Continuing the series of articles in the
New Straits Times Newspaper
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
http://www.nstpi.com.my/
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Stop the suffering!

 * Datuk Seri Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali (chairman of Bakti)

 I AM writing this while in Havana, Cuba accompanying my husband to
 the Group of 77 conference.

 Yesterday afternoon, spouses were taken to the "Ernesto Che
 Guevara Pioneers Palace" at Lenin Park.

 The briefing at this institution for the training of young people in
 vocational skills ended with a brief artistic performance by normal
 and handicapped children. They were excellent, happy and
 affectionate like all children throughout the world.

 My attention was focused on a girl in a wheelchair in the front row.
 She was about 13 years old, and was in the centre of the line.

 I was choked with emotion watching her sing, clapping her hands
 and absolutely enjoying herself with the other participants.

 Then my mind drifted to another faraway, different land -- Iraq --
 where these same eyes saw little children in a situation worse than
 the one faced by this Cuban child.

 Both countries -- Cuba and Iraq -- are under sanctions, but with a
 difference. For the past 40 years or so, Cuba has been under
 unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States, while for 10 years
 now Iraq has been punished by comprehensive economic sanctions
 imposed by the UN Security Council.

 The effect of the sanctions in Iraq has been felt especially by the
 most vulnerable of the population -- women, children and the aged.

 As I was relaxing physically, my mind was not. I wasn’t seeing any
 Cuban children dancing anymore. I saw again the Iraqi children in the
 orphanages, their faces smiling up at me as I kissed them.

 The sick children in the hospital in Babylon, sharing beds with their
 mothers, sharing oxygen masks; doctors trying hard to reduce their
 suffering from leukaemia, bronco-pneumonia and diarrhoea.

 My tears flowed and flowed.

 Next to me was an Iraqi woman living in Geneva with her husband
 who worked in the United Nations. She cried with me when I told her
 of my visit to her country. Two of her sisters had died and one
 brother has been missing since the Gulf War.

 At the opening of the summit, the President of Ghana talked about
 the sanctions on Iraq. The hall was dead silent.

 I hope women of the world will seriously think of those women and
 children in Iraq who, through no fault of their own, are forced to live
 in untold misery, lost in hopelessness and craving for help to get the
 sanctions lifted.

 That is what they pray for most fervently. Let us, in one voice, call
 for the lifting of the sanctions on Iraq for humanitarian reasons.

 The women and children there have the right to live in peace and in
 an environment conducive for their healthy development.

 * Toh Puan Dr Aishah Ong (chairman of the welfare sub-committee
 of Bakti)

 I AM saddened and horrified by what I saw. I’m amazed that in this
 modern age of human rights consciousness, such violations have
 been meted out to an entire nation.

 What’s more, it’s been done by a body like the United Nations which
 is supposed to uphold the principles of human rights. I’m just so sad.

 * Datuk Ruby Lee (former secretary-general of the Malaysian Red
 Crescent Society)

 AFTER talking and listening to aid workers, patients and others, it is
 my hope that all parties concerned will work positively towards lifting
 the sanctions as soon as possible -- on humanitarian grounds. Article
 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that:

 1. "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the
 health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
 clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services and
 the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,
 disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in
 circumstances beyond his control.

 2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and
 assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall
 enjoy the same social protection."

 It will be useful to draw up a strategy and a plan of action to create
 universal public awareness of the plight of the Iraqi people.

 * Dr Gladys Lopez (head of the transfusion medicine unit, Universiti
 Hospital)

 YES, it is sad to witness so much devastation in the lives of the Iraqi
 people but it is particularly disturbing to see the still hopeful smiling
 faces of the young -- those beautiful children we met in schools,
 those who stood in the sun to greet or cheer us along the way.

 Do they understand how much they are missing, how much they
 have to catch up in the field of information technology and other
 advances of the modern world?

