Iraq: The children of Iraq were suffering most in the aftermath of the war, the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs was told yesterday, writes Deaglán de Bréadún Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Ms Maura Quinn of UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fun, outlined how the situation in Iraq was pervaded by lawlessness, deprivation and major health hazards.
The war had been short but its consequences were long-lasting. People were suffering from a lack of security, a major decline in basic services including electricity and sewage, a crime wave, a severe shortages of medicines, and the scarcity of clean water. She said they were also under constant threat from unexploded ordnance.
UN agencies and non-governmental organisations were coming under almost daily attack at their facilities. Looters were knocking down pylons to steal the cable and sell it. There were constant power-cuts. She was "greatly alarmed by the present situation in Basra in particular."
Ms Quinn said that, in Iraq today, "much of the simple fabric of everyday life has collapsed".