14. Memorandum submitted by UNICEF
ADEQUACY OF
HUMANITARIAN PLANNING
AND RESPONSE
DURING THE
COURSE OF
THE CONFLICT
AND SINCE
THE END
OF THE
CONFLICT
— Pre-/during the war: UNICEF,
jointly with other UN agencies and the ICRC undertook focussed
planning before the war and pro-actively implemented much of the
preparedness plan prior to 20 March, despite the very limited
resources available. UNICEF advanced over $ 2.4 million and allocated
another $ 2 million from its own resources and took an additional
loan of $ 5 million from UNOCHA CERF to enable the implementation
of preparedness activities with training of staff, including those
of NGOs and government partners and pre-positioning of equipment
and supplies in Iraq and in the surrounding countries. UNICEF
issued a funding request for $ 14 million and had received US$10M[14]
prior to the start of the conflict.
— Importance of Preparedness:
This pro-active approach allowed UNICEF to set up as many as eight
new offices (Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Cyprus, Jordan) across the
region in order to properly respond to the crisis. All offices
were staffed by redeployed international staff from the UNICEF
offices in Iraq supported by locally recruited staff and UNICEF
international staff from other countries.
Looking back, one should bear in mind the difficulties
of planning, in a pre-war situation given the sensitivities and
uncertainties related to the potential conflict at the time. Neighbouring
countries were reluctant to participate in planning for a conflict
they were trying to avoid. Similar concerns were raised by donor
countries who did not wish to be perceived as supporting the incoming
conflict through financial contributions to preparedness. In addition,
one concern was the lack of mechanism within the donor community
for allocation of funds to preparedness activities.
— UNICEF focus prior and during
the conflict: UNICEF's focus was on vulnerable population
groups: children under five, pregnant women, institutionalized
children and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The key risk
factors addressed, particularly for children under five were:
(a) Emergency Immunisation campaign,
with Polio campaign and mop up Measles and Diphteria-Polio-Tetanus
(DTP) campaigns benefiting over 4.2 million children under five,
(b) Malnutrition: High Protein Biscuits
(HPB) and Therapeutic Milk (THM) distributed to mothers of malnourished
children and pediatric hospitals respectively: 1,575 Metric Tons
of HPB and 155 MT of THM distributed in country to 68 pediatric
hospitals , 560 Primary Health Care centers and 2,800 Community
Child Care Units, with another 1,500 MT of HPB, 5 MT of THM and
25 MT of UNIMIX were pre-positioned in surrounding countries
(c) Accute Respiratory Infections (emergency
health kits pre-positioned for up to two million children, of
which supplies were partially distributed pre-conflict to PHCs,
and some kept in stock for IDPs), and;
(d) Water and Sanitation(73 generators
overhauled and kept functioning in Baghdad during the war for
water treatment plants and sewage pumping stations, mobile pumping/filtering
units provided with water bladders, support to water tankering
and provision of above one million sachets of Oral Rehydration
Salt , with another 350,000 stored for quick distribution).
In addition, children residing in institutions
were provided with food and non-food items days before the start
of the conflict. Four institutions in Baghdad and two in Kerbala
(orphaned children, physically/mentally disadvantaged children).
— It is noteworthy that, during the
conflict, UNICEF activities continued unabated. Despite the risks
for their life, over 200 UNICEF national staff continued providing
humanitarian support through both physical supplies distribution
and emergency repairs (in particular in the water sector).
SINCE THE
END OF
THE FIGHTING:
— Support since the end of physical
fighting: Despite the adverse conditions above mentioned, and
thanks to its geographic positioning of offices, staff and supplies
throughout the sub-region, UNICEF has been able to deliver limited
but crucial humanitarian supplies, above and beyond what had already
been pre-positioned and delivered pre or during conflict, including
tankering of up to two million liters per day of water in the
south of the country, emergency health kits, nutrition supplies
such as high protein biscuits and therapeutic milk, School in
a Box Kits, and other critical supplies.
