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International-UN-NGOs
Daily living conditions in Iraq dismal, UN survey finds
2005-05-13
Given there is no data in this report, Its hard to seperate genuine issues from spin. Otherwise things are not good or bad, they are better or worse. Without a basis for comparison absolute staements like these are meaningless. What's the baseline for comparison - Darfur or Downtown Manhattan?Daily living conditions in Iraq are dismal, with families suffering from intermittent water and electricity supply, chronic malnutrition among children and more illiterate young than ever before, a new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Iraqi Government shows.

"While many aspects of living conditions in Iraq in 2004 are dismal, most reflect the courage, endurance and determination of the Iraqi people to overcome the hurdles they are facing," Staffan de Mistura, the UN Deputy Special Representative for Humanitarian, Reconstruction and Development Affairs, said at the ceremony to launch the three-volume survey.

Despite the conflict, the society was functioning, though under considerable stress, he quoted survey results as showing.

Iraqi questioners, trained by a Norwegian research non-governmental organization (NGO), asked 22,000 households in 18 governorates about their housing, infrastructure, population, health, education, work, income and the status of women, and the analysis followed international standards for statistical reporting.

Although a large percentage of the population in Iraq is connected to water, electricity and sewage networks, the supply has been too unstable to make a difference to people's lives, the survey results show.

Almost a quarter of the children between 6 months and 5 years suffer from chronic malnutrition. The young today are more illiterate than preceding generations and this, in a country where 39 per cent of the people are younger than 15. Young men with a high school education or better are suffering from 37 per cent unemployment.

The survey "not only allows for a good understanding of socio-economic conditions in Iraq, but will also be a building block for further analysis that will certainly benefit the development and reconstruction processes in Iraq," Mr. de Mistura said.

"It will be especially helpful in addressing the grave disparities — urban and rural as well as those between the governorates — revealed by the survey, in a more prioritized and targeted fashion."
Posted by:phil_b

#4  when was life in iraq really good anyway besides what 30 or so years ago
Posted by: Thraing Hupoluper1864   2005-05-13 17:04  

#3  Third world sucks, news at 11:00.

They're just unhappy that the US didn't create a 1st world nation overnight. Damn you Bush, wave the magic stick and make things perfect!
Posted by: rjschwarz   2005-05-13 10:45  

#2  How many surveys did the UNDP do during Sadaam's days? You know, so we got a benchmark to compare the current situation to? I'll bet is it's probabaly like...none?
Posted by: tu3031   2005-05-13 10:17  

#1  â€œWhile many aspects of living conditions in Iraq in 2004 are dismal, most reflect the courage, endurance and determination of the Iraqi people to overcome the hurdles they are facing,” Staffan de Mistura, the UN Deputy Special Representative for Humanitarian, Reconstruction and Development Affairs, said at the ceremony to launch the three-volume survey.

Chief hurdle being the UN.

I bet were Kofi and all his buddies were to return the money stolen from the Iraqi people during OFF, we wound't be having more UN buddies trying to skew statistics to cover their own asses.
Posted by: badanov   2005-05-13 07:37  

00:00