Amrit Naresh Section Break-Out Exercise

Sanctions 1990-2003
Iraq was under sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) from August 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, until May 2003, after Saddam Hussein's regime had been toppled. The sanctions were longest running, most comprehensive, and most controversial in the history of the United Nations, according to Foreign Affairs, virtually cutting Iraq off from the world economy with catastrophic consequences for both the economy and the people of Iraq.

The sanctions included a ban on all trade, an oil embargo, a freezing of Iraqi government financial assets abroad, an arms embargo, suspension of international flights, and banned financial transactions. The UNSC also called upon member states to enforce naval and air blockades  against  Iraq.

Economic impacts included, but were not limited to: decreased imports of industrial and commercial parts and fuel; decreased exports and access to foreign currency; loss of trade partners leading to the closure of business and industry; inflation; emergence of black (parallel) markets; decreased overall economic activity (industry, commerce, agriculture, etc); and the collapse of public and private infrastructure.

Sanctions also took a large human toll, with close to 1 million estimated dead between 1991 and 1998 due to mass starvation and disease, with up to half of these said to be children, according to UNICEF and other United Nations bodies.

Beginning in 1996, the United Nations implemented its Oil-for-Food Program, which allowed Iraq to sell oil to finance the purchase of humanitarian goods. Iraq was permitted to sell $2 billion worth of oil every six months, with two-thirds of that amount to be used to meet humanitarian needs. In 1998, the limit on the level of Iraqi oil exports under the program was raised to $5.26 billion every six months, and in December 1999 the ceiling on Iraqi oil exports under the program was removed.

The program made available vast funds for the purchase of food, medicine, and essential civilian goods; $24.4 billion worth of goods were delivered to Iraq from the program's inception until November 2002, four months before the March 2003 invasion. This had the effect of substantially easing, though not eliminating, the severe economic hardships of Iraqi civilians.