Fast for Economic Justice for Iraq

Lisa Faulkner, Rita Jankowska-Bradley, Cynthia Banas, Cathy Breen, Farah Mokhtareizadeh, Kathy Kelly, Caoimhe Butterfly, and Jeff Leys are on the fourteenth day of a fast to protest the injustice of the war reparations process and to call for the cancellation of further payments.in Geneva, Switzerland, solidarity fasts are taking place, locally, in San Francisco, and in Palo Alto, at Lytton Plaza, June 29th from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. The United Nations Compensation Commission (U.N.C.C.) will decide upon war reparations claims filed against Iraq due to Saddam Hussein’s invasion and occupation of Iraq in 1990-91. The U.N.C.C. will consider 65 billion dollars in war reparations claims filed against Iraq and determine what amount of these claims to impose at the conclusion of its meeting on June 30th.

The U.N.C.C. has already imposed 52 billion dollars in claims against Iraq, of which Iraq has paid 19 billion dollars. The overwhelming majority of the outstanding unpaid imposed charges would be due to Kuwait and its state owned enterprises.

“We traveled to Geneva to fast, to go without food for 16 days, in the hopes that our small sacrifice would in some manner awaken the conscience of the international community to the economic warfare being waged against the Iraqi people,” says Caoimhe Butterly of Ireland. “Our sacrifice is indeed minimal compared to the suffering of the Iraqi people. Child malnutrition has nearly doubled since the occupation of Iraq began. Hospitals remain in disrepair and shortages of medicine are rampant. Electricity is sporadic at best. Security is virtually non-existent.

“And yet at this moment of crisis in the lives of Iraqis,” Ms. Butterly continues, “the United Nations stands poised to impose up to another 65 billion dollars in war reparations claims against Iraq. The Iraqi people had no choice when Saddam Hussein’s regime invaded Kuwait. He was wrong to do so. It is equally wrong to continue to punish the Iraqi people for the crimes of Saddam Hussein.”

The fast seeks:
1) An immediate moratorium on war reparations payments and claims followed by a U.N. Security Council resolution canceling all reparations imposed against Iraq;
2) The elimination of all odious debt incurred by Saddam Hussein’s regime as determined by an odious debt arbitration tribunal in which Iraq has full due process rights;
3) That no economic conditions be imposed upon Iraq by the international community through such mechanisms as an International Monetary Fund (IMF) stand-by-agreement or otherwise;
4) Full funding for the reconstruction of Iraq which benefits the Iraqi people, is directed by the Iraqi people, and is without any strings attached.

Under the Oil for Food Program, 25-30% of Iraq’s oil revenue was put towards war reparations. Since May 2003 the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution requiring that 5% of Iraq’s oil revenues henceforth be used to pay war reparations.

The Fast was initiated by Jubilee Iraq and Voices in the Wilderness. Participants include representatives from Jubilee Iraq, Voices in the Wilderness, Jubilee USA Network, Progressive Democrats of America, and Coalition for Democracy in Haiti. Kathy Kelly is a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize and co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness, a campaign to end economic and military warfare against Iraq. Caoimhe Butterfly is an Irish activist who lived in Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion and during the occupation of Iraq. Ms. Butterly currently organizes in solidarity with Iraqi unionists who are struggling to prevent the privatization of the oil industry. In Palo Alto, WILPF member, Carol Brouillet, will be fasting at her weekly “Listening Project.”