintenance, repair of warehouses and institutions, and other areas. 
In other words, the supplies and equipment arrive, and a severely 
depleted and under-resourced public sector then has to figure out 
ways to install and distribute them.  The cash necessary to deal with 
issues of delivery, training, installation, maintenance and so on has 
been estimated to be $12.8mn for primary health care and $13.8mn for 
nutrition. International and non-governmental organizations have been 
helping to defray some of these costs through their regular 
programmes, but these ad hoc arrangements cannot substitute for 
planned and reliable expenditures.

As of the 19th November 2001, 1544 contracts valued at over 
US$4billion remain on hold at the SCR 661 Sanctions Committee in 
spite of efforts to establish a fast-track list of goods.  The 
absence of funding, and the irregularity of such funding that becomes 
available as well as the irregularity of equipment and supplies, 
means that authorities cannot plan and implement a comprehensive 
strategy.  In the water and sanitation sector, for example, there is 
no Master Plan for the rehabilitation of the sector. The authorities 
followed a "shock therapy strategy" that only anticipated reduced 
rates of deterioration in services throughout the country. Phase II 
focused on auxiliary equipment to improve the networks; phase III on 
water system spares and power, phase IV more emphasis on auxiliary 
equipment and compact units.37

ARI diseases, in particular, can be attributed to the inability to 
plan and manage health resources due to the ad hoc arrangements in 
force as a result of sanctions. The GOI-UNICEF Programme Review of 
the health and nutrition sector noted that this was "a 
multi-factorial issue, as irregularity of medicines supplementation 
and frequent drug shortages combined with 'weak' and ineffective 
training courses has led to increases in ARI cases especially in the 
winter. The problem is exacerbated by lack of follow-up". 
Sanctions-related causes for malnutrition and disease also include 
the availability of calories in the food ration, as noted in 3/b/ii.

e. Interventions to Date

Nutrition To address the population's nutrition needs, the Government 
has put in place programmes to screen children and provide the 
necessary nutrition support and health care to those in need. It 
introduced Community Child Care Units (CCCUs) in 1996 as part of a 
Targeted Nutrition Programme, with the objective of screening at 
least 75 per cent of children less than five years old for malnutrition, 
with a special emphasis on children in high-risk areas. From Phase IV 
onward, the Government included high protein biscuit as part of the 
supplies procured under MOU.38  The CCCUs refer moderately and 
severely malnourished children who need care to primary health care 
clinics, while severely malnourished children suffering from 
associated illnesses are treated at Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres 
(NRCs) based in hospitals. The centres also provide health education 
regarding proper hygiene and feeding practices and care of children 
during common childhood illnesses.

By the end of 2000, there were 2,531 CCCUs in the country, screening 
some 60 per cent of children. The number of under-5 children screened 
for malnutrition rose from 200,000 in 1997 to 1.5mn during the first 
three months of 2000. During the first three months of the year some 
16 per cent of screened children received nutrition supplements in the 
form of high protein biscuits.   These were also provided to over 138,000 
pregnant and lactating mothers (27.1 per cent) during the same period. 

The CCCUs are established in schools or in People's Local Councils, 
and have drawn in other ministries and NGOs. They are staffed by 
volunteers, most of whom are teachers, and are the first attempt by 
the social services system to create an extension system at the 
community level. In addition to the positive sides of this 
experience, described above, there have been some difficulties. 
Volunteers lack sufficient skills and support to manage themselves as 
independent and self sustaining local institutions. They do not 
receive funds to cover their personal expenses, and have been forced 
to cover these out of pocket.  The actual number of under-five 
children who would need to be screened is estimated to be 3.5mn out 
of whom the estimated number of malnourished is 750,000 and the 
number needing rehabilitation is estimated to be 350,000.  In order 
to be able to cover 100 per cent of under-five children, a total of 
4,000 CCCUs would be required.

The NRCs are established at hospital paediatric wards and at 
paediatric hospitals to provide medical and nutritional treatment to 
severely malnourished children under five. The centres also provide 
health education and advice on nutrition to the children's family. A 
key link that exists between NRCs and CCCUs is that on discharge from 
the centre, after recovery, the rehabilitated children are referred 
to a suitable CCCU for growth monitoring and further support and 
advice. The total number of NRCs currently is 63, located in all 
governorates and in sectoral hospitals.  The number of rehabilitated 
children rose from 6,000 in 1996 to over 1.2mn by December 1999.

Again, in addition to the positive aspects, some difficulties have 
been faced.  The numbers of NRCs are thinly spread, and they require 
care givers to stay at the hospital while the child is there, which 
is often difficult for mothers with other commitments. All NRCs put 
together have a monthly admission capacity of 2,000 and can 
rehabilitate only about 24,000 severely malnourished children in a 
year. This covers only 20 per cent of severely malnourished children.  
Some of these issues are being addressed by using oral rehydration 
therapy corners in hospitals for nutrition rehabilitation With inclusion 
of all 929 PHCs in the effort to rehabilitate malnourished children, the 
programme will be able to cover 80 per cent of the malnourished children.40

Interventions are also addressing the need for micro-nutrients. 
Vitamin A supplements are being given to children together with their 
measles vaccine. However, MICS 2000 revealed that less progress has 
been made in this area than previously believed, with 12.7 per cent of 
children receiving Vitamin A supplements.

Over the past few years, determined steps were take as regards salt 
iodization, given iodine's importance in preventing mental 
retardation.  Legislation was adopted in 1996, and an action plan 
reviewed in 1998.  Currently, only iodized salt is distributed in 
food rations and household use of iodized salt has risen.  Again, the 
MICS 2000 revealed that progress is less than had been thought, with 
40 per cent of households consuming iodized salt.  One of the reasons 
given is that the salt supplied in the food ration is not enough to cover 
household needs, and families then buy non-iodized salt from the market.

Health  Ongoing immunization campaigns are amongst the interventions 
to redress the adverse health conditions experienced by children. The 
Ministry of Health Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) has been 
resumed and reactivated, and immunization coverage rates improved 
greatly during 2000 (see Table 5). 

Efforts to eradicate polio from Iraq were intensified during 2000 to 
address the 1999 outbreak (see Box 3). These were successful due in 
large part to the use of micro-planning and full Government 
commitment.  The Ministry of Health has reported only 4 polio cases 
- all during January 2000 - compared to 77 cases in 1999.

There was also a considerable reduction in the number of cases of 
measles - from almost 10,000 in 1999 to only 678 cases by October 
2000. The number of tetanus cases was also reduced to just 26 cases 
in 2000, compared to 49 in 1999. Indeed, Iraq has achieved the global 
goal the elimination of neonatal tetanus goal (0.5 per 1000 live 
births) although when disaggregated by district there are some 
districts still to attain this level. The MICS 2000 survey showed 
that 63.2 per cent of pregnant women had received neonatal tetanus 
protection.  Nevertheless, all immunization campaigns were delayed to 
some extent during 2000 by the late or non-arrival of supplies 
procured under the Oil for Food Programme.42

International organizations active in the health and nutrition sector 
in Iraq include UNICEF, WHO, ICRC, CARE International, Premiere 
Urgence, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red 
Crescent.  UNICEF focuses on rehabilitation of primary health 
centres, nutrition rehabilitation, immunization, social mobilization, 
cold chain equipment and provision of incentives for personnel. WHO 
focuses on surveillance, laboratory activities, and transportation. 
The two organizations collaborate in the  conduct of surveys.  ICRC 
helps to rehabilitate PHC centres, among other things. The 
International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent helps distribute 
food rations to malnourished children and their families.


Water and Sanitation  In 1995, the Water and Environmental Sanitation 
authorities and CSO conducted, with UNICEF support, the first ever 
services survey at the sub-district level. This was followed by other 
more refined surveys with support from UNICEF and CARE. In addition 
to defining the level of service coverage, the survey defined the 
system through which the water service was provided.  Two other major 
surveys were conducted in 1997 and 1999, enhancing the clarity of 
problem definition and the effectiveness of planned solutions.  The 
surveys provided a solid basis for a monitoring and evaluation 
system, and support is currently being given to establishment of a 
management information system.

Between 1991 and 1996, interventions in the sector were perforce 
limited due to the sophistication of the systems and the absence of 
financial resources.  For example, it was estimated that $100mn a 
year would have been needed to repair the system, whereas only $8mn 
were available.

Through the Oil for Food Programme, the Iraqi authorities have been 
able to procure some of the hardware equipment, spares and 
purification chemicals necessary to repair, maintain and run the 
existing systems. However, no funding was available through the 
Programme for installation, costs of local labour, materials, 
training, maintenance, and research.

Rehabilitation works have helped increase the efficiency of targeted 
schemes by 25 per cent - 35 per cent.  This has resulted in better quality 
and larger quantities of water in case of water treatment plants and less 
frequent of sewerage flooding and better quality treated sewerage effluent 
in the case of rehabilitated sewer lines and treatment plants.

f. Conclusions

The causal analysis set out in Figure 5 reveals both the basic causes 
for non-fulfillment of children's rights to life and survival in Iraq, 
as well as the inter-linkages between causes.

