Volume 1 Cedric - revised luca Final - RUIG-GIAN

In 2004, a survey on living conditions conducted by the UN and the Iraqi governmentfound that 85 per cent of Iraqi households lacked stable electrical supply, while only 54 percent received potable drinking water on a regular basis. 52 Although the absence of datahampers analysis, it is clear that unemployment is running high, and that there is severepoverty and vulnerability. 53 The unemployment crisis also threatens gains made by thewomen of Iraq - gains that had already been jeopardized by sanctions. The disastrous Iran-Iraq War caused tremendous strains on Iraq's economy and shortages of able -bodied mendrew many women into the labour force. After the end of the war, women accounted forone fifth of the formal workforce.Between 1980 and 2003, per capita GDP income fell from a level comparable to thatof the Republic of Korea and well above the region’s average, 3,600 US$ in 1980, to alevel below the internationally recognized poverty line. 54 The ILO MultidisciplinaryMission (MD) 55 deployed in Iraq in April and May 2000 provided a gloomy assessment ofthe labour market, indicating that "the employment sector has experienced a shift fromrelative affluence to the borderline of minimum acceptable livelihood". Iraq's position onthe International Development Index has dropped from ranking 76 in 1990 to 126 in 2000;no other country has dropped so far, so fast.2.1.2. The current context in IraqSince April 2003, the Iraqi people continued to face multiple and interrelatedpolitical, economic and social problems. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)decision to discharge the Iraqi army deprived half a million men of a stable income;massive dismissals in the ministries of Interior, Information, and Military Industrialisationadded more than a million unemployed to an already-stressed labour market. Most of theserecent unemployed not only had to support themselves, but also children, spouses andother relatives in extended families, with a head of household in Iraq catering to the needsof 6 relatives on average. The slow process of preparation and building of the new politicaland economic system, coupled with the worsening security situation, led to a state offrustration amongst Iraqis. Widespread poverty and rising unemployment levels threatenedthe well-being of families and weakened the social fabric, hence undermining prospects forstability. 56Armed conflict causes severe socio-economic disruptions, originating with highpoverty levels in rural areas. In areas where the urban economy is the main economicsector and agriculture uses mechanization and market-oriented production, conflicts bringabout complex qualitative and quantitative changes:• a change in economic activities towards traditional sectors with available provisionsand less capital;• activities that take advantage of the legal gap and minor governmental control toachieve easy profits;• activities providing substitute services previously supplied by the government byadapting to the crisis situation;• activities peripheral to international and regional organizations’ interventions;52 William Taylor, Chief of “USA Rebuilding Iraq Programmes”, press conference, 21 May 200553 Interim Strategy Note, World Bank Group for Iraq, 14 January, 200454 Sabri Zire Al-Saadi "Oil Wealth and Poverty in Iraq: Statistical Adjustment of Government GDP Estimates(1980-2001, MEES 46:19 12 May 2003, also Oil-Rich Iraq Now One of the World's Least Developed Countries",MEES 45:40, 7 October, 2002.55 ILO Multidisciplinary (MD) Mission Report, 2000.56 World Bank Interim Strategy Note of the World Bank Group for Iraq, 14 January, 2004 UnemploymentUndermines the Prospects for Stability and Democracy, tears at the fabric of society by depriving families ofeconomic security.51