The Iraqi population is burdened by a rapid rise in serious infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies among pregnant women and young children, and other treatable conditions for which neither drugs nor operations are available. WHO has estimated that every month five thousand children are dying from diseases related to sanctions. Diseases virtually unknown ten years ago, such as polio, measles and malaria, are now rampant and there are insufficient resources to prevent or treat them. The rising rate of cancer and congenital anomalies in Iraq is probably linked to exposure to chemicals and to the inhalation and ingestion of radioactive dust generated by the explosion of armour-piercing shells made from depleted uranium, which were used by US military forces in the Gulf War. Thousands of US soldiers, who served in Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and Desert Shield in 1991, have themselves also suffered from the Gulf War syndrome, characterised by severe fatigue, body pains, dizziness and memory loss.
Science has yet to prove or disprove the link.
The sanctions are also having profound social consequences. Sanctions violate international law and humanitarian law. It is abundantly clear that economic sanctions are a war against public health and that the lawlessness and inhumanity of lethal sanctions must be recognised as a form of genocide and a crime against humanity. The visit to Iraq should also remind Malaysians that economic sanctions have also been imposed against Cuba and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and that many other countries and states, devastated by internal conflicts and natural disasters, are also in need of humanitarian aid, such as East Timor and Mozambique. Economic embargoes, sanctions and blockades, wherever they are likely to endanger health, must be opposed.