You’re talking about around a million or more people, one to two million people, who are suffering because the head of the household’s out of work.
– Gen. Jay Garner, first U.S. Administrator in Iraq on dismissal of armed forces81
It is difficult to understand why thousands upon thousands of teachers, university professors, medical doctors and hospital staff, engineers and other professionals who are sorely needed, have been dismissed within the de-Baathification process.
– Lakhdar Brahimi, UN Special Envoy to Iraq82
The Occupying Power is obligated to ensure that people have the opportunity to find gainful employment. Yet the U.S. has not only imposed mass lay-offs throughout the country, but has also failed to provide Iraqis with work in the reconstruction of their own country. More than half a million workers, including civil servants, teachers,83 and other professionals, were fired in the “de-Baathification” process84—without any evidence of wrongdoing or opportunity to defend themselves. The vast majority had joined the Baath party as a necessary formality to obtain work. As a result of this and other disruptions caused by the war and occupation, more than 60% of Iraqis are unemployed,85 imposing enormous hardship throughout the country.
Compounding the problem, the Coalition Provisional Authority has rewarded politically connected U.S. firms with the largest reconstruction contracts. These firms have relied on foreign rather than Iraqi contractors, exacerbating the unemployment crisis, marginalizing local expertise, and slowing the reconstruction process to a crawl. The U.S.-appointed ambassador-designate to the United States has said that she is “appalled” by this practice.86
Legal Principles related to the Right to Work
- “Protected persons who, as a result of the war, have lost their gainful employment, shall be granted the opportunity to find paid employment…”Geneva Convention IV, Article 39
- “All measures aiming at creating unemployment or at restricting the opportunities offered to workers in an occupied territory, in order to induce them to work for the Occupying Power, are prohibited.” Geneva Convention IV, Art. 52
- “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 23
- “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right” International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, Art. 6
81 “Former U.S. administrator blasts U.S. post-war actions in Iraq,” CBC News, November 26, 2003. http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/11/26/jaygarner031126.
82 “U.N. Special Advisor Lakhdar Brahimi on the Political Situation in Iraq,” U.N. Observer and Special Report, April 15, 2004. http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=1582&blz=1
83Richard Sale, “Iraqi CPA fires 28,000,” United Press International, November 21, 2003. http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/2003/1121fires.htm.
84 CPA, “Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 1: De-Baathification of Iraqi Society,” CPA/ORD/16 May 2003/01. See http://www.cpa-iraq.org/regulations/CPAORD1.pdf
85 Food and Agricultural Organization, ibid.
86 Jackie Spinner, “U.S. Criticized for Dismissing Iraqi Companies in Reconstruction,” The Washington Post, February 9, 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A25371-2004Feb9¬Found=true.