Is it true that 500,000 Iraqi children died due to UN sanctions against Iraq?

There is a version that the Antihirac sanctions of the UN, introduced in 1990 due to the invasion of Iraq in Kuwait, led to the death of half a million Iraqi children. We checked whether these statistics are correct.

Information about “half a million Iraqi children” is often associated with the name of the former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, who advocated the introduction and tightening of sanctions. After her death on March 23, 2022, many media remembered how, in response to statistics on half a million children's deaths, Albright answered: “We think it was worth it” (“Russia 1""Moscow Komsomolets" RIA "News", "TASS" REGNUM, Forbes.ru, "Gazeta.ru"). Margarita Simonyan named the same figure on the television channel NTV. The assertion of half a million children who died from American sanctions can often be seen in users' posts "VKontakte" Facebook, Telegram, Twitter And Livejournal.

Madeleine Olbrait held the post of US Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001. While still a constant representative of the United States at the UN Olbright zano Supported sanctions against Iraq. In 1996, during an interview, the program “60 minutes”, Leading Leslie Stal, asked Albright question On the consequences of anti -Irakan sanctions:

Stal: “We heard that half a million children died. I mean, this is more children than died in Hiroshima. And, in your opinion, is it worth it? "
Albright: “I think this is a very difficult choice. But we think that it is justified. ”

Then, however, Albright I expressed it regret about his words, but the quote was rooted in the memory of people all over the world. Despite a wide resonance, few doubted the correctness of the question of the very question: did the sanctions against Iraq really led to the death of half a million children?

The sanctions against Iraq were Introduced UN Security Council on August 6, 1990, four days after invasion Iraq in Kuwait. The UN sanctions regime forbade any forms of trade and economic relations with Iraq. The supply of drugs and food was allowed, but were thoroughly subjected to regulations. One of the most intact problems was the ban on the import of chlorine into Iraq, since chlorine could be used to create a fighting poisonous gas IPRITA. Lack of chlorine Conducted To a sharp reduction in the access of the population to drinking water and chronic outbursts of dysentery among children under five years old. Lack of drugs, antiseptics and vaccines in kindergartens too brought To the outbreaks of many diseases, such as measles, chickenpox and epidemic mumps.

The theme of the influence of sanctions on the level of child mortality subsequently became the subject of speculation. In December 1995, a little more than five years after the imposition of sanctions, the authoritative medical journal Lancet published the results research Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, UN organization, which is engaged in hunger). According to the authors of the study, due to the economic sanctions of the UN against Iraq, about 576,000 Iraqi children died. The authors received this figure as follows: Dr. Mary Smith Favzi examined 2,120 children under 10 years old in 25 districts of Baghdad. According to her observations, the mortality of infants doubled, and the mortality of children under five years old - five times compared to data, collected Favzi herself in 1991. Applying this formula, scientists calculated that such a percentage of mortality will bring about 567,000 children's deaths for 3.6 million children living in Iraq. Many scientific publications quoted Conclusions of the FAO report, and opponents of sanctions began operate This figure to convince the world community to soften the sanctions regime.

But the most commonly quoted study was conducted after another four years by the UN children's fund (UNICEF). In 1999, UNICEF Published Similar data: due to the sanctions of the UN against Iraq, more than 500,000 children allegedly died. This conclusion was based on a comparison of children's mortality trends in the 1980s and 1990s. The report claimed that if the trend to reduce the mortality rate of children in the 1980s continued during the 1990s, then hypothetically children's deaths in the country could be half a million less.

However, in 2017, researchers from the London School of Economics described The study of UNICEF as “falsification” and “especially skillful fraud”. In their opinion, there were serious shortcomings in the UNISEF report. For example, high child mortality in the early years of sanctions was partly determined by the repressions carried out by the Iraqi government against the Kurds in the north of Iraq in 1988-1992. In addition, UNISEF’s conclusions were based on the data provided by the Iraqi government, and the reliability of these data was not confirmed by an independent way. Authors of the 2017 report brought The data of three other independent studies of the UN, which have not revealed a significant difference in the levels of child mortality before and after imposing sanctions. In response to criticism, UNICEF said in press releasethat their 1999 study "did not seek to receive absolute figures about how many children died in Iraq as a result of sanctions." Instead, they wanted to show that “if a significant decrease in children's mortality in Iraq in the 1980s continued during the 1990s-in other words, if there were not two wars, if the sanctions were not introduced and if investments in social services continued, perhaps children's deaths would be 500,000 less”.

Another study of Professor Columbia University Richard Garfield Fixed Approximately “106,000 excess deaths among children under the age of five from August 1990 to March 1998.” Of these deaths, according to his assessment, a quarter were associated with the consequences of the Gulf of Persian.

Thus, as later independent studies have shown, UNICEF data on half a million who died Iraqi children are not true. The statistics of children's mortality, used in the UNICEF report, was greatly overstated by the Iraq government to discredit supporters of sanctions and soften the sanctions regime. And the insignificant increase in children's deaths in the 1990s was partly due to the war in the Persian Gulf, the repression of the Kurdish population in the north of the country and the humanitarian crisis caused by the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein. To a similar conclusion They came Our colleagues from the Arabic Factor agency Misbar, which explores issues relating to the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

Image on the cover: Unicef

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. The Washington Post. Saddam Hussein Said Sanction Killed 500,000 Children. That was ‘a spectacular life.’
2. Misbar. US Sanctions Vid Not Kill 500,000 Iraqi Children