Letter: Our medieval treatment of Iraq's people

Sir: Elias Davidsson (letter 1 April) points out that the UN embargo against Iraq contravenes the Geneva Convention. This should, of course, be quite sufficient to ensure the immediate lifting of the embargo, but apparently it is not.

Let me therefore point out that it also directly contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 24 of which enjoins parties to take appropriate measures both "to diminish infant and child mortality", and "to ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care".

The convention does not have the force of law, but it does have the immediacy of having been signed by almost every country in the world within the last eight years, in most cases since the embargo began.

BILL LINTON

London N13