— The commitment to children is so
high, that immediately after the end of the fighting, when the
looting and burning of Baghdad was at its height, UNICEF's national
staff dug into their own pockets and pulled together $95,000 to
keep the UNICEF office and program running. As a result, the UNICEF
office was closed for just three days during the conflict.
— Major constraints and issues in the
response to humanitarian needs: During the third week of May,
Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF visited Iraq. The
outcome of her trip was reported on at the statement of UNICEF
to the Security Council of 22 May 2003. UNICEF's views of the
current situation and its impact of children were summarized as
follows:
— The ability of UN staff to reach
those most in need is severely compromised by the lack of law
and order in the south and center of the country, where strict
security measures are still in place for the protection of UN
staff. Fear of insecurity is keeping particularly women and
girls at home. There have been some improvements over the past
days, however these will need to be sustained. Relations with
the British military in the south have been positive, for example,
the British Forces have promised to help facilitate security for
the delivery of water by UNICEF in various locations of Basrah
Governorate.
— Besides security the other major
constraints to re-establish basic public services are:
— Non payment (or very slow
payment) of salaries;
— Non-availability of
recurrent/operational budgets;
— Limited transport (many
vehicles were looted);
— Lack of communications
facilities between public servants, between ministries and between
Baghdad and the governorates.
— UNICEF's second priority, closely
tied to the first: getting all children back in school as soon
as possible. Best estimates suggest that about 80% of Iraq's 8,500
primary school facilities have re-opened, and UNICEF has delivered
hundreds of school-in-a-box kits to encourage and support this
process. Our commitment is to deliver enough kits to supply all
3.5 million primary school-aged children with learning supplies
by September. UNICEF is also printing 15 million exam booklets
to make sure that children do not have to repeat the school year.
However, in the south and center of the country, attendance rates
remain well below the pre-war average of 75%—which in itself
was an unacceptably low rate. UNICEF believes that restarting
education empowers communities, makes an immediate difference
to the lives of children and parents, and builds a civil society.
Hence UNICEF continues to advocate for getting all Iraqi children
back into school as quickly as possible.
— UNICEF is especially concerned
about the impact of the current power struggles on women in Iraqi
society. We are concerned about reports that parents are afraid
to send their girls because of insecurity and that some female
teachers have not returned to the classroom. Girls need solid
role models in public and professional life. Iraqi women lost
a lot of ground under the sanctions in terms of their participation
in the social, economic and political life of their country. At
this juncture in Iraq's history, every effort should be made to
ensure that Iraqi women are part of the reconstruction process.
It would be a great disservice to Iraq if its women are kept in
their homes out of fear for their lives.
— An additional security risk,
in particular to children, is the remaining mines and unexploded
ordnances, scattered in many areas of the territory. Reports from
the North of the country indicate that over 53% of mines/unexploded
ordnance (UXOs) incidents are affecting children. It would appear
that about 75% of these incidents are caused by tampering/playing
with UXOs. The total number of incidents in the North appears
to be over 300 since the end of the fighting. Similar types of
reports provide early indication that the number of mines/UXOs
incidents is also quite significant in South/Center, with the
two major sources of incidents being Iraqi ammunitions left behind
unprotected, and coalition sub-munitions remnants. In Baghdad
alone, there are an estimated 800 hazardous sites. UNICEF is an
active member of the Mine Action Coordination Team conducting
assessment of the situation of UXOs. Also awareness raising material
on the dangers of UXOs are included in School in a Box kits. More
assistance from Coalition forces on protecting civilian population
from this threat would be greatly needed.