In particular, the lack of sufficient financial resources to 
rehabilitate and develop the health, water and sanitation, 
electricity and education sectors has been particularly devastating. 

Water and sanitation requires some $1bn to rehabilitate the sector and 
several billion dollars to meet the need of unserved and under-served 
populations and address new population growth.  Ad-hoc and patchwork 
arrangements are a mark of efforts in this area, whereas 
comprehensive planning and management is necessary, for which 
intensive capacity building will be an essential precursor.

The potential of household economies to grow beyond the poverty threshold 
is limited by a stagnant economy, which in turn is due to the very small 
amount of resources moving through the economy, and the almost complete reliance 
on imported supplies at the expense of national productivity.

Against this backdrop, interventions to provide a food basket, to 
screen and rehabilitate malnourished children, and to promote full 
immunization coverage, while laudable, simply mitigate the situation 
and do not give the population the opportunity to recover and move 
forward.

Figure 5 shows clearly how the bulk of interventions target the 
immediate causes.  Efforts to address the underlying causes are 
remedial, while efforts to address basic causes are non-existent. 
Even as regards immediate causes, the efforts to mitigate the 
situation are impeded by slow and irregular delivery of supplies, due 
to the complex system for imports now in place.  Perhaps the most 
telling indicator is that even after three years of such measures, 
the proportion of malnourished children has not greatly declined.

The attempts to ameliorate the impact of economic sanctions has not 
addressed the basic or underlying causes for infant and child 
mortality and under-development. Only sufficient and reliable 
resources and comprehensive management and planning will promote 
children's rights to life and survival. This would include not just 
repair and overhaul of the physical systems providing services to the 
population, but also the necessary capacity building and staff 
remuneration.

Several major areas, such as inadequate resources, insufficient and 
intermittent supplies, do not fall within the control of social 
sector authorities or of families, and they cannot be held 
accountable as duty bearers for the violation of children's rights 
that ensues.

Among the factors that do fall within the control of social sector 
authorities, it is important to consider stronger planning and 
implementation linkages between the health, water and sanitation, and 
education sectors to ensure best use of scarce resources and 
effective targeting of the problems.  There are clearly strong 
inter-relationships between health and water services, and 
electricity and water services, all of which in turn impact strongly 
on disease and malnutrition.

A positive factor in this otherwise grim situation is the improvement 
of information on the status of children and the population, through 
the MICS and other surveys (such as water and sanitation), which 
enables better planning and monitoring of interventions.  More must 
be done to collect and analyze information on the state of the 
systems themselves, in order to support capacity building and 
organizational reform.

A more comprehensive plan for education and information campaigns is 
necessary, so as to make best use of scarce resources.  Such a plan 
would factor in a range of health, nutrition, environmental, and 
behavioral issues, including family planning, birth spacing, early 
marriage, and breast-feeding, as well as disease control, water 
quality and sanitation disposal.  Breast-feeding and other issues 
relating to the survival of newborns is particularly important, given 
that neonatal mortality accounts for two-thirds of infant and child 
mortality.

More popular awareness of and community involvement in resource use, 
along with a review of user fees in a way that is both equitable and 
yet reflects the scarcity of resources would assist in conserving and 
rehabilitating the water and electricity sectors.

4.	Children's Right to Education

Primary education has been compulsory in Iraq since 1976, and Iraq is 
a signatory of the Education for All Declaration. The Government has 
adopted the global goals established at the World Summit for 
Children. Two separate ministries deal with education in Iraq: the 
Ministry of Education deals with pre-schools, primary, intermediate, 
and preparatory education (both academic and vocational), while the 
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research deals with 
university education.

a. The Situation: Low Attendance, Particularly Among Girls

Gross enrolment rate in kindergartens declined from 8.2 per cent in 1991 to 
6.8 per cent in 1998.  This means the system serves less than 10 per cent of 
the population in the 4 - 5 age group.

The Education for All report indicates that from 1990 to 1998, approximately 
22.6 per cent of children did not enroll in school, of which 10.6 per cent did 
not enroll in primary schools in 1998.  The enrolment decline was greater in rural 
than urban areas and higher among girls. 

Data on primary school attendance generated by the MICS 2000 survey confirms the serious 
and ongoing erosion in education. According to the survey, 76.3 per cent of children of 
primary school age (6-11) in Iraq are attending primary school.  In other words, as many 
as 23.7 per cent of children are not in primary school, with nearly twice as many girls 
staying out of school as boys -  31.2 per cent of girls and 17.5 per cent of boys (see Table 
6). The erosion in attendance has affected the rural areas more than urban areas, with 39 
per cent of children out of primary school in rural areas compared to 16.2 per cent in urban 
areas. In rural areas, the female attendance rate of 49.2 per cent is lower than that of males 
(72.1 per cent); in other words, half of rural girls are not going to school. In urban areas, 
male-female attendance rates are closer to each other at 87.4 per cent for males and 80 per cent 
for females.

The percent of overall primary school entrants who reach grade five is relatively high, at 
88.3 per cent.  Again, as Table 6 shows, there are differences between boys and girls 
and urban and rural children.  As regards girls, the data shows that they are more 
likely to drop out or be pulled out of school than boys.

The average repetition rate in primary grades has been reduced by 21.1 per cent in 
1991-2, to 17.6 per cent in 1995-6 and 17 per cent in 1997-8. The highest repetition 
rate was reached in Grade 5 in 1997-8; it stood at 23 per cent of which 26 per cent 
were males and 16 per cent females.44

According to the National Report, drop-out rates have increased at the intermediate 
and preparatory levels of education (ages 12 - 17, and levels one through six).  Boys 
enrolled in the third intermediate level in 1997-98 were only 68.0 per cent of those 
who had enrolled in the first intermediate level; the percentage of girls was 62 per cent.  
As for he preparatory stage (academic), the percentage of male students enrolled in the 
sixth level in 1997-98 was 115.3 per cent of those who had been enrolled in the fourth 
level, whereas girls enrolled in the sixth level were 96.1 per cent of those enrolled in 
the fourth level. The Report noted that the  reason for the high level of male enrolment 
was the high rate of failure leading to repetition in the 1996-97 school year.

The successive national literacy campaigns of the 1970s and early 1980s resulted in 
substantial improvements in the adult literacy rate, estimated at 52 per cent in 
1977, and growing to 72 per cent in 1987.  However there has been a sharp decline 
in adult female literacy rates since the mid 1980s, from 87 per cent in 1985 to 
49 per cent in 1990 and 45 per cent in 1995. 45

In terms of recreation, the Children's Cultural House organizes on 
average 39 events a year, including drawing competitions, book 
exhibitions, and festivals. Children's plays are performed, and there 
are programmes for children on radio and TV.  There is a General 
Federation of Iraqi Youth, a National Federation of Iraqi Students, a 
Commission for Youth and Sports, and a National Olympic Committee, as 
well as several sports clubs and federations.  Middle-income families 
complain of children's easy access to electronic toys and billiards. 
Overall, not much information appears to be available on children's 
right to recreation.

b. Immediate Causes: Erosion in Coverage and Quality

By the mid-1990s, the education sector was in deep crisis: the 
physical infrastructure was dilapidated, requests for supplies went 
unmet, and the teaching personnel was completely dissipated in the 
face of shrinking funding. As the GOI-UNICEF Programme Review put it, 
"Unable to cope with high costs in the face of shrinking real 
incomes, many teachers in schools developed survival mechanisms that 
directly impinge on the capacity to provide quality education. 
Individual teachers resorted to providing extra lessons, to those who 
could afford to. Other teachers took on a second or even third job, 
while others simply abandoned teaching to engage in 'other income 
generating activities'. The results for students was that many became 
self-taught or not taught at all and education standards deteriorated 
sharply. In a number of instances, pupils themselves started leaving 
school to do 'other things'". 

In most primary schools, the school day has been reduced to cater for 
two shifts, and sometimes three, of children a day. Estimates by the 
Ministry of Education reveal that there was a decrease in the number 
of Ministry staff between 1990 and 1998 of 26,394 persons 
(approximately 10 per cent), of whom 16,337 (or 6.5 per cent) were teachers. 
At present, approximately 15,798 of staff (including teachers) are not attending 
work regularly.  This aggravates an already poor situation where pupil numbers have 
increased due to population growth.

Prior to 1995, concerted teacher training resulted in increased numbers of primary 
and secondary school teachers. A shortage of resources forced the government to cut 
back the number of trainees in regular teachers' training programme in 1995. There 
are severe shortages of basic school supplies, classroom furniture, textbooks and teaching 
aids. Estimates provided by the Ministry of Education indicate that schools lack 
approximately 500,000 teaching aid units, 2 million desks, 68 million textbooks, 
and 15,000 computers.  The Ministry also adds that they used to distribute free of 
charge a wide range of stationery items (i.e.150 million pencils, 23 million erasers, five
million rulers, 5 million geometrical kits, etc), but that these are no longer being 
distributed.

