The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
The UN
Oil-for-Food (OFF) programme was established by resolution 986 in
April 1995.
Implementation
began in May 1996 after the signing of a Memorandum of
Understanding
between the
UN and the Iraqi Government.194
The
programme allowed Iraq to export its oil and use a portion of the
proceeds to buy
humanitarian
supplies.195
Revenue
from the oil sales was allocated to different tasks:
•
72 percent for
humanitarian supplies;
•
25 percent for
the UN compensation fund for Kuwait;
•
2.2 percent
for the UN’s OFF administration costs;
•
0.8 percent
for the UN’s Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission
(UNMOVIC).
Funds
allocated for humanitarian supplies were used in accordance with a
distribution
plan
approved by the UN.
The Iraqi
Government implemented OFF in central and southern Iraq, with the
UN in an
observer
role. UN agencies implemented OFF in northern Iraq, either directly
or through
contractors
and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Nine UN
agencies operated in Iraq under the OFF: the Food and Agriculture
Organization
(FAO); the
UN Settlements Programme (HABITAT); the International
Telecommunications
Union
(ITU); the UN Development Programme (UNDP); the UN Educational,
Scientific
and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF);
the UN Office
for Project
Services (UNOPS); the World Food Programme (WFP); and the World
Health
Organization
(WHO).
By 2002,
OFF had been expanded to include infrastructure rehabilitation and
24 “sectors”,
including
health, electricity, education, water and sanitation, and oil
industry parts and
The UN
published reports on its activities under OFF, both on the UN
Office of the Iraq
Programme
(UNOIP) website197
and on
individual agency websites.198
The UN
Secretary-General provided regular reports on the performance of
the programme
to the
Security Council.199
346.
According to
the DFID report, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) assessed
that
about half
of Iraq’s schools were physically unsafe and unfit for teaching,
and the UN
Development
Programme (UNDP) estimated that around a third of six-year-olds
had
no access
to basic education. Adult literacy levels were estimated to have
fallen from
89 percent
in 1985 to 57 percent in 1997, and to have continued to decline
thereafter.
UNICEF also
reported that infant and child mortality levels in central and
southern Iraq
194
UN Office
of the Iraq Programme, About the
Programme: Oil-for-Food.
195
Paper DFID,
11 October 2002, ‘Iraq: Potential Humanitarian
Implications’.
196
UN Office
of the Iraq Programme, About the
Programme: Oil-for-Food.
197
UN Office
of the Iraq Programme, Oil-for-Food.
199
Report of
the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraphs 7 and 8 of Security
Council
resolution 1409 (2002).
170