Initiated by Jubilee Iraq and Voices in the Wilderness
Geneva Fast for Economic Justice in Iraq
May 24, 2005 - International social justice activists (from Iraq, the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere) will gather in Geneva, Switzerland from June 15th to June 30th to demand economic justice for Iraqi citizens. The continued economic exploitation of Iraq's resources is a form of violence which must be resisted. Those of us who are citizens of the U.S. and U.K. bear a special responsibility as it is our respective countries which created and held firm to the economic sanctions regime which devastated Iraq's health care, education, water and electrical infrastructure.
The fast, beginning June 15th, will precede and continue to the conclusion of the final meeting of the United Nations Compensation Commission (U.N.C.C.), which takes place from June 28th to 30th. The U.N.C.C. determines which claims for war reparations relating to the occupation of Kuwait in 1990-1 are to be paid by Iraq and at what amount.
Fasters will address the issues of war reparations, debt cancellation, and reconstruction. Without each issue being resolved to the benefit of Iraqi citizens, the legacy of 15 years of economic and military warfare (1991 to the present) waged by the U.S., U.K. and others against Iraq will continue indefinitely, as will the legacy of Saddam Hussein's regime. The fast seeks:
- An immediate moratorium on war reparations payments and claims followed by a U.N. Security Council resolution canceling all reparations imposed against Iraq;
- 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;
- 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;
- Full funding for the reconstruction of Iraq which benefits the Iraqi people, is directed by the Iraqi people, and is without any strings attached.
The citizens of Iraq ought not be held responsible any longer for the actions of Saddam Hussein and his regime during this war. Already, Iraq has paid $19 billion out in war reparations. The U.N.C.C. has imposed another $33 billion in war reparations claims against Iraq which are yet to be paid. At its meeting of June 28th to June 30th, the U.N.C.C. will determine how much of the remaining $65 billion in claims will be paid by Iraq. This is expected to be the final meeting of the U.N.C.C. We take particular note that virtually all individual claims have been resolved and paid. The overwhelming remaining war reparations claims imposed against Iraq or yet to be decided are those of state owned oil enterprises, multinational corporations and claims by governments against Iraq.
Most people do not recognize or realize that under the Oil for Food Program, 25-30% of Iraq's oil revenue was put towards war reparations. These payments did not end with the dissolution of Oil for Food, since in 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.
We ask the simple yet profound question which is seldom heard:: At what point will the Iraqi people no longer be penalized for the unjust acts of the Saddam Hussein regime? We recall the harsh penalties imposed against Germany following World War I in the Treaty of Versailles. It is historical fact that these harsh penalties caused economic devastation in Germany which set the foundation for the emergence of the Hitler regime. War reparations imposed against countries following World War II were never fully paid, with one exception. For example, West Germany was released from war reparations payments in 1953 and East Germany was released from such payments in 1954.
We question why Iraq should be held out separate and distinct from the prior history of modern authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. When these regimes fell, subsequent governments were not required to assume blanket responsibility for war damage caused by the prior undemocratic regime.
We therefore call upon the U.N.C.C. and the United Nations to cancel any further war reparations already assessed against Iraq as well as any further assessment of such claims.
In a like manner, Saddam Hussein and his regime incurred significant debt which accrued solely to the benefit of him and his regime. The vast majority of this debt didn't benefit the Iraqi people and therefore must be considered "odious debt". Such "odious debt" ought to be canceled outright. In 1979, when Saddam Hussein seized control, Iraq had no long term debt and actually had $36 billion in cash reserves. By the eve of the war in 2003, Saddam's regime owed about $125 billion. Much of this is interest which accrued on the debt since 1990 when it became impossible for Iraq to repay any debt due to the economic sanctions.
Of the $125 billion claimed from Iraq, about $42 billion is claimed by countries which are members of the Paris Club. In November 2004, the Paris Club agreed to reduce their claims by up to 80%. However, only the first 30% of this debt reduction came without any strings attached. It can actually be plausibly be argued that this amount of debt reduction simply eliminates the interest accrued since 1990 and does not reduce the principal amount of the loan taken out by Saddam Hussein and his regime.
The next 30% of debt reduction will come only after Iraq has agreed to implement significant structural changes to its economy which are demanded by the International Monetary Fund. We expect that these changes will take a form similar to other instances in which the I.M.F. demanded economic "shock therapy" which resulted in massive disruption to the local economy and damage to people's lives. Indeed a good chunk of this is already being implemented under the guise of the legacy of the Orders issued by Paul Bremer when the Coalition Provisional Authority ruled Iraq.