The curriculum has remained basically unchanged for 20 years, an issue which is now 
being addressed by the Ministry of Education.

c. Underlying Causes: Household Factors, School Environment

Poverty is a major factor in low enrolment and high dropout rates. 
Although primary education is free, many teachers are now insisting 
on and charging for private lessons in order to survive, something 
poor families cannot afford.  Families in need also pull their boys 
out of school to go to work, and their girls to help at home or get 
married.  The phenomenon of early marriage still prevails.  The data 
show an insufficiently positive attitude towards female education, 
given that as many as 30.2 per cent of girls are not attending primary 
schools.

More worrying, there is a reported attitude that some people no 
longer view education as useful or necessary for either sex, given 
the number of engineers and other highly qualified graduates driving 
taxis or working at odd jobs.

There is also a direct link between dropout rates and families' 
unwillingness to send their children to schools that are unfit for 
purposes of education.  The absence of sanitation is a major factor, 
as are the other hazards associated with non-rehabilitated buildings. 
The large class sizes and the shift system do not inspire confidence 
in the quality of education.

The Ministry of Education estimates that about 4,500 educational buildings, 
representing about 53 per cent of the total existing buildings stock in the 
15 Central and Southern governorates are in extremely deteriorated condition 
and do not provide a safe learning and teaching environment for students and 
teachers. This deterioration is evident in all areas: building structures, water 
provision, sanitation, playgrounds, classrooms, and electrical installations. 
The Ministry further estimates that about 5,132 additional buildings 
would be required to meet the growing need for school accommodation. 
The Ministry had previously outlined plans for the construction of 
new educational buildings and to replace destroyed and damaged 
buildings. These plans came to a halt in the early 1990s. 47

d. Basic Causes:

Basic causes impact on both the quality and quantity of education. 
In terms of quality it is generally agreed that the curriculum needs 
comprehensive review after little change over the past two decades. 
Although it is difficult to do so given the great pressures for 
delivery in terms of quantity, there is a pressing need to pay more 
attention to the quality of education, including teacher skills and 
incentives.  The ministry's management information systems are said 
to need more investment in capacity building and software.

There is also room for further involvement of the community in school 
development and service provision, although this is difficult to 
achieve amongst low income groups.

This demands focused capacity building, advocacy and social mobilization.  
The weak linkages between planning for education in tandem with the water 
and sanitation and electricity sectors have been noted in Section 3.

According to official sources, $230mn was allocated to the sector in the 1988-89 
school year, representing approximately 6.7 per cent of total government expenditure. 
Investment in education under the first four phases of SCR 986 averaged just $23 million 
a year, or a tenth of the previous amount. Starting with Phase V, there was an increase 
in SCR 986 Programme allocations to the education sector, which culminated with an 
allocation of $351 million in Phase VIII.48 These resources have yet to impact on the sector.

The stagnant economy is reflected in poverty both of families who no 
longer have the resources to keep their children in school, and in 
the low wages of teachers, who take on second or third jobs, or leave 
the system altogether.  The resources made available through the SCR 
986 Oil for Food Programme do not help to revive the economy, given 
that they must be used for imported supplies and not for locally 
produced goods; the cash component agreed in December 2000 had not 
yet gone into operation by November 2001.

In addition, the intermittent arrival of supplies has affected the 
sector, perhaps the most telling example being the case of the 
printing press on which the production of school books depends. 
Attempts to secure both the spare parts necessary and the expertise 
at one and the same time have not yet borne fruit.

e.  Interventions to Date: Rebuilding Schools, Youth Activities

With support from UNICEF, the Ministry has rehabilitated and 
reconstructed 402 schools in both urban and rural areas benefiting a 
total of 305,000 children and 11,460 teachers in the Baghdad, 
Ninevah, Basrah and Thiqar governorates. In addition, in 
collaboration with the international NGO, OXFAM, water and sanitation 
facilities in 1,050 schools were rehabilitated for the benefit of 
840,000 children. This work was undertaken throughout the 1990-2001 
period, though the bulk of it took place after 1996.

Rehabilitation work is presently ongoing in the Basrah, Thiqar and 
Missan governorates. In urban areas, priority is being given to 
schools in areas of high population concentration, or to schools 
running two or more shifts a day. Schools that were either partially 
or totally closed due to unsafe and/or poor conditions of the 
facilities (flooded, structurally damaged, etc.) are also being 
considered.   In rural areas, priority is being given to areas where 
school buildings were destroyed or damaged beyond repair, especially 
in the southern governorates. 49

The Ministry of Education is currently upgrading its Management 
Information System to improve the school data collection system and 
to better facilitate planning capacities at the central and 
peripheral levels.   Essential computer equipment has been provided 
and staff have been trained, although the number is still 
insufficient.

Intensive efforts have been made for over a year to bring the chalk 
factory and the printing press back into production through repair of 
the machinery and training of staff. The chalk factory is now back in 
production, but the printing press is still not fully operational. 
This is due to the fact that it has proven extremely difficult to 
secure the spare parts necessary at the same time as international 
expertise to supervise installation and training. 50    Both spare 
parts and international experts have been secured, only to discover 
after the investment of considerable time and resources, that the 
parts were not sufficient to rehabilitate the press. Most school 
books are currently printed in Jordan.

In 1998, the Ministry of Education resumed some regular in-service 
training for teachers.  The programme continued in 1999 and 2000 to 
cover a total of 1,600 supervisors and teachers from all 
governorates. The support included courses in math, English, reading 
for beginners, hygiene and environmental education.

Education kits were provided to 750,000 students in 1,200 primary 
schools, as well as supplies and equipment for teacher training 
institutes with supplies and equipment, which are now being procured 
through the MOU.

A non-formal education project was started in 1994 for 7,768 girls 
aged 10-14 to address the dropout problem of girls. A further 7,322 
girls aged more than 14 were also trained in 1995. The project was 
implemented by the General Federation of Iraqi Women under the 
supervision of the Ministry of Education. Approximately 598 of the 
girls were able to rejoin the formal primary school system. The same 
project trained 1,350 teachers of the first and second grades of 
primary schools, mainly women teachers, and provided supplies and 
equipment, as well as food.  A TV campaign promoting girls' education 
accompanied the effort. A study was conducted by the Ministry of 
Education on "Factors Affecting Female Dropout from Primary 
Education", and the Ministry is working on a proposal to address the 
problem of dropout girls and boys in the age range 10-14 years.51

Recently, some initiatives have been launched to engage children in 
planning their future.  For example, during 26 - 28 February 2001, 
the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in collaboration with 
UNICEF organized "A Youth of Iraq" workshop, which brought together 
53 youths, including 24 females, to work on articles in the 
convention on the rights of the child.  One day was dedicated to 
children with special needs; there were 15 such participants, 
children with physical disability, hearing or visual impairment, and 
orphans. All groups met on the last day, and shared recommendations. 
They established a creative gallery of recommendations, including 
drawings and sketches, to visitors.  The workshop was widely viewed 
as a success.  One of the youth commented, "We feel respected; we 
have a say".

This workshop also helped to give children the skills to engage with 
other stakeholders in a broader workshop organized by the Child 
Welfare Commission and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, a 
"Future Search Conference on the Implementation of Child Rights in 
Iraq" (27-29 March 2001).52 A total of 86 people participated; they 
represented 10 "stakeholder" groups, including children between 8-12 
and adolescents between 13-18; health, education, and media 
professionals; justice and law enforcement agencies; 
parliamentarians; and others.

Together they analyzed past and present global and national trends as 
these related to children, and created future scenarios.  The common 
dreams identified by the group included: "Development and stability 
of health, social and educational state of the family, and the 
environment; child participation in discussions and decision-making; 
school health and nutrition programme introduced; ending of negative 
social phenomena; establishment of radio and TV channels for 
children".  Groups then worked on action plans to fulfil their dreams.

f. Conclusions

The causal analysis presented in figure 6 suggests that the violation 
of children's right to education in Iraq is being affected by the low 
quality and quantity of service provision as well as household 
incomes. The most crucial element is the paucity of resources 
available to both planners and families, which means that schools 
have remained in a deteriorated condition for over a decade and that 
teachers' salaries are on the poverty line, even when all incentives 
are factored in. Meanwhile demand for resulting low quality education 
services continues to drop as children, especially girls, are made 
withdrawn from school to work at home or assist in the provision of 
family income.

Children are getting less education in terms of both quantity and 
quality - the school day is shorter to allow for two or three shifts 
- and less support in terms of supplies.  The erosion in skills and 
knowledge, and in the capacity to manage the sector are a less 
tangible but equally important effect of the stranglehold on 
resources.  Household incomes and attitudes are negatively 
influencing children's access to education, and there is a clear link 
between the state of services and household attitudes.   The 
immensity of the task of physical rehabilitation appears to have made 
it difficult for policy makers to give attention to the qualitative 
aspects.

As in the case of children's right to life and survival, the 
interventions to date have barely scratched the surface of this 
sector, and have as yet not been able to stop deterioration of  the 
problem. In addition to being modest in the face of the problem few 
interventions address the basic causes.  The most urgent intervention 
is access to resources of sufficient volume for the physical 
rehabilitation of the sector.

