June 16th to June 30th
Initiated by Jubilee Iraq* and Voices in the Wilderness**

Participants also include members of Jubilee USA and Progressive Democrats of America

As international social justice activists, including citizens of Iraq, the U.S. and the U.K., we stand united and resolved to seek an end to the ongoing economic exploitation of Iraq. Such exploitation 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.

Download the Geneva Fast for Economic Justice in Iraq in Arabic

جينيف للعدالة الاقتصادية في العراق

Iraq is saddled with enormous foreign financial claims incurred by Saddam Hussein and his regime. These claims take the form of war reparations imposed against Iraq for Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait as well as from the odious debt, coming from loans which financed his regime from 1981-90. These war reparations and odious debt ought to be canceled without limitations and without any conditions attached.

It is neither right nor just that the Iraqi people be required to pay in perpetuity for the regime of Saddam Hussein. Indeed, if the Iraqi people are required to pay off Saddam Hussein’s debts and war reparations, they will never be able to reclaim their lives. There are about $125 billion in debt claims, mostly from countries which were allies of Saddam Hussein throughout the 1980’s. Also about $33 billion has been awarded so far in war reparations against Iraq relating to the 1990-1 occupation of Kuwait. The United Nations Compensation Commission (U.N.C.C.) will hold its final ever meeting from June 28th to June 30th to decide how much to impose of another $65 billion in war reparations claims against Iraq.

It is also neither right nor just that the international community has foresworn its responsibility to rebuild Iraq after 14 years of brutal economic sanctions which destroyed the Iraqi health care, educational, electrical and water treatment systems.

How can the Iraqi people reclaim their country and their lives when saddled with over $150 billion debt of a regime which consistently acted against the interests of the people?

How can the Iraqi people reclaim their country and their lives when the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are imposing requirements for economic restructuring—the infamous so-called “shock therapy” of economics—which will create an economy that serves the interests of multinational corporations and international financial institutions rather than serving the interests of the Iraqi people?

How can the Iraqi people reclaim their country and their lives when the international community will not provide the funds necessary for Iraqis to begin to rebuild their country? Where are the funds promised for rebuilding by the United States, United Kingdom and others at the Madrid Donors Conference of 2003? And why are these funds not available as grants rather than as loans?

So we come to the steps of the United Nations in Geneva in order to fast for economic justice in Iraq. We call upon the international community to act for economic justice in Iraq and for the governments of the world to allow Iraqi people to simply live. Our cry for justice includes:

1. An immediate moratorium on war reparations payments and claims followed by a U.N. Security Council resolution canceling all reparations imposed against Iraq. We especially note that virtually all individual war reparations claims have been resolved and paid. The overwhelming remaining claims yet to be paid or to be decided are from state owned oil companies, multinational corporations or governments;
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 through such mechanisms as an International Monetary Fund (IMF) stand-by-agreement or otherwise;
4. Full funding for the reconstruction of Iraq in a manner which benefits the Iraqi people, is directed by the Iraqi people, and which does not come with any strings attached.

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 which passed unanimously in the Interim National Assembly condemning the odious debt and reparations.

• For more information about Jubilee Iraq please visit www.jubileeiraq.org.
• For more information about Voices in the Wilderness please visit www.vitw.org.