A/HRC/27/32 IV. Session I. Assessing the impact of unilateral coercive measures on human rights, in particular of women and children 7. The panellists were Haifa Zangana, a novelist, artist and journalist, Mohamed Younis, Senior Analyst for the Middle East and North Africa at Gallup, and Dursun Peksen, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Memphis. The Chair noted that panellists would address the impacts of both unilateral measures and collective measures, as their impact on civilian populations was not dependent on the distinction in their legal bases. 8. Ms. Zangana presented the effects on Iraqi life of the economic sanctions imposed pursuant to Security Council resolution 661 (1990). She noted that many Iraqis referred to the 12 years and 8 months of sanctions as the “siege”, and that the wide-ranging effect of sanctions and the importance of family in Iraqi society made it difficult to separate specific impacts on women and children from those on society as a whole. She detailed the effects on the economy following the collapse of the dinar to less than 1 per cent of its value in 1990, which led to an acute deterioration of living conditions, severely straining the social fabric. Ms. Zangana highlighted particular effects on the right to life, citing estimates by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that the first five years of sanctions had resulted in the deaths of half a million Iraqi children under the age of 5. She noted the shortages of medicines and specific effects on the right to health of women, including increases in the incidence of miscarriages, cancer, anaemia, diabetes, depression and other conditions. People had reduced their visits to friends or relatives due to their shame at being unable to offer hospitality, a deep-rooted tradition in Iraqi society. The right to education had been severely affected by poverty, which forced children into work; restrictions on the import of educational materials; and the struggle to secure basic daily needs. 9. Mr. Younis presented some results of the Gallup World Poll from Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Ukraine. The World Poll included a measure of well-being which asked individuals to rate their lives currently and their prospects in five years on a scale of 1 to 10. Those rating 4 or lower on both were defined as “suffering”, while those rating their current lives as 7 and above and future lives as 8 and above were defined as “thriving”. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the suffering rate had increased drastically during the period of sanctions, while the thriving rate had remained relatively stable. In 2013, the Islamic Republic of Iran had the eighth highest rate of suffering in the Middle East and Central Asia region. 10. Mr. Younis also presented the results of a survey of Iranians on the impact of sanctions, and their views thereon. Between 2011 and 2013, the proportion of respondents that considered that the sanctions of the United Nations, the United States of America and Western Europe would hurt the livelihood of Iranians a great deal had almost doubled. According to the survey, men were the most satisfied with the efforts of the Government to deal with the poor (men 62 per cent, women 55 per cent). Households with children were suffering more than households with no children. Households with children were more exposed to a lack of money to buy food and provide adequate housing. Women were more likely than men to express the view that their own personal livelihoods, as well as those of Iranians in general, were hurt a great deal by the sanctions. Almost half of the Iranians surveyed in 2012 and 2013 held the United States most responsible for the sanctions, compared to around 10 per cent who felt that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran was most responsible; a large majority of both men (68 per cent) and women (62 per cent) were of the view that the Islamic Republic of Iran should continue to develop its nuclear power capabilities despite the sanctions. 5