Skip to main content

Iraq

Volume 400: debated on Tuesday 4 March 2003

The text on this page has been created from Hansard archive content, it may contain typographical errors.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures her Department will take to support the Iraqi ration distribution system in the event of military intervention in Iraq. [100004]

The continuation of the oil-for-food programme would be a very high priority in the event of any conflict in Iraq. Measures necessary to ensure this are being actively discussed.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department will take to aid the re-establishment of links between families in the aftermath of possible war in Iraq. [99991]

Following any possible conflict in Iraq, I would expect as elsewhere that the International Committee of the Red Cross, and those UN agencies and NGOs experienced in tracing and family reunification, would take the lead in helping affected families. My Department regularly funds such organisations.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment her Department has made of the number of people who will be displaced within Iraq in the event of conflict. [99998]

UN agencies and others have made a range of estimates of possible displaced people, which vary widely. The number of people who might leave their houses or try to cross borders would depend on what they are moving from. An essential part of our work has been to try to refine the military options to minimise the humanitarian risk which would lead to large scale movements of people.