However, while education authorities do not have control over the 
factors that could lead to the physical rehabilitation of the sector, 
they do have some control over some of the issues related to quality, 
such as the revision of the curriculum, which is clearly a priority 
given the intervening passage of time since the last revision. 
Another important area is investment in teacher capacities and 
skills, and the capacity of the education authorities to manage the 
system.  Information systems are another area of concern.

Although they cannot at the moment offer financial or other support 
to parents, national authorities, with the support of international 
organizations, need to find ways to address the issue of attitudes to 
education, and in particular the attitude to girls' education, which 
is an obligation in both the culture and traditions of the region, as 
well as in international human rights.  Stronger links between 
education, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation sectors 
would enable maximum use of scarce resources.

4.The Situation of Disabled Children, Orphans, and Working Children

The Iraqi Social Welfare Law (126) of 1980 was the first of its kind 
in the Arab world to recognize the medical, educational and economic 
rights of the disabled. The law established the right of all disabled 
persons in Iraq to rehabilitation services. Provisions were made to 
provide financial support to those who needed it. Integration of 
disabled children into normal schools was declared an educational 
policy. Legally all businesses are required to reserve 10 per cent 
of their employment positions for disabled individuals. While the law 
is clear on rights and entitlements the realization of these rights, 
including integration, remains a formidable challenge.  The government 
makes a strong effort to place disabled graduates of vocational schools 
in the public and private sector, but no extra measures have been taken 
to make improvements to the environment so that it is suitable for 
the development of persons with disabilities. As a consequence, very 
few finish secondary school and only rarely do some attend 
university. 53

The Social Welfare Law, Law No. 126 of 1980 defines all legal aspects 
relating to orphaned children. This also defines the role of 
state-run houses and stipulates conditions of acceptance and 
residence in government houses. Those who apply for admission to 
government houses, including orphanages, must be Iraqi or Palestinian 
with residence in Iraq; have "lost" one or both parents because of 
death, handicap, arrest, or imprisonment, and have no other 
caretakers; have family problems; or, may have no identity.54

The matter of working children is regulated by Law Number 76 of 1983 
(Law of Care for the Juvenile) and the labour law. Law 76 states that 
children under 15 years of age who are found begging, selling or 
carrying out any other type of work in the streets, are considered to 
be vagrants and can be taken to court for cautionary action or be 
placed in a guardian's custody, or referred to a rehabilitation 
centre.  Children who have left their homes or any other place where 
they have been placed, without authorization, or those who work 
without authorization also fall in this category. Article 25 of the 
same law considers a child or adolescent to be deviant if they work 
in prostitution, gambling, or in a bar, have contacts with vagrants, 
or have disobeyed the authority of their parents.55  Law No. 38/1973 
prohibits child labour in Iraq, setting the minimum working age at 15 
years.

According to a 1998 report by the Government of Iraq on the 
implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Juvenile 
Care Law ensures that detention of children is activated only when 
all preventive and rehabilitation measures have been exhausted. 
Juvenile courts are composed of a medical doctor, a psychologist 
and/or pediatrician as needed and a team of social workers. They are 
responsible for conducting a medical and psychological evaluation of 
the minor and assessing his/her living/family conditions and 
environment. The results of the evaluation are presented to the court 
that instructs on a system of periodic follow-up of the juvenile. In 
this case the court has two main functions, cautionary and judiciary. 
Trials of juveniles are conducted in the presence of guardians, 
custodians and/or any of the child's relatives in closed sessions. A 
juvenile accused of a felony can only be detained if he/she is above 
14 years and placed at a rehabilitation institution. Juvenile law 
also includes provisions for deferred and favourable sentencing, 
sentence and placement revision, and conditional discharge of 
sentenced juveniles.56

WHO estimates that in any population the number of people with disabilities 
is approximately 10 per cent.57 However surveys carried out In some countries 
do not identify more than 3 to 5 per cent of the total population of a country 
as being disabled.  Even assuming a low disability prevalence rate of 3 per 
cent, with a population of approximately 25 million, there would be some 750,000 
disabled persons in Iraq, 50 per cent of whom (or 375,000) would be children under 
the age of 15 years. 

Given that Iraq has been through two wars from 1980 up to 1991 and 
under economic sanctions throughout the 1990s, the figures may well 
be higher. Increased malnutrition, challenges in health service 
delivery, and psychological trauma resulting from war and hardship 
all contribute to the problem.58

As well as limited data on total numbers, the distribution by type of 
disability is also little known. Anecdotal information, especially 
that coming from health care service providers, suggests that in 
terms of magnitude (number of children with disability) mental 
disability is most prominent. This is followed by physical 
disability, hearing impairment, and visual impairment.  Some evidence 
also exists to suggest that there are a number of children with 
multiple disabilities. Studies also reveal an increase in the 
incidence of disability among infants. A sizeable proportion of these 
disabilities are caused by generally preventable complications during 
delivery.59

In 1990 it was estimated that only 5,000 children were being served 
by schools for disabled children, namely those with visual and 
hearing impairment and those who are mentally challenged.  This 
leaves a large number of children not catered for.  Access to 
institutional care has declined in the last 10 years: the number of 
students in special education institutions decreased from 5,000 
children in 1990, to 3,286 in 1995, and to 3,284 in 1999, a reduction 
of 34  per cent since 1991.  This is in spite of an increase in the number 
of schools for children with disabilities increased from 43 in 1990 to 50 
in 1999, thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.  
Specialized training institutions for special education teachers have remained 
closed since 1991, so no new teachers have been trained since that time.

Rural-urban differences are also prominent. Of all the institutions 
in the country that provide treatment for disabled children, 26 are 
located in Baghdad and 36 in other cities. Thus with only 23 per cent 
of the population Baghdad has 42 per cent of the facilities.

The number of state homes for orphans in the whole of Iraq in 1990 
was 25, serving 1,190 children. Since then, both the number of homes 
and the number of beneficiaries have steadily declined due to the 
lack of resources from the Government of Iraq to rehabilitate homes, 
lack of staffing, lack of educational equipment, material and 
programmes and lack of food supply and health care. On the other hand 
the number of children in need of this service has been rising, 
partly due to the natural phenomenon of population growth and also 
because of the continued decline in the social and economic well 
being of ordinary Iraqis.60    A senior public official in this 
sector estimated that the number of orphans had doubled over the past 
decade.

Available information reveals that there has been an increase in 
juvenile court cases from 2,600 in 1991 to 4,420 in 1996.  Until 
1999, street and working children have been placed in the Houses for 
the Rehabilitation and Supervision of Juveniles, together with 
sentenced and convicted older children and juveniles in conflict with 
the law. The number of street and working children referred to these 
centres is reported to have increased at least five-fold since 1990. 
Unfortunately, during the same period the quality of rehabilitation 
programmes for street and working children in these centres has 
declined. Food and health care are the main areas that have been 
particularly affected. Rehabilitation programmes had to be cut back, 
except for school attendance. Other problems over the years have 
included lack of staff, poor or no transport facilities, lack of 
materials and equipment, etc. Lack of transportation has made it 
virtually impossible to trace the families of children and/or to 
arrange for their release and reunion.61

A useful study was conducted on the services, institutions and 
conditions of working children and children in orphanages in late 
1999, based upon site visits to six institutions in Baghdad, Nejef 
and Kerbala, and interviews with national authorities.62 

The report concluded:

"All institutions suffer from significant shortages of food and 
clothes.  Protection from cold through adequate building conditions, 
heating and blankets is partly deficient.  Basic health services are 
provided by the Ministry of Health, yet first aid kits, emergency 
medicine and resident medical assistants are missing in several 
cases.  Lack of transportation provides a problem for some 
institutions if more specialized treatment is required (Kerbala and 
the transit home for boys). Most institutions are spacious and have 
outdoor playgrounds, with the exception of the transit home for boys, 
yet equipment for activities is minimal.  Staff number and 
qualification minimize the conditions for reliable and sensitive 
caregiving".

b. Causes for Current Conditions


In the case of children with disability, the immediate causes for the 
conditions they face include, for some, avoidable problems during 
delivery, which makes their disability a violation of their right to 
survival and development. In addition, substantial needs remain for 
building maintenance and renovation and the supply of specialized 
material and aids. According to the GOI-UNICEF Programme Review, 
underlying causes in terms of the services available include:

  · weaknesses in the application of community based rehabilitation activities;
  · insufficient integration of children with disabilities in the 
normal schooling system;
  · few appropriate education programmes for children with disabilities;
  · the lack of an alternative care system for children with 
disabilities who are without family support;
  · the area of early detection of disabilities is considered still 
largely underdeveloped; and
  · Insufficient national capacity to deal with the issue, partly due 
to lack of education and training in this area.

Underlying causes at the household level include an attitude of 
sympathy in the family and community, rather than an attitude of 
empathy that could encourage the disabled to fulfil their potential. 
There is also insufficient guidance and counseling for the affected 
families, to enable them to recognize and cope with disability.

