[women-rights] Beyond Collateral Damage: MADRE Calls for Humanitarian Perspective on Iraq

For Immediate Release
Contact: Yifat Susskind, Associate Director
(212) 627-0444; madre@madre.org


BEYOND COLLATERAL DAMAGE:
WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION CALLS FOR HUMANITARIAN PERSPECTIVE ON IRAQ WAR

New York, January 24, 2003 ­ Preempting the findings of UN weapons
inspectors, due to be presented on January 27, the Bush Administration
has plans to bomb Baghdad, a city of five million people. This would
cause a humanitarian catastrophe equivalent to a heavy air bombardment
of Los Angeles.  MADRE, an international women's human rights
organization, calls on members of the media to convey the impact of a
US-led bombing on Iraq's civilian population.

A report issued by UN planners on December 10, 2002
(http://www.casi.org.uk) estimates that 500,000 people are likely to be
injured in a US-led attack. Many more civilians are likely to die from
longer-term effects of a bombing, including environmental damage and the
destruction of food supplies, agriculture and critical infrastructure,
such as pharmaceutical plants and hospitals.  Officials from
international aid agencies warn of widespread humanitarian disaster in
the event of a bombing.

MADRE is available to speak about the under-reported impacts of a
military strike against Iraq, including grave threats to the human
rights of women and families.

The destruction of civilian infrastructure: Public health officials fear
widespread outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and malaria as a result of
water contamination if the US bombs electricity grids that power Iraq's
water treatment and sewage plants as it did in 1991. Twelve years of
US-led sanctions have left Iraq's public health sector without basic
medicines or supplies to contend with outbreaks of waterborne diseases.

Radioactive weapons: The US arsenal includes radioactive uranium-tipped
bombs known to cause cancer and severe birth defects. Nobel Peace Prize
nominee Dr. Helen Caldicott reports that southern Iraq has experienced a
six to 12-fold increase in incidences of childhood leukemia and cancer
since depleted uranium was dropped on the area in 1991.

Mass hunger: Iraqis are fearful that the US will bomb food facilities as
it did in Iraq in 1991 and in Afghanistan in 2001. As a consequence of
sanctions, over 60 percent of Iraqis are dependent on monthly food
rations from the government. Aid officials warn that food distribution
is almost certain to be disrupted by bombing and that more than three
million people will face hunger or starvation in the event of a war.

A million Iraqis killed by sanctions: Iraq's civilian population is
already extremely vulnerable as a result of US-led economic sanctions
and intermittent bombing by US and British forces. According to UNICEF
and the World Health Organization, sanctions have resulted in the deaths
of more than one million people to date. Nearly 60 percent of the dead
are children under the age of seven, most of whom died from starvation
and preventable disease, such as dehydration caused by diarrhea.

As a leading international women's organizations working to defend and
promote the human rights of women in conflict zones around the world,
MADRE has long been aware of the distinct and often disproportionate
impact of armed conflict on women and girls. "Because of their
universally assigned role as caretakers, women are primarily responsible
for those made most vulnerable by war ­ children, the sick and elderly,"
states MADRE Executive Director Vivian Stromberg. "When bombs destroy
homes, hospitals, schools and food markets, people's basic needs do not
disappear. In fact, they intensify and it is left to women to meet the
tremendous needs generated by the sharp rise in trauma, disability,
disease and homelessness that are the known outcomes of war."

Comprehensive and meaningful coverage of the US campaign against Iraq
must include the perspective of those who will be most directly impacted
by an attack, namely, ordinary Iraqi women and their families. Vivian
Stromberg, MADRE's Executive Director and Yifat Susskind, MADRE's
Associate Director, are available for interviews on the crisis
confronting Iraqi civilians.

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MADRE is an international women's human rights organization that works
in partnership with women's community-based groups in conflict areas
worldwide to address issues of women's health, economic development and
other human rights.

Vivian Stromberg, MADRE's Executive Director and founding board member,
has worked for over 40 years as an activist in the peace and justice
movement. Following the Gulf War in 1991, she delivered 10 tons of milk
and medicine to Iraqi women and families. Her areas of expertise include
women's economic development, US foreign policy, health care, popular
education, sexual violence, human rights and child development.

Yifat Susskind, MADRE's Associate Director, was born and raised in
Israel and was active in the Israeli women's peace movement for several
years. She has been a writer, analyst and activist on human rights and
social justice issues for 15 years.