Edited by PETER CLARK and SEAN MAGEE
The AMAR International Charitable Foundation - Assisting Marsh Arabs and Refugees
Acknowledgements
This report is the second and final of two studies on the Marshlands of lower Mesopotamia from the AMAR International Charitable Foundation. The first was published in 1994.
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne MEP initiated and chaired these studies, assisted by number of experts eminent in their particular field.
Special thanks go to Hugh Arbuthnott and Dr Peter Clark whose help throughout was invaluable, and to Tim Pendry from Tim Pendry Ltd.
Director Jérôme Le Roy and Executive Secretary Barbara Stevens were tireless in their professional support.
Sponsorship from the following organisations is gratefully acknowledged:
- IUCN - The World Conservation Union (Geneva)
- ODA - Overseas Development Administration (UK)
- The Red Crescent Society of Kuwait
- The US Department of State
- WWF - World Wildlife Fund International (Geneva)
Contents
Foreword -Emma Nicholson
Introduction -Peter Clark
THE PEOPLE
1. Demography of the Marsh Arabs - Ernestina Coast
2. The Economy of the Iraq Marshes in the 1990s - Alexander Tkachenko
3. Assault on the Marshlands - Christopher Mitchell
4. Educational Needs and Provisions for Iraqi Refugees in Iran - G. Ali Afrooz
5. Health in the Marshes and in the Refugee Camps - M. T. Cheragchi-Bashi & H. Salman-Manesh
THE PLACE
6. The Deltaic Complex of the Lower Mesopotamian Plain and its Evolution through Millennia - Paul Sanlaville
7. Monitoring Marshland Degradation using Multispectral Remote Sensed Imagery - James Brasington
8. The Marshes of Southern Iraq: A hydro-engineering and political profile - T. Naff & G. Hanna
9. The Ecosystem - M. I. Evans
THE PROBLEMS
10. The Marsh Dwellers in the History of Modern Iraq - Peter Sluglett
11. The International Context of Iraq from 1980 to the Present - Peter Sluglett
12. Statistical Outline of the Situation of the South Iraqi Refugees in Iran, including the Marsh Dwellers - Jérôme Le Roy
13. The Liability of the Regime for the Human Rights Violations in the Marshlands of Southern Iraq - Adel Omer Sharif
14. Water Rights and International Law - Joseph W. Dellapenna
THE PERSONAL
15. A Personal Testimony - Amir Hayder
THE PROSPECTS
16. The Southern Iraq Marshlands Project: What it means - Emma Nicholson
Appendix: The Survey Questionnaire - Jérôme Le Roy
Notes on Contributors
Foreword
AMAR International Charitable Foundation has been closely involved with the welfare of refugees from the southern Iraqi Marshlands for ten years. It has provided medical, educational and social support for up to half of the 200,000 Marsh Arabs who have fled from the tyranny of contemporary Iraq to the Islamic Republic of Iran. We in AMAR have endeavoured to provide some dignity in the lives of people who have been marginalised by the international community.
But AMAR is concerned not only with the relief of suffering. We have sought to draw attention to the broader context of the victims and the changing circumstances of their unique social and ecological environment. The Marsh Dwellers represent a pattern of life that has altered little for centuries. The twentieth century brought political, social, economic and cultural changes to Iraq as it did to the whole region. But in the 1980s and 1990s the Baghdad government has conducted a sustained assault on the Marsh Dwellers by the construction of rivers and dams, resulting in the draining of the marshes and the obliteration of both their means and their way of life.
In 1994 AMAR published a Report that documented the environmental damage that had been committed. This second Report is, to some extent, a follow-up of the earlier work. But it goes further and shows how the environmental and humanitarian disasters are interrelated. The damage to the Marshlands affects a remarkable ecology. But there are further consequences to issues of river management and international water rights. Ecological damage has repercussions far beyond the boundaries of Iraq. The work of the Iraqi government is in violation of international environmental law.
