"It is the cornerstone of the Secretary-General's approach to the work of the United Nations in Iraq, as outlined in his report to you, that everything we do must be for the benefit and empowerment of the people and country of Iraq, must be decided on, by or in consultation with them, and must be aimed—sooner rather than later—at enabling the full restoration of sovereignty and Iraq's full return to the community of nations. The United Nations looks forward, as quickly as possible, to welcoming back one of its founding members as a full participant and will do all it can to ease and accelerate this process."
            —Sergio Vieira de Mello, Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq Briefing the Security Council on 22 July

This edition of the UN Chronicle E-Alert attempts a representative picture of what United Nations agencies have been—and are—doing in Iraq to address the immediate and longer-term needs of its people.

WFP—World Food Programme
In the largest food aid operation in its history, WFP expects to bring 2.2 million tonnes of food into Iraq by October.

FAO—Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FAO works to save Iraq's winter harvest.

UNHCR—Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNHCR prepares for the return of an anticipated 500,000 refugees and some 1 million internally displaced persons.

UNMAS—United Nations Mine Action Service
Landmines and unexploded ordnance scattered throughout Iraq pose a significant threat to many urban and rural communities, as well as to the mine clearance teams.

IAEA—International Atomic Energy Agency
At least 10 kilogrammes of uranium compounds could have been dispersed during the looting at a nuclear storage facility near Tuwaitha, an IAEA mission reports after a visit related to the safeguards agreement between Iraq and the IAEA, pursuant to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

OCHA—Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Working closely with key humanitarian partners with operational capacity on the ground, United Nations agencies help repair water, sanitation and power facilities, and provide education supplies to schools.

UNICEF—United Nations Children's Fund
Beyond education, a restart to the process of immunizing Iraq's 4.2 million children under the age of five against preventable diseases, such as polio, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, measles and tuberculosis.

UNFPA—United Nations Population Fund
"War or no war, more than 2,000 Iraqi women give birth every day", according to UNFPA, which intensifies support to safeguard the reproductive health of Iraqi women and their families.

WHO—World Health Organization
Damaged by years of underinvestment, economic sanctions and, most acutely, by weeks of conflict, the Iraqi health system is helped to get back on its feet.

UNEP—United Nations Environment Programme
Challenged by the risk of disease epidemics from accumulated municipal and medical wastes, environmental priorities for Iraq include restoring the water supply and sanitation systems, and cleaning up possible pollution "hot spots" and waste sites.

UNDP—United Nations Development Programme
As part of a two-phase approach, UNDP currently focuses on emergency infrastructure rehabilitation, particularly electricity, employment generation, and water and sanitation. The second phase will help address the longer-term recovery needs of Iraq.

World Bank—World Bank Group
The World Bank and the United Nations co-sponsor an assessment of the reconstruction needs in a wide range of sectors, including health, education, agriculture, water supply and sanitation, economic management and investment climate.

UN-Habitat—United Nations Human Settlements Programme
For its work on emergency assistance in Iraq, UN-Habitat, the lead UN agency for providing shelter and for urban reconstruction and rehabilitation, draws upon its seven years of experience in northern Iraq under the Oil-for-Food Programme.

Oil-for-Food Programme—Office of the Iraq Programme
United Nations and Iraqi experts and advisors of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) have so far produced a list of 1,612 contracts valued at nearly $2.5 billion, prioritized for early delivery under the Oil-for-Food Programme.

OHCHR—Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
The first human rights conference under UN auspices brings together Iraqi and international experts to share perspectives and identify practical protection measures.

UNESCO—United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Cooperation is reinforced with INTERPOL to fight against the illicit traffic in Iraqi cultural properties.

IMF—International Monetary Fund
Work commences on draft legislation for a new central bank law and bank licensing.

ESCWA—Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
A meeting on "Iraq and the Region after the War" calls for a stronger UN role in Iraq's economic, social, cultural and humanitarian reconstruction and development.

These stories and more can be found at UN Chronicle Online at www.un.org/chronicle.

The UN Chronicle print edition is published by the United Nations Department of Public Information in English and French, and co-published in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. It is not an official record; the views expressed in individual articles do not necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

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