10.4 |
Conclusions: Reconstruction
156.
It is possible
to consider the impact of the international community’s
reconstruction
efforts in
Iraq by looking at the changes in a number of key indicators. Table
1 presents
selected
economic and social indicators.
157.
In relation to
the economy:
•
Electricity
production fell from around 4,000 megawatts (MW) per day
before
the
invasion to 500MW in May 2003 (immediately after the invasion),
before
recovering
to around 4,000MW in June 2004 (the transition from Occupation
to
a sovereign
Iraqi Government).44
By 2009,
production was around 6,000MW.
•
Oil
production fell from around 2.9m barrels a day (bpd) before the
invasion to
around 0.3m
bpd in May 2003, before recovering to 2.3m bpd by June
2004.
By 2009,
production remained below pre‑conflict levels.
158.
The under‑five
mortality rate fell from 42 to 38 (per 1,000 live births) between
2003
and
2009.
159.
Perceptions of
corruption in Iraq worsened between 2003 and 2009. Iraq
fell
from 113th
out of 133 countries surveyed for Transparency International’s
Corruption
Perceptions
Index in 2003, to 176th out of 180 countries surveyed in
2009.
160.
The UN’s 2009
Common Country Assessment concluded that, while Iraq
had
fulfilled
its constitutional mandate requiring 25 percent of Parliamentary
seats to be filled
by women,
women remained under‑represented at higher levels within the public
sector
and
government.45
Women also
had higher illiteracy levels than men, participated in
smaller
numbers in the labour force, were paid less and were segregated
into certain
occupations.
A disproportionate number of households in poverty were headed
by
women.
44
Brookings
Center for Middle East Policy, 26 July 2013, Iraq Index,
Electricity.
45
UN,
2009, Common
Country Assessment: Iraq.
553