In the case of orphans, immediate causes include the loss of one or 
both parents, and/or the absence of a caretaker.  In the case of 
children working on the street, or abandoned children, the 
circumstances vary from one family to another, or from one street 
child to another. The common underlying cause for most children or 
families is poverty. Some children are compelled to work to bring 
home income for the purchase of food. But some parents simply abandon 
their children - unable to feed or clothe them, or support them to go 
to school.63

The Salem-Pickartz Report identified four sets of causes for the 
situation of orphans and street/working children:

   · The child's immediate environment: material resources need to be 
substantially upgraded; the number of staff needs to be increased and 
their qualifications upgraded; law enforcement authorities need 
training on dealing with children; administrative rules and 
regulations should be revisited with children's rehabilitation needs 
in view; and a system of family-like care should be introduced into 
orphanages.
   · The relationship between institutions, home, school, health 
services, and NGOs: there is a pressing need for more transportation; 
more social workers are necessary to reach out to families, as is 
training for staff in this area; and mechanisms should be established 
to exchange experience amongst institutions.
   · Social structures: there is a need for mechanisms for prevention 
and early detection for families and children at risk; and 
alternatives should be introduced in the present system of care, such 
as rehabilitation families, open houses and mobile facilities.
   · Legislative and cultural environment: better public awareness 
concerning orphans and street children is necessary; and it is 
important to review of the present legal status of street children.

Overall, the paucity of resources combined with the multiplicity of 
problems in other sectors appear to be the main basic causes for the 
conditions facing the spectrum of vulnerable children.  There was no 
component in the MOU to address children in vulnerable conditions, 
and an amount was only recently set aside in Phase VIII.   However, 
this was allocated to vulnerable groups indirectly through the water 
and sanitation, health and housing sectors. The dearth of resources 
clearly affects the ability of authorities to rehabilitate 
institutions, plan for existing and newly emerging problems and build 
the capacity to deal with them, and provide support to families in 
need beyond the food basket.

Given the range of problems in other sectors, it has proven difficult 
to make this area a priority.  Culture and tradition also make it 
difficult for the state to acknowledge problems in this area or to 
admit, for instance, that families may abandon or abuse their 
children.  This, in turn, makes it hard to collect the information 
necessary to underpin the search for solutions.

  c. Interventions to Date

The Government collaborated with UNICEF and the NGO Enfants du Monde, 
libraries were established in 34 schools and institutions for the 
deaf, physically handicapped children, and in the Al Rahma Centre for 
working children on the street in Baghdad. Training was conducted for 
librarians in these 34 institutions, including technical information 
on books and registration as well as methods to encourage children to 
read. Between 1997 and 2001, 254 special teachers and workers 
received training.64   CARE Australia has also supported training for 
disabled, deaf and mute children.

Fifteen schools and centres were rehabilitated for children of 
primary school age with disabilities, with priority was given to the 
Al-Hanan residential centre for abandoned children with severe and 
multiple disabilities. This included all required special measures 
and standards for facilitating the daily life of the children. 
Essential equipment and basic furniture were also provided.  As a 
result of the success of the rehabilitation programme, approval was 
granted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs for the transfer 
of 100 disabled children 5 - 14 years, from the outskirts of Baghdad 
to Al Hanan in Al Ataifiya in a more central location of town.

Over the past two years, the Government has refocused attention on 
the need to care for orphans, and has engaged the private sector in 
this area.

In 1998 the Government embarked on the physical rehabilitation of 
Al-Rahma Centre for street and working children, with the support of 
UNICEF and Enfants du Monde. This was designed to separate 6-14 year 
old children, previously placed with sentenced and convicted older 
children and juveniles in conflict with the law, in a caring 
environment, while at the same time promoting their reunification 
with their families.  The institution opened in 1999, and is the only 
one of its kind in Iraq. It can accommodate up to 150 boys and girls.

d. Conclusions

Even though the information about the scale of the problems of 
disability, orphans, and working children is scarce, it is possible 
to conclude that the interventions to date do not sufficiently 
address the needs of vulnerable children.  An important reason is the 
scarcity of resources without which it is difficult to rehabilitate, 
or build, institutions on the scale necessary, procure the requisite 
equipment and supplies, and invest in the specialized staff capacity 
required.

However, there are areas within the control of national authorities. 
The priority appears to be to gather and to continuously update 
information on the scale of the problem in each area in order to 
pinpoint resource needs and priorities, and to enable consideration 
of non-traditional solutions.

For children with disabilities, collaboration between the Ministry of 
Labour and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health could help to 
address the issue of avoidable disability during delivery. 
Collaboration between the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and 
the Ministry of Education is also needed to find ways to integrate 
children with disabilities into the education system.  Awareness 
campaigns for the community and guidance for the family are also 
areas where investment is needed.

For orphans and street/working children, an important area of 
intervention appears to be mechanisms for detection of families and 
children at risk, who could then be given special support.  In the 
case of street/working children, a review of laws, procedures and the 
skills of law enforcement agencies could help to ensure that these 
children's difficulties are not inadvertently compounded.

Women's Human Rights

The implementation of the Convention is monitored by the Committee on 
the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. At least every four 
years, the States parties are expected to submit a national report to 
the Committee, indicating the measures they have adopted to give 
effect to the provisions of the Convention. Iraq submitted its second 
and third reports to the Committee in August 1998.

a. Survival and Development

Women's right to survival has been impacted over the past decade. 
The Child and Maternal Mortality Survey 1999 has shown a very high 
maternal mortality ratio of 294 per 100,000 live births for the 
period 1989 - 1998.65   This accounts for one third of all deaths 
among women aged 15 to 49 years of age.  Before 1990, the maternal 
mortality ratio was 117 deaths for every 100,000 births, according to 
the National Report.

The prevalence of malnutrition amongst pregnant women is indicated by 
the fact that nearly a quarter of babies are low birth weight. The 
Survey highlighted the problem of early marriage: 40 per cent of women in 
Iraq were married before 18 years of age and only 14 per cent were married at 
24 years or later.  Birth intervals were also too short: 41 per cent of 
births were spaced less than 2 years and 20 per cent less than 18 months.  
Only one-third of births were spaced more than three years.

There was also a high total marital fertility rate. This was 7.7 
during the three years preceding the survey, 6.9 for urban and 9.2 
for rural areas.  Education was a factor in the fertility rate, since 
this was 8.9 for illiterate women and 6.2 for those who had received 
education to intermediate level.  Indeed, the Survey results revealed 
a positive correlation between birth interval, education, and 
maternal age at childbirth on the one hand and child survival on the 
other, as is shown in Table 7.

Currently, the percentage of births attended by trained health personnel is 
72.0 per cent, according to MICS 2000, 79.0 per cent in urban areas and 
60.2 per cent in rural areas.

b.  Education and Work


As has been noted in Chapter 4, the right of females to education has 
been more adversely affected over the past decade than that of males, 
with nearly 30 per cent of girls no longer attending primary schools, 
according to MICS 2000. The Mortality Survey shows that 29.5 per cent of 
23,105 women  aged 15-49 years never attended school. Of these women, 
48 per cent attended primary school, 15.6 per cent attended intermediate/secondary 
school, while only 6.9 per cent attended university or higher education. 
Female illiteracy has more than quadrupled between 1985 and 1995, 
from 8 per cent to 45 per cent.

As for work, the Labour Code 17 1987, the Law of Pension and Social 
Security 1971, and Maternal Law 1971, guarantee women equal 
opportunity with men in civil service employment, paid leave for one 
month before delivery and for six months after delivery.  Although 
women continue to dominate the education system, accounting for 65.3 per cent 
of teachers in 1998 at the primary and secondary stages, they are not as well 
represented in other areas.  For example, they constitute only 200 out of 7,150 
journalists, that is 5.7 per cent.66   The General Federation of Iraqi Women (GFIW) 
uses products such as its fortnightly magazine as a training ground for women.

The GFIW, which has 1.2mn members,  notes that since the 1990s there 
has been an increase of women in the work force, not due to  an 
increase in opportunities but because women took the place of men in 
the public sector, who left largely because salaries were no longer 
enough to cover needs.67  The percentage of women in the public 
sector rose from 34. per cent in 1990 to 40 per cent in 1998, and in the 
services sector from 72.2 per cent in 1977 to 79.3 per cent in 1998.68     
The GFIW notes that women now compete with men for jobs in the private 
sector, whereas they had previously gravitated to the public sector to 
secure maternity leave and other benefits.

The GFIW submission to Beijing noted that women's low contribution to 
agriculture does not reflect the reality of their unpaid work in this 
sector, which has increased during the past decade of sanctions.

The GFIW observed that women were not just seeking employment in the 
private sector, but also setting up businesses themselves, in unusual 
fields, such as merchants, traders, contractors, sub-contractors to 
the state, and owners of garages.  As employees, too, they were 
venturing into new areas.  It was no longer unusual to see women 
offering daily or seasonal labour at the sites where contractors went 
to find male labourers.  As hired labourers, women were taking on 
tasks like field work, food processing (eg. plucking chickens), and 
even on construction sites.  In addition, they now produced goods for 
sale in their homes, and some sold their products in the marketplace, 
a rare sight before 1990.

