UN RIGHTS OFFICE TO PRESENT REPORT ON SITUATION IN IRAQ ON 31 MAY

6 May 2004


The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will present a report on the human-rights situation in Iraq to the Commission on Human Rights on 31 May 2004. Acting High Commissioner Bertrand Ramcharan had announced the preparation of the report at the closing of this year’s Commission session on 23 April.

The report, which will look at the period between April 2003 and May 2004, will cover the following subjects:

· the military/security situation, including acts of terrorism,
· the protection of civilians,
· the treatment of persons in detention,
· displacement,
· the situation of women and children,
· freedom of religion or belief,
· other civil and political rights,
· economic, social and cultural rights,
· oversight and accountability and
· human-rights institutions, including the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights.

The acting High Commissioner has written to the United States Administrator in Iraq, Ambassador Paul Bremer; to Members of the Iraqi Governing Council, and to the Foreign Ministers of countries participating in the Coalition Forces, asking them to provide him with information they consider relevant to the inquiry.

The acting High Commissioner has also written to concerned international and non-governmental organizations.

The OHCHR team working on the report plans to visit Amman, Beirut and other neighboring capitals to conduct interviews with persons wishing to provide relevant information.

Should circumstances permit, the acting High Commissioner and members of his team would be ready to visit Baghdad for consultations with Coalition and Iraqi leaders.

The approach being followed in the preparation of this report is similar to that used by the acting High Commissioner in preparing for the Commission on Human Rights reports on the human-rights situations in Liberia and in Darfur, Western Sudan.