The final 20% of debt reduction will come only after a minimum of 3 years and only after Iraq has demonstrated to the I.M.F. that it has implemented the I.M.F.'s prescribed economic restructuring.
Of the remaining $83 billion of debt claims, $67.3 billion is claimed by countries which are not part of the Paris Club; about ½ billion dollars claimed by international financial institutions; and $15 billion claimed by private creditors.
In a powerful statement following the Paris Club meeting in November 2004, the Interim Iraqi National Assembly asserted that the debt is largely odious and demanded a 95% reduction and also an end to war reparations. Indeed, unless a reduction of such a magnitude occurs, Iraq will not be able to attain economic sustainability and will forever remain a pauper nation.
We therefore call for the cancellation of all "odious debt" incurred by Saddam Hussein and his regime. We call for the establishment of an international arbitration tribunal which will determine which debts are legitimate and which are odious. We also call for debt reduction of those other legitimate debts which benefited the Iraqi people. We further call upon the Paris Club members, other sovereign countries and the international financial institutions to extend grants to Iraq as the people of Iraq rebuild their countries. All debt reduction and cancellation and all grants must come without strings attached.
Finally we call upon the major industrialized countries of the world to honor their pledges of financial assistance made at the Madrid Conference in the fall of 2003. Few countries have fully honored their pledges. The U.S. has led the slide back on its pledge of funding reconstruction of Iraq, diverting funds intended for such projects as electricity and water to war fighting. We call for the full funding of the reconstruction of Iraq by the international community, and most especially by the U.S. and U.K., in a manner which benefits the Iraqi people; is directed by the Iraqi people; and which does not come with any strings attached.
As we gather at the U.N.C.C. meeting in Geneva, Switzerland we ponder the wisdom of continuing to punish the Iraqi people for the sins of Saddam Hussein. The non-Iraqis among us recall that the governments of those countries of which we are citizens were allies and supporters of Saddam Hussein throughout the 1980's, the time period in which Iraq's outstanding debt was established. We also recall that it was our countries which waged economic warfare against the Iraqi people for the past 15 years in the form of economic sanctions. Those of us who are citizens of the U.S. and U.K. bear particular responsibility for this warfare and its legacy as our countries' governments sat on the U.N. Security Council and prevented any possible end to the sanctions regime.
Rather than requiring the Iraqi people to continue to pay for the crimes of Saddam Hussein, we believe that it is imperative that war reparations be paid to Iraq for the devastation caused by the past 15 years of economic and military warfare. To do otherwise will be a crime against the Iraqi people.
About the Initiating Organizations
Jubilee Iraq was formed in March 2003 as a network of Iraqis and internationals (including lawyers, economists, politicians, aid workers and others) dedicated to ensuring that the Iraqi people are not unjustly forced to pay Saddam's bills. It is independent and involves people of diverse political opinions who are all united on this issue. In 2004 it organized demonstrations at two UNCC meetings as well as at the Paris Club and the IMF Autumn summit in Washington. It organized a conference of Iraqi economists in Berlin and conducted an in-depth consultations with Iraqi civil society and political parties, culminating in a bill with passed unanimously in the Interim National Assembly condemning the odious debt and reparations.
Voices in the Wilderness was formed in 1996 to challenge and oppose the economic sanctions imposed against the people of Iraq. Voices was formed as a campaign of active nonviolence, advocates the use of nonviolence to resolve conflict and opposes the use of any form of violence- whether economic or military. Delegations traveled to Iraq, bringing medicine and other humanitarian supplies to Iraqis in violation of the economic sanctions and U.S. law, acts for which the U.S. government seeks to penalize Voices. Voices believes the imposition of war reparations claims against Iraq; demands for repayment of "odious debt"; and forced restructuring of Iraq's economy to benefit the IMF and non-Iraqi financial interests is a continuing of the economic and military warfare waged against Iraq since 1991. Voices opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the current occupation of Iraq. Voices also calls for full funding for the reconstruction of Iraq, without strings attached to the funding and as determined by the Iraqi people to be to their benefit and not the benefit of multinational corporations.
For more information about Jubilee Iraq please visit www.jubileeiraq.org.
For more information about Voices in the Wilderness please visit www.vitw.org.
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