SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS CONCERNED OVER LACK OF PROTECTION OF MASS GRAVE SITES IN IRAQ

16 May 2003




The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions of the United Nations Commission on Human rights, Asma Jahangir, is deeply concerned at reports that potential mass graves containing evidence of atrocities committed under Saddam Hussain’s regime are left unprotected. If these sites are not properly secured, there are grave apprehensions that future criminal investigations of past human rights violations will be seriously hampered.

In this respect, the Special Rapporteur would like to refer to Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2003/53 which, among other thing:

“4. Reiterates the obligation of all States to conduct exhaustive and impartial investigations into all suspected cases of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, to identify and bring to justice those responsible, (…) to grant adequate compensation within a reasonable time to the victims or their families and to adopt all necessary measures, including legal and judicial measures, in order to bring an end to impunity and to prevent the recurrence of such executions, as stated in the Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extralegal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions” (hereafter the “Principles”).

While acknowledging the fundamental right of the families of the deceased to have access to the remains of their family members, the Special Rapporteur calls on the Government of the United States and its coalition partners, in cooperation with local religious and secular leaders, to halt the unorganized unearthing of those remains and to provide proper preservation of those sites as provided in article 12 of the Principles, according to which, “if the body has been buried and it later appears that an investigation is required, the body shall be promptly and competently exhumed for an autopsy. If skeletal remains are discovered, they should be carefully exhumed and studied according to systematic anthropological techniques”.




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