Almost one million children in southern and central Iraq are chronically malnourished, UNICEF reported. "What we are seeing is a dramatic deterioration in the nutritional well-being of Iraqi children since 1991," says Philippe Heffinck, UNICEF Representative in Baghdad.

Nutritional status of children in Iraq continues to deteriorate due to lack of adequate food, medicine and even safe environment. Iraq’s environment has been seriously affected by the 30-state U.S-led aggression in 1991. Thousand of tons of laser-guided bombs and uranium-tipped weapons with total explosive power equal to seven Hiroshima nuclear blasts were used against Iraq.

The use of Depleted Uranium during aggression on Iraq has caused outbreak of new diseases and increased the incidence of leukemia, congenital deformities and hereditary diseases.

A UNICEF report to evaluate its work in Iraq during the past ten years affirmed that mortality rates among children under the age of five was 32% in 1996, in comparison with 18.7% in 1991.

The report showed that 54% of children suffered from diarrhea and 43% infected with respiratory diseases. The report mentioned that children between the age of 6-11 had left schools to get jobs to support their families financially. Statistics showed that the rate of dropouts estimated at 22.6% between 1990-1998 as compared to 7% during 1976-1993.

Children cry play and suck their thumbs. Then, there comes a time when they enter school, learn and fight to survive. Children want to shape their cultures, they actively shape the world around them and want to be accounted for. But the embargo makes this case different with the children of Iraq.

Iraqi children die before they could open their eyes to see what is going on around them. Sanctions hurt newborns who have not even reached the age that enable them to understand the concept of death.

The embargo has also affected child-rearing and weakened the relationship between parents and their children as parents are always outside home in the place of work to earn money to provide food and other living requirements. Parents cannot sleep with their children and have no time to sit with them and hear their problems or explain their experiences to them.

The embargo has deprived Iraqi children from the taste of childhood. Children are bearing the burden of the current economic hardship. Iraqi children are too young to die, they are too young to suffer the consequences of sanctions and aggression.

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