[Mb-civic] Iraqi Children Fared Better Under Saddam

[Michael Butler]

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    Children 'Starving' in New Iraq
    BBC

    Thursday 31 March 2005

    Increasing numbers of children in Iraq do not have enough food to eat
and more than a quarter are chronically undernourished, a UN report says.

    Malnutrition rates in children under five have almost doubled since the
US-led intervention - to nearly 8% by the end of last year, it says.

    The report was prepared for the annual meeting of the UN Human Rights
Commission in Geneva.

    It also expressed concern over North Korea and Sudan's Darfur province.

    UN specialist on hunger Jean Ziegler, who prepared the report, blames
the worsening situation in Iraq on the war led by coalition forces.

    He was addressing a meeting of the 53-nation commission, the top UN
rights watchdog, which is halfway through its annual six-week session.

    When Saddam Hussein was overthrown, about 4% of Iraqi children under
five were going hungry; now that figure has almost doubled to 8%, his report
says.

    Governments must recognise their extra-territorial obligations towards
the right to food and should not do anything that might undermine access to
it of people living outside their borders, it says.

    That point is aimed clearly at the US, but Washington, which has sent a
large delegation to the Human Rights Commission, declined to respond to the
charges, says the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva.

    Increasing Hunger

    Mr Ziegler also says he is very concerned about the lack of food in
North Korea, where there are reports that UN food aid is not being
distributed fairly.

    In Darfur, the continuing conflict has prevented people from planting
vital crops, he says.

    Overall, Mr Ziegler says, he is shocked by the fact that hunger is
actually increasing worldwide.

    Some 17,000 children die every day from hunger-related diseases, the
report claims, which it says is a scandal in a world which is richer than
ever before.

    "The silent daily massacre by hunger is a form of murder," Mr Ziegler
said. "It must be battled and eliminated."