The chain of events that have followed the atrocities of 11 September 2001 have been a grim reminder of the importance of being compassionately informed about the disadvantaged of the world. Despair is often a breeding ground for terrorism. This Report is a contribution to the dispersal of ignorance about a volatile region where political, humanitarian and environmental issues are inextricably linked.
The AMAR team that has written and produced this Report has drawn on the leading world authorities in their respective fields. It has not always been easy, for the current Iraqi government has not encouraged international research on political or social matters. However we are confident that this Report is the authoritative document on the subject of the situation of the Marsh Dwellers and the Marshlands today. It should be a basic document on which policy decisions should be made.
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne
November 2001
Introduction
Peter Clark
The AMAR International Charitable Foundation (hereafter AMAR) was set up in 1991 after the war for the liberation of Kuwait and in response to the plight of the Arabs of the southern Marshlands of Iraq. The founder was Emma Nicholson, then a Conservative Member of the British Parliament. AMAR was established as a charity registered under English law. In the next few years it built up a structure of support for Marsh Arabs who had fled to Iran. The work has concentrated on providing basic health care, clean water and essential educational services for up to 95,000 refugees in camps in Iran. Administrative costs have been kept at a minimum. Wherever possible Iranians and Iraqis themselves have been recruited to provide operational services. Management is restricted to a small number of dedicated Iranians in Tehran and a staff of two in London. AMAR has received funding from the British and other governments, from international agencies and from corporate and private donations. Throughout its relief work it received generous co-operation from the central and local government administrations of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In addition to the work of the relief of suffering, AMAR has also worked to raise awareness of the sufferings of the Marsh Dwellers of southern Iraq within the context of the travails of the people of Iraq as a whole. It has aimed to document and to monitor what has been happening in southern Iraq both to the people and to the environment. This Report falls within that programme of work.
The Marshlands of the Euphrates-Tigris river basin are geologically modern - perhaps only 18,000 years old. Over the centuries there have been steady changes, arising from the variable flows of water, climatic changes and developments in patterns of irrigation. There has however been a 5,000 year continuity in the way of life of the indigenous people of the area.
In 1991 the internal revolt against the regime of Saddam Hussein that started in the south of the country was mercilessly crushed. The Baghdad government undertook major drainage works that damaged the environment, destroyed sources of sustenance of the Marsh Dwellers and, brutally and in violation of international law, accelerated trends that had been in process for centuries.
The way of life of the Marsh Dwellers as recorded by Wilfred Thesiger, Robert A Fernea and Shakir M Salim in the middle of the twentieth century had changed little since Sumerian times. From the age of the Abbasids (eighth to thirteenth centuries CE) the Marshlands were outside the control of the Baghdad authorities. They were a place of refuge for bandits, rebels and smugglers. The waterways, the wildlife and the conservative and independent nature of the people made the region resistant to any external control. The twentieth century saw a relative social stabilisation and an economic prosperity. Iraq's oil wealth led to many changes. People from the Marshlands drifted to the cities of Basra and Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk. A series of poor rainfalls in the 1950s accelerated this drift. At the same time the modern world was penetrating the Marshlands. Schools and clinics and even factories were challenging traditional patterns of life. Gavin Young in his Return to the Marshes (1977) records some of the social changes that had taken place since the time he had been there with Thesiger in the 1950s.
There had also been schemes for draining the Marshlands throughout the twentieth century. British companies had been commissioned to draw up plans to drain the Marshlands both in the 1940s and the 1970s. Plans for drainage were linked to projects for irrigation and the extension of cultivable land and the exploitation of agricultural opportunities. There was also the central government's wish to extend its control.
