WRITTEN QUESTION P-2441/99

by Marco Pannella (TDI) to the Council

(13 December 1999)

Subject: Chemical, biological and radiological attacks on the Kurds in Iraq

During the campaign against the Kurds in 1988, which has been defined as genocidal and in which tens of thousands of people were killed or disappeared, the Iraqi regime bombed more than 200 villages in northern Iraq. In this operation the largest assault of its kind ever carried out against civilian populations enormous quantities of chemical and probably biological and radiological weapons were used. These contaminated the environment, including aquifers, in northern Iraq, whose rivers pass through the whole country and flow into the Persian Gulf.

In view of the reports concerning the high incidence of cancers and congenital malformations in children in Iraq, what steps has the High Representative for the CFSP taken or does he intend to take to ensure that the appropriate international organisations at long last study the condition of the water reserves to determine whether chemical, biological or radiological agents or derivatives from them are continuing to poison the population?

In the same context, what steps has the High Representative for the CFSP taken or does he intend to take to ensure that, after a delay of eleven years, the appropriate international organisations begin to concern themselves with the medical treatment of the survivors and to investigate what substances Saddam Hussein's regime used and whether they continue to present risks to the population?

Likewise in this light, can the High Representative for the CFSP indicate what steps he has taken or intends to take to study and assess the effects of chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction on agriculture in northern Iraq, including on livestock farming, forests and fisheries, as well as the impact on fauna and flora?

The Halabja Post Graduate Medical Institute (HMI), which was set up in the Kurdish region of Iraq in August 1999 to develop treatments and promote programmes of research on survivors of chemical attacks, faces numerous material and technical problems which could prevent it from attaining the objectives it has set itself.

Can the High Representative for the CFSP indicate whether he intends to send a delegation of experts to visit the HMI centre and see with their own eyes the specific medical requirements of the survivors of chemical, biological and radiological attacks and to assess the needs of the HMI in general?

Reply

(31 January 2000)

An Evaluation Report on the Humanitarian Situation in Northern Iraq of June 1999, commissioned and financed by the European Commission, gives an overview of the humanitarian situation in Kurdish controlled areas of northern Iraq. It is clear from the report that there are numerous necessary and urgent basic humanitarian needs that must be attended to, such as mine clearance, malnutrition and rehabilitation of water plants. To these necessary activities must be added study and assessment of the effects of chemical and other weapons of mass destruction on the overall living conditions in northern Iraq. The implementation of the oil-for-food programme needs to be speeded up and streamlined which requires the full cooperation of the Iraqi government. An effective implementation of humanitarian assistance would also be facilitated by an improvement of the political situation in northern Iraq. The recent normalisation measures agreed between the two main Kurdish Parties are important in this context. The Council, assisted by the Secretary General/High Representative for the CFSP, will continue to closely monitor the situation in Iraq, including the northern provinces, and contribute to ensuring an adequate response from the European Union when circumstances so permit to the needs of the Iraqi people.