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10.39 pm
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon): My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Kelvin (Mr. Galloway) has spoken at length, and with his usual passion, on the UN sanctions regime against Iraq. May I make it clear to him and to the House that the Government would be pleased to see sanctions lifted? However, as we all know, Iraq has so far made it impossible for that to happen.
To understand why sanctions are still in place today, we need to consider why they were originally imposed. Sanctions were imposed in response to Iraq's illegal and outrageous invasion of Kuwait. At the end of the Gulf war in 1991, Iraq accepted the terms of UN Security Council resolution 687--the ceasefire resolution. That resolution, and others implementing it, laid down obligations on Iraq
relating to a number of matters. They included the obligation to accept the destruction of its weapons of mass destruction under international supervision; to submit full details of locations, amounts and types of weaponry; to undertake not to use, develop, construct or acquire weapons of mass destruction in the future; and to co-operate with UNSCOM in carrying out those obligations.
That same resolution also set out the circumstances in which the Security Council would lift the sanctions regime. It provides that sanctions will be lifted following compliance by Iraq with its obligations relating to weapons of mass destruction and following review by the Security Council of Iraq's policies and practices, including its implementation of all relevant resolutions. Progress is entirely in Iraq's hands, but Iraq has persistently shirked its responsibilities and refused to comply with the very obligations it formally accepted under resolution 687. Perhaps, after eight years, it is easy to overlook the seriousness of those obligations and Iraq's failure to even come close to meeting them. Let me however remind the House of Iraq's appalling record.
On disarmament, the weapons inspectors were faced with persistent evasion, obstruction and mendacity on the part of Iraq. Iraq failed to provide an even remotely credible account of its biological weapons programme, and it failed to tell the truth about the production and weaponisation of the nerve agent VX. That is not a trivial debating point: VX causes death within minutes through nervous system disruption leading to respiratory failure--one drop of VX can kill.
I pay tribute to the weapons inspectors for their huge achievements in the face of Iraqi obduracy, but as the UN expert disarmament panel confirmed earlier this year, serious gaps still remain, especially in Iraq's declarations on chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missiles. Those are potentially horrific capabilities that threaten the security of the entire region. Iraq has already used chemical weapons extensively against Iran and against its own Kurdish civilians, at Halabja, in March 1998, attacking them with mustard gas and the nerve agent Tabun and killing thousands in the process.
Nor should we forget that more than 600 Kuwaitis and others detained by Iraq during the Gulf war are still unaccounted for. That represents about 0.1 per cent. of the Kuwaiti population: to us, the equivalent would be about 50,000 British citizens unaccounted for. Those are not "unknown soldiers", to use my hon. Friend's phrase. Almost all the Kuwaiti missing are civilians, some women and some elderly. To date, Iraq has provided sufficient information to close only three cases. Meanwhile, the families are left to suffer and grieve, not knowing the fate of their loved ones at the hands of the Iraqi regime.
My hon. Friend is right to be concerned about the humanitarian situation in Iraq--the Government are also concerned, but we reject the propaganda that seeks to hold the UN sanctions regime to blame. Let me remind my hon. Friend once again that food, medicines and goods for essential civilian needs are not prohibited under sanctions. That means that Iraq can and does import, for example, food, medicines, bandages, pencils, ambulances, chemotherapy drugs, educational materials, medical journals and school desks. Claims that the United Nations, or the United Kingdom itself, blocks those goods are nonsense.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi regime continues to refuse donations of humanitarian aid from third countries. While the Iraqi Government seek to exploit their people's suffering for their own propaganda purposes, the international community does what it can to protect the Iraqi people. The UN first put forward proposals for a humanitarian programme--the prototype for today's oil-for-food programme--in 1991. Iraq rejected them, despite complaints of severe humanitarian need. Faced with huge international pressure, Iraq eventually agreed to the oil-for-food programme in May 1996, but the start of the programme was delayed by seven months, until December 1996, while Iraq haggled over the terms of implementation.
Under the programme, Iraq is currently permitted to sell $5.3 billion worth of oil every six months to fund the purchase of humanitarian goods. In addition to the food and medicine I mentioned earlier, Iraq is also allowed to import spare parts, equipment and materials for use in the water and sanitation, education, agricultural and demining sectors. Subsequent resolutions also expanded the humanitarian programme to allow a certain amount of repair to the Iraqi civilian infrastructure and some upgrading of Iraq's oil infrastructure.
According to the most recent UN report on the implementation of oil for food, the UN humanitarian programme is making a real difference to the humanitarian situation in Iraq. However, for the Iraqi people to get the most out of the programme, the Iraqi Government must also play their part. Once again, Baghdad has refused to engage properly with the UN. Despite constant encouragement from the UN, the Government of Iraq refuse to make any efforts to prioritise properly what is purchased for the humanitarian programme, or to target the programme on the most vulnerable.
The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iraq, Max van der Stoel, expressed concern in his February report that Iraq had not yet concluded contracts to the full value of available resources for the purchase of high protein biscuits or therapeutic milk. That was reinforced in April by a UN spokesman who said that Iraq was not ordering enough food for its malnourished children and pregnant women. Since late November, Iraq has submitted only two contracts for food, worth only $3 million, although it had been allocated $16 million for that purpose.
The UN special rapporteur further observed continuing problems with Iraqi distribution of goods. The available resources were not being channelled to the people in the southern governorates who were the worst off and in the greatest need. According to the latest UN reports, approximately £300 million worth of medical goods--more than half of all the medicines delivered to Iraq since the oil-for-food programme began in 1996--is still in warehouses awaiting distribution.
It is noticeable that oil for food has had a substantially greater impact on the humanitarian situation in northern Iraq where the Iraqi regime has no involvement in the implementation of the programme. In the north, for example, 92 per cent. of medical equipment procured by the United Nations agencies since the start of the programme has been distributed. According to the latest UN reports, general malnutrition there is decreasing.
The suffering of the Iraqi people as a result of the tactics of the Iraqi Government contrasts sharply with the wealth and luxury that is enjoyed by Saddam Hussein and his regime. Forbes magazine recently estimated Saddam's net worth at some $6 billion, ranking him the sixth richest head of state in the world. Such wealth derives from years of exploitation, and lately from smuggling large quantities of oil products out of the country for illegal sale. Needless to say, the proceeds of those sales go straight to members of the regime, rather than to the people who need them most--hence our efforts to crack down on the trade. Instead of spending its money on humanitarian goods, the regime imports vast quantities of whisky and cigarettes--since 1 January, more than 5,000 cases of whisky and more than 53,000 cartons of cigarettes have been delivered to Iraq.
As well as our efforts at the UN to improve the humanitarian situation in Iraq, since 1991 we have donated around £100 million in aid--bilaterally and via the EU--making us one of the largest donors. Our current programme focuses on projects in water and sanitation, hospital rehabilitation, village rehabilitation, assistance to vulnerable groups and demining.
However, we also believe that it is in the interests of the UN, the Iraqi people and the rest of the middle east that Iraq make real progress towards compliance so that sanctions can be lifted. We have therefore been working in the Security Council to make that goal a real possibility.
In April, we and the Netherlands circulated a draft Security Council resolution, based on the findings of the three expert panels established by the council in January to consider disarmament and humanitarian and Kuwaiti issues. Our aim is that that draft will provide a basis for the Security Council to re-engage with Iraq and, if Iraq chooses, provide a way out of the present stalemate.
Mr. Harry Cohen (Leyton and Wanstead):
Will my hon. Friend explain what is in it for Iraq if it accepts the United Kingdom resolution at the United Nations? From Iraq's perspective, the lifting of sanctions has been
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