The construction of dams, forcible migration of communities, the draining of the Marshlands that was carried out in the 1990s was an extension of earlier trends. However an obsession for security drove the agenda. By depopulating the Marshlands, by reducing the area to desert, the region was no longer able to provide a sustainable refuge for dissidents. Saddam Hussein was able to impose his own will on the refractory people of the Marshlands. The drainage was carried out with no regard to international obligations concerning water rights or the environment. The interests and the wishes of the people most affected, people with greatest expertise on dealing with the development of the region, were ignored. The Marsh Dwellers had limited options. Like hundreds of thousands of other Iraqis they could submit to compulsory resettlement in an environment not their own. Or they could leave the country as refugees, as about 200,000 did. Or they could remain in the drained Marshlands, deprived of their inherited water-based means of livelihood.
As part of its humanitarian mission one of AMAR's tasks has been to record these changes that have aggravated the personal lives of thousands of Marsh Dwellers. In 1994 it commissioned a report, An Environmental and Ecological Study of the Marshlands of Mesopotamia. This scientific assessment of the rapidly changing conditions of a major wetland of the world was seen as an interim report. The Marshlands supported a significant number of rare and endemic species, which lost, would be lost for ever. Within the region was a community that was to a large extent self-sustaining, relying on water-buffalo, reeds, fishing and hunting.
The acceleration of the depopulation of the area and the draining of the Marshlands has taken place at a time of increasing international concern for the world community's responsibilities to the environment and of an appreciation of the ecological values of such a natural system. For the Marshlands of southern Iraq is one of the last surviving such sites. In comparable areas such as the English Fenlands, the Mississippi alluvial plain, the Florida Everglades and the Danube Delta remaining vestiges are highly prized and efforts are directed towards the restoration and management of water resources.
Six years after the 1994 Report AMAR has embarked on a further study. The objective of the new study is to raise awareness at international level of the linkage of the humanitarian to the environmental and ecological catastrophes. Within limited resources AMAR has drawn together an international team of world authorities on different aspects of the issue - historical, economic, social, legal, political. It aims to mobilise global resources, including the analysis of satellite imagery, to determine questions that are of significance far beyond the concern of any one government: To what extent can the Marshlands be a sustainable socially and economically viable unit? How far and in what conditions are the Marsh Dwellers in exile able to return? How can an assured system of water resource management be established? What is the balance of responsibilities of the Iraqi government, neighbouring governments and international agencies towards the unique asset of these Marshlands? What package of international assistance and expertise can be offered to fulfil the various claims of sovereignty, the environment and the interests of the people of the region? What alternative sources of activity, such as tourism, could be developed?
It is of paramount importance that policies, and recommendations for policy options, are based on sound data. It has been AMAR's aim to provide the most authoritative data on which to make proposals.
In November 2000 many of the authors of the present Report attended a one-day conference in London. This conference highlighted some of the issues. A second conference in May 2001 is taking the discussion further. AMAR will raise the major findings of the report and conferences with governments and international agencies, under its President and founder, now Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne MEP, Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy.
AMAR's work in this Report is concerned with one part of Iraq. However AMAR's concerns are not restricted to one geographical area or one community alone. The plight of the Marsh Dwellers is part of the plight of the Iraqi people as a whole who have been hostages of a regime that has one of the worst human rights records of any modern government. Its aggressive policies have led to wars with two of Iraq's neighbours, and to international condemnation. The people of Iraq have borne the brunt of the sufferings arising from the consequent sanctions. From being a prosperous country with a superb social and educational infrastructure, with huge mineral and oil resources, and with glittering prospects as a major regional power, Iraq has become one of the poorest countries of the world, its people living from day to day in growing impoverishment desperation.
