11. Violation VIII: Failure to Protect the Rights to Food and Education

They [the Americans] promised to make it a paradise. But all they’ve changed is the paint.

– Hana Abbood, teacher at the Shura Primary School, Baghdad⁷⁵

The Occupying Power must ensure that the population has access—physical and financial—to adequate food and education. Yet more Iraqis are hungry now than before the occupation. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization classifies approximately eleven million Iraqis as food insecure,⁷⁶ mainly due to unemployment and the rising price of food and other basic necessities since the introduction of “free market” measures. Things could get even worse—the CPA is considering “monetizing” and phasing out the national food rationing system upon which 60% of Iraqi families completely depend for basic nutrition, despite predictions that this will lead to inflation and make basic necessities unaffordable.⁷⁷

Similarly, the education system is in shambles throughout Iraq. Already crippled by 12 years of sanctions, educational opportunities have been reduced even further under the occupation. Up to two-thirds of school-age children in Baghdad do not attend school full time because of inadequate numbers of teachers, dilapidated school buildings, and poverty.⁷⁸ Girls are particularly unlikely to attend, due to well-founded fears of insecurity and kidnapping.⁷⁹ An internal U.S. Army audit of schools supposed to be repaired by Bechtel as part of its nearly-three billion dollar contract found that “the work was horrible,” with dangerous debris left in playgrounds, crumbling walls, sloppy paint jobs, and broken toilets.⁸⁰

Legal Principles related to the Rights to Education and Food

• “The Occupying Power shall, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children” Geneva Convention IV, Art 50
• “Everyone has the right to education” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26
• “Everyone [has the right] to education” International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Art. 13
• “Education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights” Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, General Comment 13
• “To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food … of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs… if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.” Geneva Convention IV, Article 55
• “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food…” Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Article 25
• “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food…” International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 11