Statement No. (142)
Secretary-General of the United Nations in Baghdad, ignoring human rights violations
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, announced his visit to Iraq, and his agenda was to meet the three presidencies that represent the current political process, and declared his support for Al-Sudani government in combating corruption, although field facts indicate that combating corruption is just a clear lie, as evidenced by the release of all those convicted of financial theft and escape from legal punishment.
Soon, the specific agenda for the visit changed to meetings that Mr. Guterres conducted with human rights violators and those responsible for committing crimes against Iraqi citizens, led by militia officials Rayan al-Kildani, Qais al-Khazali and others, which means a public violation of the human rights charters that Mr. Guterres supposed to represent, and this is a flagrant violation of international law.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations did not discuss the important issues related to political and human rights, in terms of the recently enacted laws that restrict freedoms, as well as the imaginary democracy that controls Iraq through election laws, the politicization of the Electoral Commission, and the dominance of regional countries over the political decision, which resulted in an Iraqi popular boycott. The political class admitted that more than 80% boycotted the elections, On the other hand, he deliberately ignored the grave human rights violations, from the file of the enforced disappearance to the ethnic and sectarian cleansing of depopulated areas such as Jurf al-Sakhar, or even the recent assassinations in Anbar and Diyala and before that, the continuous targeting of peaceful demonstrations, the torture of detainees, and the deprivation of their legitimate rights. These and other files are at the core of the work of the United Nations and its Secretary General.
The Iraqi National Charter records his full reservations about the visit of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and his meetings with militia officials and human rights violators: we refuse to reduce Iraq to the forgery government formed by the coordination framework and run by the Sudanese, which sponsors financial corruption and human rights violations, and it is not possible to accept the justification of some of his advisors that he was carrying an international message to Iran via Baghdad regarding pressure on the Iranian nuclear file, because the role of the United Nations is supposed to be with peoples, their rights and aspirations for a decent life and a government that serves them and advances their reality and improves their living, human and democratic conditions, not for the United Nations to be a postman to deliver messages between parties that were the cause of suffering.
Iraqi National Charter
2/3/2023