But the economic resources will not disappear. Under a government with different priorities, there is every possibility of a restoration of individual and national prosperity. At present about four million of its population of 24,000,000 are outside the country. Many of these are professional people who have migrated with their skills and their capital. Most exiles have hopes of returning. The numerous political groupings of the Iraqi exiles and opposition reflect the divisions of an Iraq of a generation ago, divisions that facilitated the rise of the present regime. But the Middle Eastern cultural world has changed considerably in the 1980s and 1990s. Migration both within and outside the Arab world has broadened perspectives. The information revolution has exposed people to a variety of cultures and thought patterns, of habits and tastes. Prescriptive and authoritarian regimes can no longer claim a monopoly of truth, though many pretend that they do. Migration has accompanied the emergence of a global economy, with international skills and qualifications. There has also emerged international educational and professional standards, codes of practice and even ethics. A global economy requires a banking system, agreed standards of integrity and trust. International communications depend on uniform codes of practice. Ecological concerns, human rights and respect for human dignity become ethical issues that transcend the inward looking nation state. Younger people take to these global changes more readily. There are dangers of the marginalisation of the unique or the special, the small nation or the threatened faith. But there is also an awareness of these dangers. The new global culture is a more open society, more ready to accept and to celebrate difference. The political culture of Saddam Hussein's regime is at a dead end, with no vision beyond its survival in power. All those concerned with the future of the Iraqi people must consider an Iraq after the present regime. It is not a matter of restoring a pre-Saddam Iraq, but of seeing how the people of Iraq can profit best from and contribute to the challenges and opportunities of a twenty first century world.
AMAR is in a strong position to contribute to these concerns. It is not political although it operates within a political context. It has the closest links with people of Iraq and neighbouring countries. It has a proved record of achievement. It has raised the level and quality of debate on the issue of the Marshlands, demonstrating that the political and human issues of one part of Iraq cannot be viewed in isolation. It is in a position of mobilising social and political scientists, economists and ecologists to consider in a disinterested manner the options and opportunities facing the Iraqi people after the present regime. Such a task offers hope to a troubled nation.
1. Demography of the Marsh Arabs
Ernestina Coast
The Marsh Arabs have been in a situation of forced migration since the early-mid 1990s, a forced migrant being 'defined roughly as someone who is forced to leave his or her home because of a real or perceived threat to life or well-being' (Reed et al., 1998: 2). Because of recent drainage of the Marshes, UNHCR has suggested that Marsh Dwellers could now be defined as 'environmental refugees' as 'the main reason for their flight had been the drying of the marshes' (UNHCR, 1994).
The physically dangerous and politically complicated nature of forced migration 'presents tremendous challenges for normal data collection processes and standards' (Reed et al., 1998: 2). The Marsh Dwellers currently comprise a wide range of forced migrants, including internally displaced persons and dispersed refugees (with a variety of legal statuses). The variety in forced migrants in relation to their ease of identification is summarised in Figure 1; issues of definition are important for any demographic study, as different agencies use different classifications and sources of data about such groups of people. Globally, published statistics on refugees and forced migrants come from two main sources: UNHCR and USCR, using a variety of different sources (government, other agencies, site visits, camp registration).
Estimates (both historical and contemporary) of the total number of Marsh Dwellers are of poor validity and reliability. In 1988, at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, it was estimated that there were about half a million Marsh Dwellers (UNHCR, 1996). Post-1988 there is very large variation in the estimates of Marsh Dwellers, due to a combination of large scale population movement (both within and outside Iraq) and a history of poor data collection in the marsh area. Internally displaced persons are often more difficult to count than refugees who have crossed an international border (Figure 1). In 1997 it was estimated that 192,000 Marsh Dwellers remained within southern Iraq (UNACC (SCN) RNIS 21 Table 1), with perhaps a total of 200,000 remaining in Iraq as a whole. The number of Marsh Dwellers who have left Iraq (mainly for Iran) are estimated to be between 80,000 and 120,0001. The situation with regard to population numbers is perhaps best summed up by a statement from USCR 'Independent sources can not document either the number of newly displaced Marsh Dwellers or the cumulative total since 1989. Estimates of the number of displaced and at-risk Maadan (Marsh Arabs) ranged from 40,000 to 1,000,000' (1988).
