12 March 2013
Item 4: Human Rights situations that require the Council's attention.

General Debate on Human Rights Situations that Require the Council's Attention

Full text of the statement:

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war. Grave human rights violations against international law have been reported during and after the Iraq war. However, most of the alleged human rights violations have not been properly investigated in domestic and international reports, nor brought to justice.

Victims are still suffering without any reparations.

For instance the US attacks on Fallujah in 2004 were reported to have included direct attack against civilians which caused significant deaths. It has been reported that white-phosphorous weapons and Depleted Uranium were used in civilian areas, without any preventive measure.

Human Rights Now is particularly concerned about the ongoing health risk of Iraq children caused by toxic wastes from the armed conflict. The data of Fallujah general hospital shows that around 15% of babies in Fallujah have congenital birth defects.

This year, Human Rights Now conducted investigation in Fallujah and documented serious birth defects. Without sufficient disclosure of information, related to toxic weapons used during the conflict, the cause of the problem have not yet been identified.

Mr President, we urge the US and UK governments to investigate all grave human rights violations during the war and the occupation of Iraq.

We also call the United Nations to conduct independent investigation on all grave human rights violations since the war to ensure justice, accountability and reparation for all victims. In order to prevent further victimisation of children in Iraq, we request the relevant UN Special Rapporteur to adequately investigate the situation of the right to health and life of children, in particular epidemics of congenital birth defects in Iraq.