General Debate Under Item 6: Universal Periodic Review

Thank you Mr. President,

This is a joint statement by EAFORD and the Geneva International Centre for Justice.

We would like to draw the Council’s attention to the Republic of Iraq’s lack of adherence to the accepted UPR recommendations.

After disregarding a majority of the recommendations received during the first cycle of its UPR (25 of which not were not even responded to), Iraq received an alarmingly high 242 recommendations in the second cycle alone.

In stark contrast to the elementary objectives of the Universal Periodic Review, human rights ideals have time and again been undermined in Iraq, despite the multitude of pertinent recommendations made by member states, even with regard to the most essential rights.

More specifically, the right to life is under constant threat by the militias of the Iraqi political parties, with the use of the death penalty remaining widespread as a means of political repression. The government and the judiciary continue to be plagued by corruption, and there alarmingly still exists no form of legal protection for female victims of violence, thus amounting to a complete lack of accountability for the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.

To make matters worse, freedom of expression and peaceful demonstrations of political dissent continue to be forcibly repressed by said militias, and the government has even gone far enough to create obstacles in order to delay or prevent a country visit by the Special Rapporteur on torture.

We thus urge the government of Iraq to start respecting its international commitments, to implement the accepted UPR recommendations, and to make expeditious provisions for UN special procedures to enter the country.

Many thanks.