— Relationship civilian/military: Throughout
the conflict, and since the ending of the fighting, on the ground
relationship between humanitarian actors and military forces have
consistently improved. Nevertheless, the confusion of roles between
these two major stakeholders have significantly and negatively
impacted on the support and assistance provided to the civilian
population in the immediate aftermath of the conflict. The NGOs
operating in Iraq have consistently requested that the humanitarian
coordination be done by the UN. While information flow and collaboration
efforts between army forces and humanitarian players have helped
smoothen their daily interaction in terms of location and protection
of particularly crucial infrastructure such as Water/Sewage Treatment
plant, hospitals, schools, or more recently humanitarian convoys
into Iraq, it is clear by now that the time and energy spent on
both sides in order to achieve this could surely have been put
to better use would the roles of the respective stakeholders not
have been unnecessarily blurred and better planned.
— The state of the health sector including
staffing and availability of medical supplies: The central drugs
warehouse in Baghdad has, according to the WHO, a large amount
of supplies with exception of those for chronic diseases (cancer,
diabetes, ect.). The pre-war ruling that drugs must be "purchased"[15]
by hospitals and health centers has prevented their distribution
for lack of resources or unwillingness of some militia controlling
PHCs and hospitals to continue paying for drugs. On May 10, a
decree was published announcing the temporary free distribution
of drugs. The UN (WHO/UNICEF) will support the transportation
of drugs to hospitals and PHCs. UNICEF has been focusing it efforts
on re-establishing the country's Expanded Programme of Immunization
(EPI) system as our main priority for protecting the health of
Iraqi children. The size and importance of this endeavor can not
be underestimated.
Two major concerns for UNICEF currently are
immunization services and maternal/child care. Given pre-conflict
low rate of routine immunizations especially for measles, UNICEF
is working with all concerned on a quick return of routine immunization
services as a one of the top priorities in the Health sector.
Funds already provided by DFID on this particular sector (USD
5 million) will be extremely instrumental in providing the ability
to quick start such program activities, while assessment on the
ground will determine the need for potential future emergency
measles. Immunization campaigns need to be continued to safeguard
Iraq's polio-free status over the last three years.
Restoring child immunization has been a key
effort of UNICEF. In the south, all required vaccines have been
received and distributed to the governorates of Misan, Basra,
Thiqar and Muthana, and MOH will be reactivating the immunization
program in these four governorates soon. Vaccines for the centre
of Iraq will arrive in Baghdad on 27 May and in the north by 2
June. By the end of the first week of June, routine immunization
should be completely reactivated across the country. A defaulter
campaign is in the planning stages at this point to make up for
the fact that there has been no immunization done in the past
two months. UNICEF estimates that 120,000 children have been born
since the outbreak of the war and that none of these infants has
been vaccinated to date. They will have to be traced and vaccinated
as soon as possible.
— The state of the civilian infrastructure,
especially water and electricity supplies: Civilian infrastructure
has greatly suffered from the amount of looting and destruction
that has taken place during or immediately following the conflict.
It is also linked to a significant exodus of top and middle management
technical experts, either due to their fear of being prosecuted
or persecuted because of their prior affiliation to the Ba'ath
party. Most also view the $ 20 incentive offered by the current
authority as inappropriate considering their financial needs increased
by the current inflation.
Lack of grid electricity is a major problem.
Water Treatment Plants are operating on generators or not at all.
Water and sewage treatment plants are extremely dependant on
the availability of electricity, with some functioning only a
few hours a day. In Baghdad, the al-Rustumiya water sewage plant
has been looted for a second time after repairs. As a result,
untreated sewage generated by 3 million people is being dumped
into the Tigris River. As there is none or limited garbage collection,
solid waste is piling up in public spaces creating fertile grounds
for the spread of diseases. The focus is now upon repairing critical
infrastructure in water and sanitation.
— Availability of resources: UNICEF
has issued a Crisis Appeal for Iraq totalling US$166 million to
cover needs in the crucial areas of water and sanitation, health,
education, and protection including landmine awareness for children
and women. As of 30 May, UNICEF's appeal has raised US $ 88.2
million (53%), out of a total of 166 million. This includes contributions
totalling $ 15.9 million from DFID broken down into:
$819,670 Health/WES (against CAP)
$3,174,600 For preparedness activities
$5,622,619 WES (against Flash Appeal)
$5,075,766 Immunisation (against Flash Appeal)
$448,133 Mine Risk Education (against Flash Appeal)
The funds were used as follows:
For Preparedness:
— To support nutrition activities,
procuring supplemental and therapeutic feeding supplies such as
High Protein Biscuits and Therapeutic Milk
For post conflict relief operations:
— Water and Sanitation: water tankering,
repairs damages inflicted on water supply system, and to provide
urgently needed water treatment chemicals.
