Our Common Responsibility: The Impact of a New War on Iraqi Children

Key Findings of Our Common Responsibility: The Impact of a New War on Iraqi Children, International Study Team, 30 January 2003:

Iraqi children are even more vulnerable now than they were in 1990, before the 1991 Gulf War.
16 million Iraqi civilians are 100 percent dependent on government-distributed food rations. If war breaks out, this distribution system will be disrupted, leading to food shortages, malnutrition and possibly starvation.
There is only an estimated one month’s supply of food in Iraq. If war occurs, food imports will be disrupted.
Approximately 500,000 Iraqi children are acutely malnourished or underweight. These children are particularly vulnerable to disease and death should war occur.
The health care system is worn down and only a fraction of its pre-1991 state. The UN estimates that hospitals and clinics will run out of medicines within 3-4 weeks of a conflict.
The death rate of children under 5 years of age is already 2.5 times greater than it was in 1990. Most children (70%) die of diarrheal and respiratory diseases. This greater vulnerability means greater illness and death under conflict circumstances.
Iraq’s water and sanitation systems are in bad need of repair following 12 years of sanctions. 500,000 metric tons of raw sewage is dumped into fresh water bodies each day. Only 60% of Iraqis have access to fresh (potable) water. Further disruption to these services, as occurred during the 1991 Gulf War, would be catastrophic for Iraqi children.
The UN estimates that a war could lead to more than 1.4 million refugees and as many as 2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Iraqi children are already badly traumatized by 12 years of economic sanctions. With war looming, Iraqi children are fearful, anxious and depressed. Many have nightmares. And 40 percent do not think that life is worth living.
The United Nations estimates that, in the event of war, as many as 500,000 persons could require emergency medical treatment.
The level of emergency preparedness is currently very low. It will not be enough to respond to the expected humanitarian emergency.

In summary, a new war in Iraq would be catastrophic to Iraq’s 13 million children, already highly vulnerable due to prolonged economic sanctions.

Iraqi children are at grave risk of starvation, disease, death and psychological trauma.

The International Study Team is forecasting, should war occur, a grave humanitarian disaster. While it is impossible to predict both the nature of any war and the number of expected deaths and injuries, casualties among children will be in the thousands, probably the tens of thousands, and possibly in the hundreds of thousands.