GFIW conducted a survey of 750 female-headed households in 1997 in Baghdad 
to identify needs and capacities (it is estimated that there are 10,560 
female-headed households in the capital).  It found that even though the number 
of economically active women was high (48.9 per cent), economic need was 
forcing women to increase their workload or send their children out to work. 
It helped 136 women establish income generating projects in 1998.

In response to women's pressing need for income in other parts of the country, 
GFIW now combines vocational training, and employment in an innovative initiative. 
Women are first trained on how to conduct a feasibility study on the income-generating 
potential of projects they want to undertake.  Then training is offered to the women 
to establish the project, and a loan is extended to help buy equipment and supplies. 
Theinitiative was piloted in poor communities in the Basra and Diala governorates, 
and 277 projects have since been launched in areas such as baking, poultry,livestock, 
fishing, land rehabilitation and landscape gardening, fodder, weaving and sewing, 
ceramics, kindergartens, and beauty salons.  The loans, ID250,000 on average, are being 
repaid on schedule, and the experience is being extended to four other governorates.

Amongst its activities, the GFIW addresses other aspects of women's 
rights, such as the legal framework.  They conduct weekly courses on 
the personal status code, and on labour laws, and advocate changes in 
the law in parliament. As in other Arab countries, while labour laws 
and commercial codes do not discriminate against women and contain 
positive provisions regarding benefits, the designation of men as 
head of household, with responsibility for the financial support of 
the family, leads to "equivalent" rather than "equal" treatment 
within the family and in areas such as nationality.

c.  Conclusions


Women's right to survival emerges as an important issue given the 
sharp rise in the maternal mortality ratio.  This is an indication 
that health services are not providing the emergency obstetric care 
that women experiencing obstetric complications need to save their 
lives, and/or that women do not have access to facilities that 
provide such care.

The education of girls is a major concern, given that 30.1 per cent of girls do 
not attend primary school, with grave implications for their future and that of 
their children.  Household factors play an important part in securing the human 
rights of women, as regards attitudes towards fertility, birth spacing, and education.  
Here, public information campaigns help.

Economic need is driving low and middle income women into the work 
force, but the opportunities available are constrained by the overall 
economic situation as well as by traditional views of women's roles 
as homemakers who do not have primary responsibility for household 
finances.

7. Conclusions and Recommendations

Iraq's situation is in many ways unique: following an eight year war 
with Iran in the 1980s, comprehensive sanctions were imposed in 1990 
after the Iraq-Kuwait war; subsequent battles greatly damaged Iraq's 
infrastructure; arrangements for funds for humanitarian interventions 
toalleviate the impact of sanctions on the population did not come 
into effect until seven years after sanctions; until recently, the 
funds available have not been of a magnitude to undertake 
comprehensive rehabilitation, even assuming sufficient human 
resources to undertake the task; and the system of operation 
introduced by the MOU has been continuously refined as problems are 
addressed.

The past decade has witnessed the emergence of a large body of 
wasted, stunted and impoverished children, in violation of the right 
to life and survival.  A substantial proportion of boys and girls are 
not able to exercise their rights to learning and recreation, as well 
as opportunities for life-long learning.  These children will be the 
parents of future generations, and they will not be in a position to 
provide their children with rights and opportunities. Girls and women 
in particular are facing a learning gap of major proportions. The 
longer the present conditions are in force, the larger the pool of 
ill-health and illiteracy, the further the detriment to future 
generations, and the compounding of violations of rights. Securing 
the rights of children not only guarantees the well-being of the 
present generation, but also that of future generations.

Against this background, the causal approach applied throughout this 
Situation Analysis reveals that unless basic causes leading to the 
denial of children's rights to life, survival, and education are 
addressed, the best that can be hoped for from programme 
interventions is to arrest deterioration and to mitigate the 
situation. To date, programme interventions have addressed some of 
the immediate causes and underlying causes, but have not addressed 
basic causes. Moreover, many programme activities are discrete and 
time bound, whereas comprehensive planning based on secure and 
regular resources is necessary for investment in the sectors 
concerned.

Given these realities, it would seem that organizations promoting the 
rights of children as well as of women in Iraq should place 
rights-based advocacy at the top of their list of priorities. 
Rights-based advocacy could promote the understanding necessary to 
secure a change in the present conditions, and, in particular, to 
secure the resources necessary to rehabilitate key service sectors in 
a sustained and sustainable manner, and to support a shift from 
humanitarian efforts to comprehensive long-term development planning.

Rights-based advocacy will, in turn, require solid data to support 
it.  Programme interventions are,  course, still important, both in 
terms of mitigating the situation, and by providing a rich source of 
data and experience, but advocacy and research are crucial in a 
situation like that of Iraq.  The recommendations below are made for 
the consideration of national authorities and international 
organizations promoting the rights of children as well as those of 
women in Iraq.69

a.  Rights-Based Advocacy and Future Research

1. Advocacy should highlight the importance of securing the requisite 
resources to rehabilitate each of the water and sanitation, 
electricity, health, and education sectors both for present users and 
to meet population growth.

  Further research is necessary on the plans and resources for each 
sector, the inter-relations amongst these sectors, the obstacles to 
rehabilitation, the gaps in skills and capacities and the impact this 
has on the rights of children.  It is particularly striking, for 
instance, that 70 per cent of under-five deaths are caused by easily 
preventable diseases like respiratory illnesses and diarrhea, which 
are not so much health as environmental issues. Capacity for data 
collection and analysis would be supported in the relevant 
institutions.

2. Another key issue for advocacy is the need to shift from a 
humanitarian approach, which by definition consists of discrete and 
standalone activities, to a comprehensive medium- to long-term 
development approach. While it is possible to target and overcome a 
problem like polio, most other issues require sustained development 
strategies. Moreover, current circumstances keep citizens focused on 
basic needs, and not on the future and on the rapid changes taking 
place world wide.

3. A further issue for advocacy is that Iraq be able to use its 
financial resources to purchase locally supplied goods and services 
in order to ignite the economy and give families more opportunities 
to earn a living wage. The point was frequently made during the 
research for this report that teachers, for example, require a living 
wage and not merely additional incentives.

4. The existence of vulnerable groups of children, and the need for 
resources to promote the human rights of these groups, is an 
important point to highlight.

5. Advocacy for behavioural change is necessary on issues like girls' 
education and the use of scarce resources such as water and 
electricity.

b. Proposed Programme Interventions

Cross-sectoral

6. Programme interventions that support stronger links between the 
education, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation sectors 
would enable optimum use of scarce resources.

7. A better understanding of how the systems function in each of the 
sectors and where the national and local bottlenecks and capacity 
gaps are would greatly assist future development in general, and 
effective and timely co-ordination and decision making on 
cross-sectoral issues in particular.

  Health and Nutrition

8. A more comprehensive plan for health information campaigns would 
make better use of scarce resources, factoring in a range of health, 
nutrition, environmental, and behavioral issues, including family 
planning, birth spacing, early marriage, exclusive breast-feeding, as 
well as disease control, water quality, personal hygiene, and 
disposal of sanitation.   Education

9. The quality of education emerges as a major issue, in particular 
the revision of the curriculum and investment in teacher and 
management salaries, capacities and skills.

10. Girls' education and related household factors need to be 
addressed through targeted support, as well as public awareness 
campaigns.

11. Further involvement of the community in school support and 
management is necessary, and the value of education and of the role 
played by teachers needs to be part of awareness campaigns.

12. Further investment is necessary in management information 
systems, and data is needed in several areas, for example, what are 
children no longer enrolled in schools doing with their time?

  Water and Sanitation

13. More popular awareness of and community involvement in resource 
use, along with modest user fees would assist in conserving and 
rehabilitating the water and sanitation, and electricity sectors, and 
in protection of the environment.

14. More comprehensive planning would assist the rehabilitation of the sector.
 
  Children with Disabilities, Orphans, and Working Children

15. Collaboration between the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs 
and the Ministry of Health could help to address the issue of 
avoidable disability during delivery. Collaboration between the 
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education 
could help integrate children with disabilities into the education 
system.  Awareness campaigns for the community and guidance for the 
family are needed.

16. For orphans and street/working children, it would be useful to 
put mechanisms in place to detect families and children at risk, who 
could then be given special support.

17. In the case of street/working children, a review of laws, 
procedures and the skills of law enforcement agencies could help to 
avoid compounding these children's difficulties.

  Women

18. Introducing emergency obstetric care as part of regular services 
in clinics and at hospitals will save pregnant women's lives.

19. Support is necessary to expand the business and employment 
opportunities available to women, particularly women in low income 
households or female heads of household.

20. Special support for women's education and eradication of 
illiteracy is needed.

****

1. Introduction


Non-Discrimination
CRC Article 2


1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in 
the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction 
without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or 
his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, 
religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social 
origin, property, disability, birth or other status.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that 
the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or 
punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed 
opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or 
family members.