Because the Marsh Dwellers traditionally inhabited an area that posed extreme logistical problems for any household data collection, data on their recent and historical demography (fertility, mortality and migration) are extremely rare. The next section will draw together all of the information on factors affecting the demography of those Marsh Dwellers still resident within southern Iraq.
Marsh Dwellers in Iraq
The demographic impact of the 'Oil for Food' sanctions have been widely debated (Ali and Shah, 2000; Daponte and Garfield, 2000; Zaidi and Smith-Fawzi, 1995; Cortright and Lopez, 1997). Since 1990 more than 20 major studies have been conducted on the humanitarian impact of the Gulf War and the continuing economic sanctions. To date, however, none of these studies have included the southern marshes area within their samples; therefore only tentative statements may be made about current morbidity and mortality in the area. It must be remembered that assessment of the effect of sanctions on civilian morbidity status is extremely difficult for four main reasons: social disruption; the effect on health may be neither direct nor immediate; the chain of events from distal to proximate causes for increased mortality as a result of sanctions is not well known; and, it is difficult to document the health effects (from Daponte and Garfield, 2000). However, all of the available evidence suggests that 'these adverse conditions are likely to adversely affect the Marsh Dwellers in the south-east of the country even more profoundly since this group is traditionally neglected and marginalised by the government' (UNACC (1997) RNIS 21). A 1997 estimate of the effects of sanctions on nutritional status suggested 'Those in Marshes [are] considered to be at high risk nutritionally since it is unclear to what extent the general improvement in food availability is having a positive impact [on] this group' (UNACC (SCN) RNIS 21). Indeed, this assessment concludes 'As in the past, access to the Marsh Dwellers is limiting the information available on their health and nutritional status. It was hoped the monitoring of food distributions under the 'oil-for-food' plan would provide much needed information on this population. So far this has not been the case'. USCR, with special reference to the Marsh Dwellers reported, 'Repressive policies in 1999 included...denying food rations to thousands of people' (2000:188).
There are recent (post-1999) reports of cholera and chronic diarrhoea spreading among the remaining Marsh Dwellers, who are now deprived of clean water by the draining of the Marshes.2 Water availability (for drinking, washing, waste disposal) is a key determinant of population health, and even more so for a population such as the Marsh Dwellers who are highly dependent on perennial surface water. The effect on early age (under 5 years) morbidity and mortality are likely to be great as a poor (quantity and quality) water supply combined with inadequate sanitation are key causes of frequent and repeated infections. Although no information is available on breastfeeding patterns among the Marsh Dwellers, the possible addition of contaminated water to milk formula and the dilution of milk formula in order to make supplies last longer will all place upward pressure on early age mortality. The poor water and health infrastructure in the marshes, combined with continued conflict in the area (causing both intentional and unintentional injury and homicide), must also place upward pressure on adult morbidity and mortality. Having reviewed the scanty data that are available on the current situation of Marsh Dwellers still resident in Iraq, we now turn to the situation of those Marsh Dwellers currently resident in refugee camps in Iran. Information from two main sources of data, camp registration and a sample survey, are presented separately here.
Camp data
Camp registration (birth, death, total population) records exist for both camps where the survey was carried out. Because this study is concerned with the demography of the Marsh Dweller population, camp data for Servestan Camp are presented here. Servestan Camp is almost totally comprised of Marsh Dweller refugees, and is situated approximately 10km from the nearest town, making the camp population relatively 'closed' compared to other camps. A preliminary analysis of the fertility and mortality data is presented here.
