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AFSC - Iraq

In February 1998, out of concern about the imminent renewal of conflict, the AFSC began a new initiative to help reduce suffering and to create an atmosphere of reconciliation. Delegations visited Iraq and reported on the effects of sanctions on children and civil society to the American press and United Nations representatives.

AFSC also provided material relief as well as opportunities for community organization and advocacy in the United States. Infant and Child Friend-Ship Kits were distributed in the US as a promotion to fund the purchase of medicines to be sent to Iraq. In addition, AFSC rehabilitated 10 schools in cooperation with partners. Other relief projects included rehabilitation of water treatment plants, distribution of blankets and family hygiene kits.

From the spring of 2003 until spring 2005 (see the timeline) AFSC’s country representatives lived in Baghdad outside the green zone. Their experience of living and working among Iraqis was vividly described in their stories that contributed to spreading the information to the general public through AFSC’s Human Face of War campaign. Their witness and analysis informed and inspired AFSC’s domestic work which focused on the anti-war campaign in the US. In addition to publicizing Iraqi experiences through their stories, they created partnerships with existing local organizations and helped others organize and build their capacity in order to become an NGO and play a critical role in creating a post-regime and post-occupation Iraq.

Childhood Smiling project - children from Fallujah

In the late spring of 2005 AFSC contributed to a project implemented by one of our local partners. The project provided basic supplies to refugee families from Fallujah. Another project implemented by the same organization focused on establishing a child care center named “Childhood Smiling”. The center provides education for women and care for children – most of whom are orphans.

AFSC's Peace Building Unit has developed study guides and videos for use by elementary teachers and in other educational settings. Disseminated throughout the United States, the guides highlighted the ethical, moral, and legal issues involved in the Iraq crisis. The guides were designed to shift the debate about sanctions away from political concerns and place the humanitarian effects of sanctions on Iraqi citizens at the center.

In an attempt to raise awareness, mobilize and educate the US public about the consequences and costs of war AFSC launched a multifaceted campaign called Wage Peace. Wage Peace Campaign

AFSC Humanitarian Crisis Timeline

1990- 2000

1990- AFSC provided relief assistance to some of the 300,000 foreign workers who left Iraq for Jordan following the invasion of Kuwait

1991- Following the Gulf War, AFSC and Quaker Peace & Service (UK), placed representative in Baghdad to coordinate with relief and reconstruction efforts.

1992- AFSC provided targeted medical assistance in conjunction with the Middle East Council of Churches.

1993- A UNICEF report stated that there has been a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases in Iraq, including polio, diphtheria, and measles.

1997- UNICEF reported that more than 1.2 million people, including 750,000 children below the age of five, have died because of the scarcity of food and medicine due to the sanctions imposed on Iraq.

1998- Director of the UN Oil-for-Food Program, Denis Halliday, resigned in protest over the program’s inadequacy.

1998- AFSC sponsored medical delegation to Iraq calls attention to rising child mortality in Iraq under sanctions.

1998- A World Health Organization (WHO) report stated that each month, between 5,000 and 6,000 Iraqi children die because of sanctions.

1999- AFSC challenged intellectual embargo of Iraq by sponsoring medical journal subscriptions for Iraqi doctors.

1999- AFSC sponsored teachers’ delegation to Iraq calling attention to the destruction of Iraq’s educational system since the Gulf War.

1999- AFSC and the Fellowship of Reconciliation launched the Campaign of Conscience for the Iraqi People to pressure the U.S. and the U.N. Security Council to end the economic sanctions against Iraq.

2000- The second director of the Oil-for-Food Program, Hans von Sponeck, resigned in protest, objecting to the impact of sanctions on the Iraqi civilian population.

2000 - The Campaign of Conscience violated U.N. sanctions to ship water purifiers to Iraq. Eventually, four purifiers were installed in hospitals in Baghdad, Karbala, and the Al-Naseryah Governorate, serving up to 2000 patients and 850 staff members.

November 2000 – AFSC provided funds for the rehabilitation of several schools such as Al-Jaeffer and Shawaqa Primary school for Boys, in Baghdad.

AFSC Humanitarian Crisis Timeline

2000-2006

June 2002- AFSC/Quaker delegation visited Iraq in violation of sanctions to call attention to the ongoing suffering of the Iraqi people.

July 2002- AFSC commenced rehabilitation of the Bodeja Water Treatment plant, which provides water to more than 3,000 people in several villages northeast of Baghdad.

October 2002- Blankets, health kits, and school supplies were shipped to Jordan in preparation for a possible humanitarian disaster arising from the looming US-led invasion of Iraq.

February 2003- AFSC extended its health kit campaign for Iraqi families.

March 2003 - The war against Iraq begun when the U.S. launches Operation Iraqi Freedom.

March 2003- AFSC intensified its water projects in Iraq, working with CARE, Islamic Relief, and Norwegian Church Aid to dig wells and provide portable water treatment and storage facilities.