 Will they experience peace enveloping their lives to guide them on
 the path to prosperity and happier times ahead or will they quickly
 sink into hopelessness and frustration of the older generation?

 Will the whole family be around them to lend positivity in all their
 learning endeavours or will the social disintegration leave them in
 despair?

 * Datin Noorhayati Kamaluddin (member of Bakti)

 THE sight of six children waiting in line for the oxygen mask was
 something I found terribly hard to look at, yet harder still to turn
 away from.

 If the sanctions go on, Iraq will inevitably be burdened with an
 illiterate and traumatised generation of children who have missed out
 on childhood. Imagine the problems this would cause.

 At the old folks’ home, Shukriah who suffers from Parkinson’s disease
 pleaded for medicine."You will tell of us? Tell the world not to forget"

 Despite their fate, the Iraqi people still stand tall with courage and
 pride.

 But how long can their resilience last?

 * Datin Siti Aishah Ghazali (member of Bakti)

 IS there a moral to this story, dear God? I asked this as we
 journeyed home. I felt anger. I was angry that I couldn’t give more
 than two chocolate wafers to the children at the orphanage we
 visited. I still see their tiny, clamouring hands.

 I felt the hopelessness of that young mother as she carried her
 daughter sick with leukaemia at Saddam Hospital. Will man never
 learn about war and greed?

 * Prof Datin Dr Sharifah Hapsah (deputy president of the National
 Council of Women’s Organisations)

 IT is very obvious that the 10-year comprehensive sanctions
 imposed by the UN are hurting the Iraqi people. We saw misery
 everywhere, yet the Iraqi people are fiercely determined to stand
 solidly behind their leaders to fight the injustice inflicted upon them.

 I really question the effectiveness of the sanctions. It is high time
 that the UN terminated this inhuman act. The decade of systematic
 deprivation is robbing ordinary and innocent Iraqis of their basic
 human rights.

 I hope that our story will move people to demand the immediate
 lifting of the sanctions so that this situation can be brought to an
 end.

 * Datuk Dr Raj Karim (regional director, International Planned
 Parenthood Federation, East and Southeast Asia and Oceania
 regional office)

 FOR every single baby we saw, the story was almost the same. A
 child is critically ill but there are no suitable antibiotics. A baby is
 gasping but there is no oxygen. A 17-day-old baby suffers from
 septicaemia but there are no antibiotics. Intravenous feeding and
 incubators and children suffering from leukaemia get no constant
 supply of chemotherapy.

 These memories are difficult to erase. It is inconceivable that the
 sick are denied their basic rights. It is unacceptable for sanctions to
 include medicine, food and necessities for basic survival.

 Having seen the preventable causes of mortality amongst women,
 children and infants, it makes it all the more urgent that the
 sanctions be removed so that Iraqis might enjoy a decent quality of
 life.

 * Assoc Prof Datin Dr Mizan Adiliah Ahmad Ibrahim (senior lecturer
 with Universiti Putra Malaysia and member of Bakti)

 BEFORE the sanctions, every Iraqi child was given free stationery,
 uniforms and food. Now they are limited to four pencils a year.

 In universities, students are impeded by lack of new books and
 journals. It is as if they are completely cut off from the rest of the
 world.

 Many Iraqi students have either dropped out or postponed their
 studies in order to support their families, especially among female
 students.

 According to Malaysian students in Iraq, lecturers give extra classes
 to make up for the lack of facilities. They are dedicated to giving
 their best despite the constraints.

 Since education is a basic requirement for nation-building, it is
 imperative that the sanctions be lifted.

 * Aishah Ali, features editor, New Straits Times

 I’M terribly proud that a small country like ours has dared to stand
 up and speak out for justice and dignity. While other nations prefer
 to look the other way, we look reality in the face and will continue
 to tell the Iraqi story of man’s heartlessness that has to be seen to
 be believed.

 And God willing, we will keep at it until those who decreed the
 sanctions can no longer pretend they don’t hear or see.