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INTLawyers and GICJ Urge Investigation into Human Rights Violations and Persecution in Iraq

The 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council

9 September – 11 October 2024

Item 4: General debate on the human rights situations that require the Council's attention

26 September 2024

Statement of International-Lawyers.Org and the Geneva International Center for Justice

Delivered by Gautier Boyrie

Thank you, Mr. President.

We would like to draw this Council's attention to the grave human rights situation in Iraq. Civil society organizations, human rights defenders, lawyers, and academics currently face serious persecution for criticizing the government for its abuses of domestic and international law, with little signs of improvement.

While this Council has been in session, the Iraqi Bar Association has been suing lawyers for speaking out against various policy proposals of the government. At the same time, the Ministry of Higher Education is banning university professors from presenting their views on laws in the country, signalling a silencing of the public sphere.

The people of Iraq must be free to speak against government abuses. For years, the country has seen rampant arbitrary detentions, followed by torture and abusive treatment in prisons, and all too frequently, the death penalty. Iraq also suffers from widespread enforced disappearances, with an estimated one million people taken by armed groups and government forces since 2003.

The Iraqi authorities hold the responsibility for providing information on the whereabouts of these individuals and preventing the reoccurrence of this crime. They have repeatedly failed in this endeavour, however, not even acknowledging their role in the situation.

InternationalLawyers.Org and the Geneva International Centre for Justice urge the Council to investigate this situation, including through the appointment of a Special Rapporteur to Iraq. The people of the country deserve justice for what they have suffered. We call on the international community to provide them the resources to attain it.

Thank you.

#GICJ #Geneva4Justice #GenevaInternationalCentreforJustice #HRC57 #HumanRights #IHL #nonstateactors #unitednations #geneva #justice #viral

 INTLawyers and GICJ Urge Investigation into Human Rights Violations and Persecution in Iraq
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The 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council

9 September – 11 October 2024

Item 4: General debate on the human rights situations that require the Council's attention

26 September 2024

Statement of International-Lawyers.Org and the Geneva International Center for Justice

Delivered by Gautier Boyrie

Thank you, Mr. President.

We would like to draw this Council's attention to the grave human rights situation in Iraq. Civil society organizations, human rights defenders, lawyers, and academics currently face serious persecution for criticizing the government for its abuses of domestic and international law, with little signs of improvement.

While this Council has been in session, the Iraqi Bar Association has been suing lawyers for speaking out against various policy proposals of the government. At the same time, the Ministry of Higher Education is banning university professors from presenting their views on laws in the country, signalling a silencing of the public sphere.

The people of Iraq must be free to speak against government abuses. For years, the country has seen rampant arbitrary detentions, followed by torture and abusive treatment in prisons, and all too frequently, the death penalty. Iraq also suffers from widespread enforced disappearances, with an estimated one million people taken by armed groups and government forces since 2003.

The Iraqi authorities hold the responsibility for providing information on the whereabouts of these individuals and preventing the reoccurrence of this crime. They have repeatedly failed in this endeavour, however, not even acknowledging their role in the situation.

InternationalLawyers.Org and the Geneva International Centre for Justice urge the Council to investigate this situation, including through the appointment of a Special Rapporteur to Iraq. The people of the country deserve justice for what they have suffered. We call on the international community to provide them the resources to attain it.

Thank you.

#GICJ #Geneva4Justice #GenevaInternationalCentreforJustice #HRC57 #HumanRights #IHL #nonstateactors #unitednations #geneva #justice #viral

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