Department of Economics
University of Vermont
Burlington , VT . 05405
Prepared for UNU/WIDER Project on The Political Economy of Humanitarian Emergencies. First Project Meeting , 6 -8 October 1996.
Most of the discourse on Iraq since the formal ending of the Gulf War in February 27, 1991 tended to focus on the economic embargo which the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had imposed in the aftermath of Iraq ‘s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. This concern with the six year old embargo is not surprising given its catastrophic effects on the people of Iraq, their economy and the prospects for its recovery.
In a July 1993 special alert issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) it was stated that:
.. it is a country whose economy has been devastated by the recent war and subsequent civil strife, but above all by the continued sanctions since August 1990, which have virtually paraly zed the whole economy and generated persistent deprivation , chronic hunger, endemic undernutrition , massive unemployment and widespread human suffering (1993: 1).
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