— Health: to procure vaccines and cold
chain equipment to sustain routine immunization across the country.
— Mine risk Education: to carry out
an assessment of contaminated areas and developing mine risk messages
through various media outlets.
— UNICEF does not expect its own component
of the Flash Appeal to be substantially affected by the on-going
revision. UNICEF's planning for refugees was minimal ($ 24 million).
UNICEF is using the Appeal in complementarity with the Oil-for-Food
Programme (OFFP) to procure essential emergency immediate needs.
— Oil-for Food Programme: As of 30
May, under the provisions of SCR 1472 and 1476, UNICEF has identified
19 priority contracts with a total value of US $ 40,401724.82
million which could be shipped by the deadline of 3 June mostly
in the sectors of water and sanitation, nutrition and education.
Adding storage, delivery, installation and quality assurance to
this brings the total forecasted budget cost to $ 42,137,125.82
million. UNICEF has to date submitted 19 contract amendments to
the Office of Iraq Programme (OIP). OIP has approved the UNICEF
budget for implementation of these contracts. Under the provisions
of SCR 1483, UNICEF is now looking into the possibility of adopting
additional contracts which could be shipped before the deadline
of 21 November.
— Reconstruction needs and implementation
of SCR 1483: Plans are moving forward on the meeting on 23 June
on the revision of the flash Appeal to be led by the Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), to be followed
by a meeting on reconstruction to be led by Mark Malloch Brown,
UNDP Administrator, as chairman of the United Nations Development
Group (UNDG) . This will be a preparatory meeting for the conference
on Reconstruction to be held in September 2003. The purpose of
the preparatory meeting on June 24 would be to build consensus
and gain agreement among various stakeholders on:
— Priority sectors for the conduct
of needs assessments
— The methodology, approach, terms
of reference and participation in the needs assessments;
— Consensus on key cross-cutting themes
(gender, vulnerable groups, IDPs and refugees, human rights, etc)
and how they would be integrated in the needs assessments; and
— A broad understanding of the scope,
objectives, agenda and expected outcomes of the September conference.
The World Bank has expressed a strong desire
to work closely with the UN in preparing for the 24 June meeting
and has suggested joint presentations.
— The Development fund for Iraq will
be a key factor in Iraq's reconstruction. However, the UN's capacity
to advocate for and influence social and economic policy and investment
over the coming years would be greatly strengthened if its role
as a member of the Advisory Board is not limited to fiscal monitoring
and auditing. The UN has an obligation to promote the Millennium
Development goals and ensure protection of vulnerable groups as
envisaged in the Millennium declaration.
— UNICEF is actively involved by co-chairing
the UNDG working group on recovery and reconstruction, which will
be instrumental in planning the UN's response to recovery and
reconstruction needs, along with the newly appointed SRSG. UNICEF
has offered to lead the needs assessments in the sectors of water
and sanitation, child protection and primary education. UNICEF
will partner with WHO on the health sector needs assessment.
— UNICEF is collaborating with the
World Bank and UNDP on a Watching Brief on Iraq. We are organizing
the sections on health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education,
and child protection. The Watching Brief aims to develop a mutually
agreed upon baseline of the best possible information on social
sectors in Iraq. The methodology will include a desk review in
June, followed by detailed assessments July—December.
2 June, 2003
14 80% of which were from internal UNICEF/UN reserves. Back
15
Drugs were heavily subsidized but a nominal amount was requested
as in the case of the food basket to assist in covering operational
costs. Back
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