IRAQ PRESENTS REPORT TO COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL ELIMINATION

AFTERNOON


HR/CERD/99/43
9 August 1999



Panel also Discusses Situation in Central African Republic


The Committee on the Elimination on Racial Discrimination began consideration this afternoon of a report of Iraq, with Experts querying a Government delegation, among other things, on the consequences of the international economic embargo imposed against the country and on the status of various ethnic and religious minorities.

Bassil Youssif, Member of the Consultative Human Rights Commission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, said the country’s right to self-determination had been violated by the embargo. Since the start of the blockade, about a million of children had died because of lack of food and medicine, he charged. The embargo perpetrated against Iraq amounted to genocide, Mr. Youssif contended.

Ion Diaconu, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Iraq, said that eight years of war with Iran, the Gulf War and the economic sanctions imposed against Iraq, which badly affected its basic infrastructure, had been major obstacles to Iraq’s efforts to meet the standards of various international human-rights instruments.

The Iraqi delegation also included Ryad Al-Dabbag, Member of the Consultative Human Rights Commission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq; Saad Hussain, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Iraq to the United Nations Office at Geneva; and Mayadah A. Yassin, Second Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq.

Also taking part in the discussion were Committee Experts Luis Valencia Rodriguez, Gay McDougall, Regis de Gouttes, Rudiger Wolfrum, Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr, Theodoor van Boven, Mario Jorge Yutsis and Agha Shahi.

As one of 155 States parties to the Convention on the Elimination on All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Iraq must submit periodic reports to the Committee on Government efforts to implement the treaty.

The Committee also heard a brief report from one of its Experts reviewing the situation in Central African Republic, whose report was seriously overdue and in the absence of a Government delegation.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 10 August, it continue its consideration of the report of Iraq.

Report of Iraq

The fourteenth periodic report of Iraq (document CERD/C/320/Add.3) states that all types of ethnic groups and minorities have coexisted in Iraq in a peaceful and tranquil manner since ancient times. In its struggle against racism, Iraq has focussed on the condemnation of all forms of racial discrimination and has emphasized the principle of non-discrimination as an imperative rule of international law, the violation of which constitutes an international offence, the document remarks. In the field of foreign policy, Iraq is cooperating with the international community in its endeavours to combat racial discrimination and segregation.

The report further says that Iraqi laws prohibit the establishment of any association, organization or body advocating the incitement of ethnic or group bigotry, and that laws prohibit as well the propagation of feelings of hatred among sections of the people with the view to undermining national unity. In addition, the Iraqi Constitution guarantees the right of all citizens to equality before the law without distinction on grounds of sex, race, language, social origin or region.

The report charges that some Western and other States that are hostile to Iraq are still using the question of minorities and human rights as a means to achieve political aims by engaging in unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Iraq. Allegations to the effect that human rights, and particularly the rights of minorities, are being violated in Iraq are, in actual fact, politically motivated and fall within the framework of the struggle between a forward-looking national strategy and the economic and political interests of some Western States in the region, the report contends.

Introduction of Iraqi report

BASSIL YOUSSIF, Member of the Consultative Human Rights Commission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, said that Iraq was composed of several components coexisting with brotherly feelings. It had also been the home of those who had been persecuted in other places. Iraq had fought racism in all its forms since the early days of its now-ancient history.

Mr. Youssif said that among the priorities designated by the Government of Iraq since in 1960s, the struggle for the rights of minorities, including the Kurds, within Iraqi society ranked high on the agenda. However, the occupation of part of its territory by foreign powers did not permit the full implementation of Iraq's efforts to promote the rights of its population.

Mr. Youssif further said that his country's territorial integrity had continued to be violated by foreign powers, particularly by the United States and the United Kingdom, prohibiting Iraq from exercising its full sovereign rights. Those aggressive measures had restricted the Government in the use of its own lands and skies, which were part of its sovereignty. Those foreign powers had violated Iraq's territory more than 10,000 times in the form of air raids, causing severe damage to the lives of the population and its property.

Iraq was the victim of the violation of its right to self-determination, which was one of the pillars of the United Nations, Mr. Youssif went on to state. Since the start of the economic embargo against Iraq, more than a million of children had died because of lack of basic food and medicine. In addition, the lack of basic necessities had driven people to impoverishment and hunger. These acts perpetrated against Iraq amounted to genocide, he said.

Mr. Youssif said the no-flight restrictions imposed against Iraq in its northern and southern territories were illegal under the terms of international instruments and particularly under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The Iraqi official said that as a result of the ongoing situation brought about by foreign aggression and military intervention in northern Iraq, the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, comprising Arbil, Sulaimaniya and Dhouk, had been removed from the control of the central Government. That situation had prevented the population from taking part in a popular referendum to elect the country's President.

Discussion

ION DIACONU, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Iraq, said that the eight years of war with Iran, the Gulf War and the economic sanctions imposed against Iraq, which had badly affected its basic infrastructure, had been the major difficulties faced by Iraq in meeting its obligations under various international human-rights instruments.

Mr. Diaconu said that in the past, various Committees of the treaty bodies, including the Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, had expressed the opinion that the economic embargo was a flagrant violation of economic, social and cultural rights. These bodies had also urged the international community, particularly the Security Council, to repeal the embargo, which had adversely affected the humanitarian situation of the Iraqi population.

Mr. Diaconu said that according to a United Nations report, it seemed that there had been certain improvements in food supply following the "Food for Oil" agreement of 1997. The UN Secretary-General had congratulated the Government of Iraq for its cooperation in the implementation of the agreement. Nevertheless, the situation was far from satisfying the needs of the population, he added.

Mr. Diaconu underlined that another particular situation concerning Iraq was the fact that the central Government did not exercise control over its northern zone inhabited by Iraqi Kurds, Turkmans and Assyrians. That represented a difficult situation for the Government in terms of implementing the Convention, and it posed a problem for the Committee in considering Iraq’s report. However, whatsoever the difficulties, Iraq was responsible for the implementation of its obligations under the terms of the Convention.

With regard to Iraqi Kurds, Mr. Diaconu said the Government had adopted an appropriate policy and legislation recognizing the ethnic, cultural and autonomous rights of the region inhabited mainly by Kurds. However, following the situation in the northern zone, the provisions of the Convention were far from being implemented.

Other Committee Experts also raised questions on such issues as forced evictions; the situation of disappeared Kurds and their families; ownership of properties by men and women; conditions of autonomy for Kurds; measures to combat racial hatred and misunderstanding; the situations of ethnic and religious minorities; and the situation of foreigners and refugees, among other things.


Report of Central African Republic

YURI A. RECHETOV, the Committee expert who served as country rapporteur on the situation in the Central African Republic, said that since a series of events had taken place in that country since the submission of its last periodic report, it would have been in the interest of the Government to continue its dialogue with the Committee.

Mr. Rechetov said that the last report submitted by the Government dated back to 1985 as a seventh periodic report of that State party. In the report, it was indicated that the country comprised a large number of ethnic communities, including naturalized groups of French, Portuguese and Lebanese origin. However, it was reported that the Pygmies did not enjoy their full rights as provided for by the Convention.

Mr. Rechetov said that in 1995, a democratic Constitution had entered into force in the country. One could say that a democratic transformation had taken place, with the establishment of a national human-rights commission to defend the rights of citizens. The idea of human-rights petitions had also been established for the first time. The question of dissemination of the Convention and its translation into local languages was under discussion.