A UN human rights expert sharply condemned the invasion of Iraq and the global anti-terror drive, accusing the US-led coalition of using food deprivation as a military tactic and of sapping efforts to fight hunger in the world.
Jean Ziegler sharply condemned the invasion of Iraq and the global anti-terror drive, accusing the US-led coalition of using food deprivation as a military tactic in a report to the UN human rights commission. (AFP/Orlando Sierra)
'The situation of the right to food in Iraq is of serious concern,' the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said in a report to the UN human rights commission.
The report also highlighted 'widespread concerns about the continued lack of access to clean drinking water' and allegations by British campaigners that water sources were deliberately cut off by coalition forces.
'Those are the allegations, but what is proven is that at Fallujah, denial, the blockade imposed on food and the destruction of water reservoirs was used as weapon of war,' Ziegler told journalists.
He insisted that the practice was a 'clear violation' of the Geneva Conventions and delivered a firm condemnation of any attempt to deny food or water supplies.
The UN expert insisted he was not judging the legitimacy of the invasion or the tactics used by military forces.
'I am simply maintaining a firm condemnation, very firm, of the humanitarian consequences of this strategy and the military tactics applied since March 2003 by the occupying forces,' he said.
Citing previous studies reported last year, the report said that 'acute malnutrition amongst Iraqi children under the age of five has almost doubled from four percent to 7.7 percent,' since Saddam Hussein was toppled.
Perhaps if they were on feeding tubes...
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