The Economic Embargo on Iraq (1990 - 2003)

Within a space of six weeks, the US-led coalition's air bombardment during the Operation Desert Storm in the Second Gulf War had destroyed more of Iraq's economic infrastructure countrywide than had the Eight Years War with Iran. The impact on the population was enormous. Hardly any other UN resolution has had such a decisive impact on the life of a nation as resolution No. 687, passed on 3 April 1991, which officially ended the Second Gulf War. Part of the resolution was that Iraq gives formal recognition to the independent state of Kuwait (done in April 1994), to commit itself to payment of war reparations and to open up all sites in Iraq for inspections by UN teams searching for evidence of Iraq's suspected program of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The United Nations Special Commission on Disarmament (UNSCOM) started working in May 1991. Instead of 45 days, the commission spent years working in Iraq because of the denial of Iraqi authority to give access. A turning point occurred in August 1995, when General Hussein Kamel, Saddam's son-in-law fled to Jordan and gave insights into Saddam's 'coverings'. Therefore, the Iraqi authority was forced to provide better access. The destruction of weapons and associated facilities was carried out mainly by Iraq, but under supervision of UNSCOM. Saddam terminated all cooperation with UNSCOM in 1998. Widely criticised, the United States and the United Kingdom responded with Operation Desert Fox, a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi army forces and assumed weapon facilities from 16 to 19 December 1998. Years later, the Duelfer Report, concluded in 2004 that Iraq's Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) capability "was essentially destroyed in 1991".

The WMD program by resolution 687 was linked to the already existing sanctions proposed by resolution 661 in August 1990, which stated that the sanctions will remain in effect until Iraq has met the conditions of resolution 687. In other words, the security council put a comprehensive embargo on Iraq. The effect of Saddam's ignorant policy and the sanctions led to hyperinflation, widespread poverty and malnutrition. This had little impact on the regime's priorities. Only in 1996 the Iraqi government agreed to UN SC resolution No. 986 Oil-for-Food Programme (OI). Under this resolution all Iraqi residents were entitled to receive the monthly Oil-For-Food basket with food and basic medical supplies and it was estimated that 60 percent of the population were totally dependent on it. The program itself had little effect on the ground. Neither the universal Public Distribution System (PDS), which was instituted in 1990 in response to food shortages after the UN-imposed sanctions. When Dennis Halliday, Head of the United Nations Humanitarian Program in Iraq, resigned his post in 1998 he stated "I refuse to continue to take Security Council orders, the same Security Council that had imposed and sustained genocidal sanction on the innocent of Iraq. I did not want to be complicit." Apart from this, the Oil-For-Food programme later turned out to be a precarious scandal. According to Transparency International (TI), "Saddam extorted bribes and surcharges from handpicked buyers of Iraqi oil and vendors of humanitarian goods, and is estimated to have amassed between US$ 1.7 billion and US$ 4.7 billion, according to different studies."  Additionally, after 1998 a comprehensive smuggling process across national borders started, which not only benefited Saddam's regime.

The economic embargo was a turning point in the living conditions and, consequently, the social relations in the country and particularly for the role of women. Whoever could, left the country, especially families from the middle class which used to be the backbone of the country. Iraq was well-known for its highly educated academics and engineers. The middle class was not anymore considered the social capital it once was. It was replaced by financial status and proximity to centres of power, be they governmental, tribal or religious.  As an example, the income of a middle-class family was 11,000 IQD, equivalent to 6$. Due to the economic hardship, the Iraqi started looking to their tribal lineages to take refuge. This in turn meant adopting tribal customs, which included specific norms that defined how to treat women, how to deal with women's education and work, as well as family status. People returned to practice customs and traditions that they had previously rejected. The latter fact was additionally shaped by Saddam's national "Faith Campaign" which he announced in June 1993. The inauguration of the Faith Campaign began a steady proliferation of regime-sponsored religion in Iraq. Contrary to some misinterpretations, that Saddam shifted course, the campaign aimed to accelerate the spread of the Baath Party's interpretation of religion throughout Iraqi society, which did not change since Saddam started his presidency.

This article was written by Hella Mewis and is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.