Parents as equal duty bearers
CRC Article 18 (extract)


1. States Parties shall use their best efforts to ensure recognition 
of the principle that both parents have common responsibilities for 
the upbringing and development of the child. Parents or, as the case 
may be, legal guardians, have the primary responsibility for the 
upbringing and development of the child. The best interests of the 
child will be their basic concern. . . .

Life and Survival
CRC Article 6

1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life.

2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the 
survival and development of the child.


2. 	National Context: Development in Iraq


Children with Disabilities
CRC Article 23


1. States Parties recognize that a mentally or physically disabled 
child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure 
dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child's active 
participation in the community.

2. States Parties recognize the right of the disabled child to 
special care and shall encourage and ensure the extension, subject to 
available resources, to the eligible child and those responsible for 
his or her care, of assistance for which application is made and 
which is appropriate to the child's condition and to the 
circumstances of the parents or others caring for the child.

3. Recognizing the special needs of a disabled child, assistance 
extended in accordance with paragraph 2 of the present article shall 
be provided free of charge, whenever possible, taking into account 
the financial resources of the parents or others caring for the 
child, and shall be designed to ensure that the disabled child has 
effective access to and receives education, training, health care 
services, rehabilitation services, preparation for employment and 
recreation opportunities in a manner conducive to the child's 
achieving the fullest possible social integration and individual 
development, including his or her cultural and spiritual development

4. States Parties shall promote, in the spirit of international 
cooperation, the exchange of appropriate information in the field of 
preventive health care and of medical, psychological and functional 
treatment of disabled children, including dissemination of and access 
to information concerning methods of rehabilitation, education and 
vocational services, with the aim of enabling States Parties to 
improve their capabilities and skills and to widen their experience 
in these areas. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of 
the needs of developing countries.

Best Interests, Protection, Respect for Views

CRC Article 3

1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public 
or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative 
authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child 
shall be a primary consideration.

2. States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and 
care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account 
the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or 
other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this 
end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative 
measures.

3. States Parties shall ensure that the institutions, services and 
facilities responsible for the care or protection of children shall 
conform with the standards established by competent authorities, 
particularly in the areas of safety, health, in the number and 
suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision.

Article 12

1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming 
his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all 
matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due 
weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the 
opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative 
proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a 
representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with 
the procedural rules of national law.

***

Box 1 Campaign Against Polio


In the spring of 1999 drought brought animal herders and nomadic 
people further south along the Tigris River valley in search of water 
and good grazing land.  The first indication of a serious problem 
came in the Sinjar district in Ninewah governorate in May 1999. A 
normally healthy child developed a light fever, her limbs became 
floppy and weak.  Doctors suspected polio and the case was quickly 
confirmed.  By the year-end, there were 76 more cases as the virus 
moved south.

National Immunization Days for polio were started in 1995. The 
outbreak suggests that coverage during routine immunization and 
National Days had been sub-optimal. In response to the outbreak, 
Polio National Immunization Days were conducted during October and 
November 1999, while in 2000 an additional Immunization Day of two 
rounds was also carried out. The 2000 Days were reported successful 
due to good micro-planning and social mobilization.

This included house-to-house campaigns, monitoring and supervision. 
Health workers prepared maps of their areas and plotted every 
under-five child on the map. These were used to plan the campaign and 
to ensure every child was vaccinated. About 9,500 volunteers 
(teachers, NGO members, community leaders and local council and 
Ba'ath party members) participated in the campaign, helping to ensure 
100 per cent coverage. A pocket calculator or a diary and a certificate
was given to them in recognition of their contribution. Supervisors from 
central, governorate, sector and primary healthcare centres supported 
the teams through regular monitoring and supervision. TV spots and 
radio messages were produced to raise public health awareness. 
Loudspeakers were used for making announcements to educate the 
community and to ask them to bring their children for vaccination, 
and banners were displayed at public places to mobilize the community 
before and during the campaign.

Box 2	A Tale of Two Schools

In the Rassafa Directorate in Baghdad, 575 schools and 15,000 
teachers serve half a million pupils.  The Directorate includes some 
of the poorest areas, such as Saddam City, where 2.5mn people live 
and 350 of Rassafa's schools are located.  The schools have 
deteriorated badly over the past 10 years, their condition made worse 
by the fact that this is an easily flooded low lying area.  "When it 
rains, the schools drown", the Ministry of Education's planning 
manager for that Directorate, a woman engineer, explained.

The schools are badly overcrowded, with 3,000 children per school, on 
average, and 120 per class. Ten schools run three shifts a day, while 
many others run two shifts a day.  Only 30 of the schools have 
computers. Each school has a community board of trustees, and when 
this is active - and where the community has the resources - the 
schools are in better condition.  State-supplied equipment is far 
from meeting the need.  For example, 30 toilets have been made 
available for the Directorate, whereas the need is eight per school. 
To date, 61 schools have been rehabilitated through collaboration 
between the Ministry and international organizations. They were 
selected on the basis of size and number of shifts.

At Al Ishtirakiya Primary School for Girls, the walls gleam a freshly 
painted white, and the doors and window frames are picked out in 
bright blue.  This is, the headmistress explains, in sharp contrast 
to the situation that had prevailed just two months earlier, with 
broken windows, blocked up toilets, ripped and exposed metal, and no 
fans.  The yard had completely flooded due to the heavy rains.   The 
school foundations have been raised to make it higher than the sewage 
system, and as a result the windows are visibly closer to the ground 
and the ceilings are lower; the main thing is that the toilets are 
now functioning again. The light fixtures have been repaired, 
although, like other parts of Baghdad the school experiences five 
hours of power cuts a day.  The plain wooden desks are imported, 
since MOU funds are not released for local supplies. The renovation 
cost about $20,000.

The school caters for 950 students in two shifts.  Many of the 
students had stopped coming - as had two of the 25 teachers.  "But 
now that they see what the school looks like they've come back, so we 
have 200 students to a class instead of 150," the headmistress 
explained. " One teacher even cut her maternity leave to come back 
and teach".  The headmistress earns ID15,000/month ($15)  which 
includes her transport allowance, incentives and awards.  Teachers 
get ID3,000 plus another ID1,000 for transport.

No renovation has yet taken place at the Fao Primary School for Boys, 
which was  built in 1963.  The Headmaster pleads with his visitors 
for support, pointing to the exposed electrical wires, broken window 
panes, and blocked up toilets.  Recently, pieces of ceiling fell on a 
student at the edge of the yard.  One of the headmaster's biggest 
concern is the damaged wall surrounding the school, which can easily 
be penetrated by pranksters, thieves and animals. "An escaped cow 
came crashing through one day", he recalled.  Books are neatly piled 
up on the floor of one of the classrooms, though exposed to dust from 
the pane-less window. Half of the school books necessary are provided 
new by the Ministry each year, while the other half is recycled from 
one year to the next.

The school caters for 936 children in two shifts, and has 28 male and 
female teachers.  During the heavy rains earlier in the year, they 
had to move the students to other premises as the courtyard was 
completely flooded.  Some schools allow children to go home when they 
need to use the bathroom.  Most of the teachers have second jobs. 
The headmaster, who earns ID3,200 and has to travel 60 kilometres to 
get to the school, works as an electrician in his spare time, and 
some of the teachers work as drivers.


Box 3  The 28 Nissan Orphanage


The 28 Nissan (April) Orphanage in central Baghdad  houses 60 
children, girls aged 6 - 18.  They come to the Orphanage if have lost 
one of both parents or if parents have divorced. They are placed in 
the Orphanage by members of the extended family, by the police or the 
courts. For example, seven-year-old Narmeen lost both parents in a 
car crash; she survived, but spent two years in hospital where she 
came to believe that the doctor and nurse were her father and mother. 
Like many other children, she creates her own story about her 
parents.  None of the children acknowledge they have no parents, the 
Director reports. Now Narmeen has settled down and her grades have 
improved.

The Orphanage consists of three interlinked buildings.  It is 
spotless, and there are large lounges, smaller study rooms, and two 
eating halls for older and younger girls.  Conditions have greatly 
improved over the past year, when the Orphanage acquired a generator 
secured from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  "Before that, we had 
no electricity like the rest of the Iraqi people.  We used 
grease-based neon lights", the Director recalled.  The Orphanage has 
also benefited from a presidential order to facilitate formalities 
for such institutions. And it now receives more goods and services 
thanks to the intervention of the Minister of Labour and Social 
Affairs.  He  convened a meeting of the business community, and 
pointed out that the State could not do everything, and that they had 
to pitch in and support such welfare services, which they did.

  Children at the Orphanage go to school.  A doctor visits once a 
week, and a dentist lives on the premises; there are two social 
workers.  The staff registers children who do not have identity 
cards. Those children who have family members visit on a regular 
basis.  Those with no families are taken on trips on visiting days, 
"but it's hard on them".  Once they complete their education, some of 
the young women find work, mostly in the public sector. Due to 
cultural factors, women do not live on their own, and often will 
women remain at the Orphanage and take on assignments there.  A few 
get married. 


Figure 2

Under-Five Mortality Rate - Cross-Country Comparisons (Estimates)



__________________________
Footnotes

 1 The Situation Analysis was researched and written by an 
independent international consultant.  It covers 15 governorates of 
the south and centre of Iraq, where UNICEF's Programme of Cooperation 
with the Government of Iraq is implemented.

