Message from Benon V. Sevan,
Executive Director of the Iraq Programme,
on the
Termination of the
Oil-for-Food Programme
(22 November 2003)
It is most gratifying to
be able to state without hesitation that the United Nations met the
challenge for an orderly termination of the Oil-for-Food Programme by
21 November 2003, as called for in Security Council resolution 1483
(2003) adopted on 22 May 2003. We achieved this in spite of the
Programme’s operational scale, scope, level of funding, and
complexity. Effective 22 November 2003, the United Nations
transferred full responsibility for the administration of any
remaining activity under the Oil-for-Food Programme to the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA).
I should like to express
my sincere gratitude to all my United Nations national and
international colleagues, in the field and at headquarters, for their
dedicated service throughout the life of the Programme, and especially
during the extremely difficult period of its phasing down and
termination.
I wish to
thank the members of the Security Council as well as its Committee
established by resolution 661 (1990) and the distinguished Chairman of
the Committee, H.E. Mr. Gunter Pleuger (Germany), for their
understanding and support. My thanks go also to our counterparts in
the CPA and the relevant Iraqi authorities for their close cooperation
and understanding throughout the transition period.
Irrespective
of the political and other constraints, the Programme made a real
difference in the daily lives of the average Iraqi citizen. As long
as sanctions remained in place, there was no alternative to the
Programme in alleviating the humanitarian situation and mitigating
the unintended consequences of the sanctions regime on some 27 million
Iraqis.
Had the then Government of Iraq accepted the
offer made by the Security Council as early as 1991 to enable Iraq to
sell limited quantities of oil to meet its people’s needs, the Iraqi
people might have been spared much of their suffering during the first
five years of the sanctions regime. Even after the Security Council
adopted in April 1995 its resolution 986 (1995) establishing the
Oil-for-Food Programme, the former Government of Iraq waited over a
year before signing a memorandum of understanding with the UN
Secretariat (May 1996), enabling implementation of the Programme in
December 1996. Had the then Government of Iraq heeded the
international community’s repeated calls to cooperate with the United
Nations and fully implement the numerous Security Council resolutions
demanding the elimination of all programmes related to weapons of mass
destruction, the Iraqi people could have been spared the nightmare
they have gone through yet again.
It must not
be forgotten that any gains that were made under the Programme, came
within the context of a very rigorous and comprehensive sanctions
regime, and depended largely on the capacity, resourcefulness and
resilience of the Iraqi people to whom I pay special tribute.
Finally, on
behalf of all my colleagues, I wish to express our gratitude for the
privilege of serving the Iraqi people during one of the most difficult
periods in their recent history.
Benon
V. Sevan
Under-Secretary-General
Executive Director, Office of the Iraq Programme
Please see also:
Statement
by the President of the Security Council
Statement
by the Secretary-General
Statement
by the Executive Director of the Iraq Programme
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