Memorandum submitted by Oxfam
INTRODUCTION
1. Oxfam welcomes the International Development
Committee's evidence session on Iraq and the opportunity to submit
evidence. Oxfam teams are now in Basra, Nasiriyah and al-Hilla
in southern and central Iraq where they are working alongside
local water authority staff and UNICEF. We are working to repair
essential water facilities including mains pipes and motorised
water pumps in city pumping stations and provide new equipment
such as de-sludging pumps to prevent raw sewage building up in
stagnant lakes.
2. A small team of Oxfam staff is based
in Baghdad where they have assessed the security situation and
held meetings with UN officials, OCPA (the UK/US coalition provisional
authority that will run Iraq in the coming months) and other NGOs.
We would like to highlight some key issues arising from our programme
in this submission. We would also like to stress the importance
of a sustained and long-term commitment by the occupying power
to delivering reconstruction for the people of Iraq.
SECURITY
3. Insecurity is by far the biggest issue
throughout Iraq and while some improvement has been reported in
certain areas, in others the situation appears to be worsening.
Small arms are freely available in local markets and local people
are scared. Our team in Baghdad saw looted Kalashnikovs on sale
in the market for as little as $50. Unlike before the war, people
in Baghdad no longer go out after dark. Many are scared to leave
their houses for fear of looters. Those that do work, have to
leave early to get home before the gunfire and thieving starts.
The widely advertised joint patrols of Iraqi police and US forces
do not reach all areas of Baghdad—people in the poorer Shia
areas have never seen a coalition soldier, "I think the American
forces are afraid (to come here)", Sheik Sayid Mushtaq told
us in the Hay al-Tarik district of North East Baghdad.
4. The situation for women and girls is
particularly worrying. There are previously unheard of reports
of kidnappings and the rape of girls and women. Parents are terrified
to let their children out of the house. The following examples
were given to our staff: Eleven-year-old Adra Hussien's mother,
Karima, explained that she was too afraid to let her daughter
go to school so Adra accompanies her mother to Chuwada hospital
each day. On 14 May, during our team's visit, in the Dora district
of central Baghdad, 13 girls were kidnapped from school. The day
before, in Dijleh school in Rahbat, a teacher was held at gunpoint
and instructed to bring "these three" named girls to
the men who then took them away. Families in other parts of Iraq,
such as Nasiriyah are scared to send children to school because
of the reports they have heard from Baghdad.
5. There are signs of an increased religious
control of basic services in parts of Baghdad, as in other Southern
cities. The UN, OCPA and NGOs have all noted that in poorer, predominantly
Shia areas, in the absence of any formal security, religious Sheiks
and Imams are filling the void and establishing control of hospitals
and guarding of local facilities. Whilst this provides much-needed
security in the short term, in the longer term it does not bode
well for secular democracy.
6. Many Iraqis have expressed concern that
violent threats and repression are not part of the Iraq they know—a
secular and peaceful country where people of all religions lived
tolerantly side-by-side. Examples given to our staff include the
following: Letters threatening severe consequences for disobeying
the Koran have been stuck on walls and sent to individuals' homes.
A signed and stamped letter was sent to a widowed mother of two—a
UN staff member—saying that if she does not wear a veil,
killing, kidnap and burning of her house and occupants may follow.
The UN reported that in some towns in Southern Iraq such as Basra,
girls are being prevented from attending schools without a headscarf.
7. Oxfam believes that the occupying power,
or OCPA as they are now known, should be doing much more to ensure
a secure environment for the Iraqi people in post-war Iraq. There
should be a much greater security presence on the streets, with
troops carrying out this function until security forces are able
to do so.
CIVILIAN INFRASTRUCTURE
8. Throughout Iraq, people lack access to
basic services. Oxfam have noted that the needs are especially
critical in poorer, previously neglected parts of cities. However,
Oxfam has not been able to assess the needs in rural areas because
of security concerns. It is difficult to see how essentials such
as electricity supply and normal health care can be restored without
improved security. Furthermore, so long as insecurity continues,
parents will be reluctant to send their children, especially girls,
to school. The US military's message that things are returning
to normal is difficult to reconcile wth the regular power shortages,
lack of clean water and a number of reports of cholera.
9. Power is fundamental to restore any semblance
of normal life. Restricted electricity means intermittent street
lighting, ineffective water pumping stations and no guarantee
of cold storage for fresh food or vaccines and drugs. The coalition
has been working to restore electricity and Baghdad now has 1300MW
(just over 50% of OCPA stated requirements) although there are
still frequent power cuts. People on the outskirts of the city,
especially in the poorer areas are unlikely to benefit from this.
10. There is limited clean water, widespread
diarrhoea, and a number of reports of cholera. In Nasiriyah and
on the outskirts of Baghdad, our team saw people splitting open
water pipes near to their homes to access water. In Baghdad and
Al Hut we saw children are swimming in lakes and pools supplied
by sewage pipes and searching through garbage for anything of
value. UNICEF reported that USAID has contracted some garbage
collection but that the sub-contractor is using children to do
the collection and there are reports of some children stumbling
upon hidden unexploded bombs.
11. There is little paid work throughout
Iraq. Local Iraqi Water Authority staff with whom we work in the
South of the country have been working without salaries. Most
people, especially those in the private sector who were in work
before the war are now not being paid or not working. The salary
distribution to date by OCPA—the de facto goverment and
employer—is not meeting the needs or expectations of Iraqi
people. Statements by the coalition that $1million (in Iraqi dinar
from Iraq's own reserves) is being distributed each day in salaries
would equate to the insufficient sum of just over a dollar a month
for each Iraqi woman, man and child.
| 