Table 1: Crude birth rate3and crude death rate4, from camp registration, Servestan Camp, 1995-2000
Year | Total population | Number of deaths | Number of births | Crude birth rate | Crude death rate |
1995 | 1,950 | 2 | 93 | 47.7 | 1.03 |
1996 | 2,483 | 7 | 132 | 53.2 | 2.82 |
1997 | 2,321 | 18 | 96 | 41.4 | 7.76 |
1998 | 2,042 | 11 | 121 | 59.3 | 5.39 |
1999 | 2,270 | 8 | 133 | 58.6 | 3.52 |
2000 | 2,261 | 4 | 72 | 31.8 | 1.77 |
Higher numbers of male children are registered by the camps (112 male births per 100 female births), suggesting that there is selective under-reporting of female births, therefore the CBR might be even higher than suggested by the records. The CBR calculated for Servestan Camp are extremely high, and the reported young camp population structure (AMAR, 1997; AMAR, 2000) points to high fertility, but cannot be taken as proof 5. It is impossible to determine whether the large (46%) drop in CBR 1999-2000 is reflecting a decline in fertility (although it is unlikely given the magnitude of the drop), or whether it is due to reporting errors6. One key feature of the birth data must be noted. Refugee camps are not 'closed' populations, and it is possible that women who are non-camp residents are having babies within the camp in order to take advantage of the good medical facilities, thus inflating the total number of children born, and hence the CBR.
Using longitudinal camp registration data, it is theoretically possible to examine changes in mortality over a six-year period (1995-2000). The 'crude mortality rate most accurately represents the health status of emergency-affected populations' (Toole and Waldman, 1997). Unfortunately, the data do not extend back to the period immediately following the arrival of refugees in Iran. The camp data on deaths suggest a rapid decline in mortality over the period 1997-2000, to levels that are extremely low. Indeed, a CDR of less than 2 per 1,000 is so low as to invite suspicion, and imply the under-recording of deaths within the camp. The high level of medical care available within refugee camps combined with a selection effect for the residents7 would imply relatively low CDRs, but not as low as reported.
Camp registration systems report deaths during the first year, allowing for calculation of the Infant Mortality Rate8 (IMR) (Table 2). Levels of IMR are extremely (too) low, especially for 1996 and 2000, probably due to the under reporting of infant deaths. Infant deaths are often under-reported, especially if they occur in the neonatal period (Ewbank, 1981). This problem would be exacerbated if non-camp women are giving birth within the camp, and then leaving. Thus, their births would be incorporated into the numerator but removed from potential inclusion in the denominator.
Table 2: Infant Mortality Rate, Servestan Camp, service statistics, 1995-2000
Year | Deaths under age one | Live births | IMR / 1,000 |
1995 | 2 | 93 | 21.5 |
1996 | 1 | 132 | 7.6 |
1997 | 6 | 96 | 62.5 |
1998 | 5 | 121 | 41.3 |
1999 | 7 | 133 | 52.6 |
2000 | 1 | 72 | 13.9 |
One key feature of all of these camp data is that the total camp population might be incorrect. Indeed, the relatively static total camp population, especially in the context of high fertility and extremely low mortality, suggests either under-enumeration of camp populations, or emigration from the camp. The camp registration data, whilst imperfect, do provide some contextual demographic data within which to place the survey data. The young population age structure does point to high fertility, but mortality levels cannot be calculated with any certainty from the camp data.
Notes:
1 Again, however, there is a great range in the total estimates, from 70,000 (USCR) to 150,000 (Cook, 1998).
2 Inter-annual climatic variability further compounds this scenario, for example, in 1999 a regional drought was reported (http://www.fao.org/news/2000/000904-e.htm), with the region receiving between one half and one third of average annual rainfall.
3 Crude birth rate (CBR) = Total live births in preceding year / Total mid-year population
4 Crude death rate (CDR) = Total deaths in preceding year/ Total mid-year population
5 Age selective out migration can also cause a young population structure.
6 Any forthcoming info about contraception from AMAR to be incorporated here.
7 The selection effect refers to the fact that those less able (physically) to make the migration from Iraq to Iran remained behind in Iraq.
8 IMR = Total deaths of infants aged under one year / Total live births during year
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