June 2003 – Two emergency consignments of medicines reached hospitals in Baghdad and Mosul.

August 2003 – The Bodeja Water Treatment Facility was repaired providing clean, portable water to approximately 3,000 people in Bodeja village.

Fall 2003 - AFSC provided a US $10,000 grant to CARE’s Deaf Education Program to support a short refresher course for a number of deaf school teachers and to assist teachers to rebuild their classroom resources after the destruction and looting of schools.

October 2003 – 400 pairs of shoes were distributed, with the help of the implementing partner - Iraqi Women’s Association–Women’s Freedom Organization, distributed them to children at Al-Huda urban poor/homeless camp.

October 2003 - The Madrid Conference, an international donors' conference of 80 nations to raise funds for the reconstruction of Iraq, yielded $13 billion in addition to the $20 billion already pledged by the United States. This amount fell short of the overall target of raising $56 billion, the figure the World Bank and the UN estimated that Iraq needs over the next four years.

November 2003 – Rehabilitation of a water purification system in Abosoda village, near Baghdad was completed. The project was funded by AFSC and implemented by the partner CARE.

December 2003 - AFSC funds made possible the purchase of emergency supplies and furnishings for an orphanage that provides housing for street children. Purchases included food, beds, heaters, clothes, shoes, fuel, and a fuel storage container.

December 2003 - In partnership with Mennonite Central Committee and CARE, AFSC distributed hygiene buckets to nearly 4,000 people in camps of Al Salam, Al Gazalia, and Al Huda in Baghdad.  In addition, AFSC purchased canisters of much needed cooking fuel (propane), which were distributed through a local implementing partnership with the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI).

March 2004 – AFSC provided funds to Iraqi partner Computer Learning Mobile Project (CLMP) for design of database, training and equipment for Orthotics/Prosthetics Workshop for Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy, Baghdad.

May 2004- AFSC purchased equipment and furnishings including an auto-clave (for sterilizing instruments), X-ray viewers, examination tables, medicine cabinets, toilet chairs and office, kitchen, and recreational equipment for the newly rehabilitated Iraqi National Spinal Cord Injuries Center.

June 2004 - Toilets and sinks were constructed at the Al Huda camp, home to more than 3,000 internally displaced families.

Summer 2004 - Sixteen local NGO representatives participate in a series of training workshops to strengthen their capacity to be active and leading members of the emerging and vibrant Iraqi civil society.

September 2004 – A shipment of more than 2000 infant kits, collected through AFSC’s “Comfort a child” campaign, and medical supplies reached Iraq.

September 2004 - The Bush administration requests that the Senate shift $3.4 billion of the $18.4 billion Iraqi aid package meant for reconstruction work to improving security measures. Republican and Democratic senators alike harshly criticize the request as a sign that the American campaign in Iraq has been poorly executed. Senators also denounce the slow progress in rebuilding Iraq: just 6% ($1 billion) of the reconstruction money approved by Congress last year has in fact been spent.

September/October 2004 - A great majority of foreign aid workers in Iraq, fearing they have become targets of the postwar violence, have pulled out of Iraq. Iraqi colleagues moved forward with some projects, but many other activities were delayed or cancelled in the coming moths.

October 2004 – Margaret Hassan, head of CARE International in Baghdad is taken hostage. Consequently, CARE International, one of the main AFSC’s partners, closes all operations in Iraq.

November 2004 – Bethany House's new facility for women with disabilities was furnished through AFSC support.

November 2004 – US attacks and besieges the city of Falluja leaving the population cut off from food, water and medical supplies. Under threat of the siege 250,000 or more than 80 per cent of the population of 300,000 fled to nearby towns or Baghdad. Many families are forced to survive in fields, vacant lots and abandoned buildings without access to shelter, water, electricity, food or medical care and alongside tens of thousands of displaced and homeless people already living in the rubble of Baghdad.

February 2005 – AFSC supported and helped facilitate a “Stress Management” workshop for Iraqi refugees in Amman, Jordan in an attempt to address the needs of many suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

March 2005 – AFSC provided two grants to an Iraqi partner Al-Maarifa – Knowledge for Iraqi Women. The first grant of $10,000 will be used to address the needs of the refugees from the city of Fallujah, including food, clothing, blankets and shelter. The second grant of $13,000 will support the establishment and operation of a child care center, for children missing one or both parents, for one year in Fallujah, Iraq.

March 2005 – Acute malnutrition rates among the youngest Iraqis has almost doubled, they rose late last year to 7.7 per cent from four per cent since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein. Overall, more than one-quarter of Iraqi children do not have enough to eat, reported Jean Zigler, the UN Human Rights Commission’s special expert on the right to food. The situation facing Iraqi youngsters is “a result of the war led by coalition forces” said Ziegler.

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