2 Aims extracted from UNICEF Programme Manual.

3 UNICEF adopts a life-cycle approach in its assessment and analysis 

4 Due to time constraints and the fact that the programme review 
teams had conducted extensive site visits, the visits conducted 
during the Situation Analysis took place only in Baghdad.  

5 UNICEF Iraq Annual Report 2000.

6 SCR 661 of August 1990 imposed economic sanctions including a full 
trade embargo, except medical supplies, foodstuffs and humanitarian 
items as determined by the Security Council Sanctions Committee.

7 The MOU was signed on 20 May 1996 to implement the provisions of SCR 
986 of 14 April 1995.

8 Of the oil revenues, 30 per cent or $600mn were set aside as Gulf War 
reparations; 13 per cent ($260mn) for the three autonomous governorates of 
the north, 2.2 per cent ($44mn) for UN operational costs, and 1 per cent($20mn) 
for payments to scrow.  The remaining 53 per cent ($1.06bn) were for 
humanitarian supplies for 15 governorates. For comparison, Iraq's civilian 
imports in 1989 cost $5bn

9 UNICEF Annual Report 2000.

10 Ibid.

11 Interview with Minister of Planning

12 As noted earlier, in many cases, figures are simply unavailable due 
to both technical and political factors.

13 National Report on Follow-up to the World Summit for Children, May 2001

14 GOI-UNICEF 2000a.

15 Situation Analysis, 1998

16 In fact, the HDI ranking for 1995 and 2000, poor as it is, is 
likely to be more positive than the reality, because the GDP per 
capita was estimated to be $3,197.

17 The survey was conducted by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) in 
the Government's Planning Commission, with support from UNICEF and in 
collaboration with several ministries and departments, medical 
personnel, educators, and water and sanitation experts in the field. 
MICS surveys are designed to monitor the global goals adopted at the 
World Summit for Children in 1990 (see Table 9).  UNICEF, together 
with its partners WHO, UNESCO and others, identified a set of 75 
indicators to monitor the status of children in different aspects. A 
total of 381 experts and field researchers were involved in 
conducting the survey, and they received training on the methodology 
at 15 workshops.  A careful system of data entry, editing and 
checking was established, and was continuously evaluated by an 
international consultant.

18 Assessment of the Implementation of the Humanitarian Programme (SCR 
986): The Psychosocial Well-Being of Children in Iraq", UNICEF, March 
1999. 

19  The CWC now includes representatives from the following 
ministries and offices, at the director general level, as well as two 
experts to be chosen by the CWC: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Culture and 
Information, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Planning 
Commission, the General Federation of Iraqi Women, and the General 
Federation of Iraqi Youth.

20 Salman, Khawla Naji and Al-Dulaymi, Aiayd, Child and Maternal 
Mortality Survey Iraq 1999, Ministry of Health Iraq and UNICEF, 
mimeograph.

21 2000c.

22 GOI-UNICEF 2000c.

23 Ibid.

24 GOI-UNICEF 2000c.

25 GOI-UNICEF 2000c.

26 GOI-UNICEF 2000b.

27 GOI-UNICEF 2000b.

28 Ibid.

29 The study is "Water and sanitation Services Coverage Survey", 
UNICEF/CARE, 1999-2000.

30 Ibid.

31  GOI-UNICEF 2000c.

32 2000c.

33 Ibid.

34  Observation during site visits for the preparation of this 
Situation Analysis.

35 GOI-UNICEF 2000b.

36 Observation during site visits for the preparation of this 
Situation Analysis.

37 GOI-UNICEF 2000b.

38  A problem occurred with the first delivery of therapeutic milk, 
and this has not yet been made available.

39  GOI-UNICEF 2000a and UNICEF Annual Report

40 GOI-UNICEF 2000c.

41 UNICEF Annual Report 2000.

42 Ibid.

43 GOI-UNICEF 2000a.

44 GOI-UNICEF 2000d.

45 GOI-UNICEF 2000d.

46 Ibid.

47 GOI-UNICEF 2000d.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid.

50 Discussions by the author with personnel concerned.

51 GOI-UNICEF 2000d.

52 The Future Search methodology involves "an interactive process of 
exploring the past, reviewing the present and dreaming for a common 
future by all the stakeholders of a system/issue to design strategies 
and actions for improving it in a coordinated manner by themselves 
under a supportive leadership", from   Proceedings of the Future 
Search Conference on Implementation of Child Rights in Iraq.

53 GOI-UNICEF 2000e.

54 Guidelines for Services in Government Houses quoted in GOI0-UNICEF 2000e.

55 GOI-UNICEF 2000e

56 Ibid.

57  United Nations (1988): Development of Statistical Concepts and 
Methods on Disability for Household Surveys. Department of 
International Economic and Social Affairs, Series F. No. 38.

58 GOI-UNICEF 2000e.

59 Ibid

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

62  See Josi Salem-Pickartz, report submitted to UNICEF.

63  Ibid

64 Ibid.

65 Salman and Al-Dulaymi.

66 GFIW, "The Iraqi Woman Five Years After the Beijing Conference".

67  Information based on author's discussions with the General 
Secretary of the GFIW and her colleagues, May 2001.

68  GFIW, op cit.




7.	Conclusions and Recommendations 


69 Some of the conclusions and recommendations set out in this 
Chapter were made at the Brainstorming Workshop convened by the 
Planning Commission 27-28 May 2001 to discuss an outline of this 
Situation Analysis.   The Workshop involved 50 experts, civil 
servants and representatives of national and international 
organizations from different sectors.  


  70 A total of 75 indicators were developed to monitor progress 
towards realization of the goals.
   71 It should be noted that these percentages reflect access to water 
as defined by the indicator - ie. whether water is piped, from a 
public pipe/tap, bore hole, protected well, etc - and not the quality 
of the water
   72 These percentages reflect the sanitation system in use (toilet, 
latrine, etc) and not its quality.

References
Child Welfare Commission and Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, 
Proceedings of the Future Search Conference on Implementation of 
Child Rights in Iraq, 27 - 29 March 2001, mimeograph.

General Federation of Iraqi Women, The Iraqi Woman Five Years After 
Beijing Conference, June 2000

Government of Iraq-UNICEF, 2000a. Joint Government of Iraq-UNICEF, 
Programme Review, 1990-2000, Overview Report, mimeograph

GOI-UNICEF, 2000b, Joint Government of Iraq-UNICEF, Programme Review, 
1990-2000, Sector Review Report: Water and Environmental Sanitation, 
mimeograph

GOI-UNICEF, 2000c, Joint Government of Iraq-UNICEF, Programme Review, 
1990-2000, Sector Review Report: Health and Nutrition, mimeograph

GOI-UNICEF, 2000d, Joint Government of Iraq-UNICEF, Programme Review, 
1990-2000, Sector Review Report: Education, mimeograph

GOI-UNICEF, 2000e, Joint Government of Iraq-UNICEF, Programme Review, 
1990-2000, Sector Review Report: Child Protection, mimeograph

GOI-UNICEF, 2000f, Joint Government of Iraq-UNICEF, Programme Review, 
1990-2000, Sector Review Report: Communication, mimeograph

Government of Iraq-UNICEF, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 
2000, Baghdad, February 2001

Republic of Iraq, National Report on Follow-Up to the World Summit 
for Children, Ministry of Education, National Committee for the 
Preparation of the National Report on Follow-up to the World Summit 
for Children, May 2001, Arabic mimeograph

Republic of Iraq, National Report on Follow-Up to the World Summit 
for Children (Summary), Ministry of Education, National Committee for 
the Preparation of the National Report on Follow-up to the World 
Summit for Children, February 2000, English mimeograph

Salem-Pickartz, Josi, "Analysis of Existing Services, Institutions 
and Conditions of Street/Working Children and Children in Orphanages 
in Iraq", report submitted to UNICEF Baghdad 22/11/1999, mimeograph

Salman, Khawla Naji and Al-Dulaymi, Aiayd, Child and Maternal 
Mortality Survey Iraq 1999, Ministry of Health Iraq and UNICEF, 
mimeograph

UNDP and Oxford University Press, Human Development Report, 1994.

UNICEF and Ministry of Health Iraq, Child and Maternal Mortality 
Survey 1999: Preliminary Report

UNICEF Iraq, "The Youth of Iraq Workshop Report", 26, 27, 28 February 
2001, mimeograph

UNICEF Iraq, Annual Report 2000 (draft and published versions)

UNICEF, "Assessment of the Implementation of the Humanitarian 
Programme (SCR 986): The Psychosocial Well-Being of Children in 
Iraqi", March 1999

UNICEF Iraq, Situation Analysis of Children and Women in Iraq - 1997, 
mimeograph, 30 April 1998

United Nations, Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding 
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child: Iraq, 
CRC/C/15/Add.94, October 1998

United Nations, Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Discrimination Against Women, Second and Third Reports, Iraq, 
CEDAW/C/IRQ/2-3, 19 October 1998