GICJ Oral Statement with International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD)

Delivered by Mutua K. Kobia

On the 22nd of March 2022, the Human Right Council held a General Debate about Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention. Mutua K. Kobia delivered a statement on behalf of the Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) and the International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD).

In his statement, he addressed a seeming double standard by the international community: We condemn Russia for invading Ukraine but kept silent towards the United States in its unlawful invasion of Iraq. 19 years after the invasion and occupation of Iraq, in March 2003, Iraq has only suffered. The US invasion, which violated the UN Charter, left the country in chaos, under the hegemony of the militias, and the attacks of terrorist.

Therefore, EAFORD, International Lawyers and Geneva International Centre for Justice, call on all states to immediately comply with the universal human rights values, by condemning the invasion and occupation of Iraq, as we did with Ukraine, and by establishing a fund to compensate victims of war, torture, enforced disappearances, and other grave violations in both countries.