- Title: IRAQ: Rights abuses continue as violence falls in Iraq-UN
- Date: 4th December 2008
- Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 2, 2008) (REUTERS) STAFFAN DE MISTURA, HEAD OF THE U.N. MISSION TO IRAQ ,GIVING PRESS CONFERENCE CLOSE OF BANNER PRESS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE ) (English) STAFFAN DE MISTURA, HEAD OF THE U.N. MISSION TO IRAQ, SAYING: "They need to be charged and indicted like anyone else should be, they need to have access to legal counsel and the cases need to be investigated in the Iraqi custody." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE ) (English) STAFFAN DE MISTURA, HEAD OF THE U.N. MISSION TO IRAQ, SAYING: "The release (of those detainees) will be obviously a major challenge for the Iraqi authorities, but the Iraqi authorities have the intention and the duty to apply to those detainees the best possible conditions. Now there are resources ,if there is a will there is a way to improve the facilities and readjust all facilities." CLOSE OF U.N. FLAG (SOUNDBITE ) (English) STAFFAN DE MISTURA, HEAD OF THE U.N. MISSION TO IRAQ, SAYING: "Certainly, what we saw in one location of 125 in 50 square metres, is unsustainable even from a purely hygienic point of view , even if it was not also from a human rights and psychological way. This is a challenge that Iraqi government is going to face ,we will be assisting them but this is a challenge they have to take ."
- Embargoed: 19th December 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVAEL0FMP7DRLCPK56V8CE35CWXO
- Story Text: Human abuses still rampant in Iraq despite a sharp drop in violence, a recent U.N. report says, warning of what it called an "acute"
situation of prisoners.
Human rights abuses in Iraq remain widespread despite a significant drop in overall violence, the United Nations said on Tuesday (December 2).
The situation in Iraqi prisons was particularly acute, the U.N.
Assistance Mission to Iraq said in a report, released ahead of the transfer next year of possibly thousands of detainees from U.S. military control to the Iraqi authorities.
Many detainees in Iraqi jails had been held for months or years without being charged, granted access to lawyers or even to a judge, the report said.
Allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment were of particular concern.
"They need to be charged and indicted like anyone else should be, they need to have access to legal counsel and the cases need to be investigated in the Iraqi custody," the head of the U.N. mission, Staffan de Mistura, told a news conference.
Under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact that comes into force next year, the U.S. forces who invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple former dictator Saddam Hussein will have to hand over to Iraqi control more than 16,000 detainees currently held in U.S. camps.
Those facing Iraqi arrest warrants will likely end up in Iraqi prisons while the rest will have to be freed. Many were detained at the height of the al Qaeda-inspired insurgency and of the sectarian violence between minority Sunni Arabs and now dominant Shi'ites.
Iraqi prisons are already crowded and in a precarious condition, the U.N. said.
"The release (of those detainees) will be obviously a major challenge for the Iraqi authorities, but the Iraqi authorities have the intention and the duty to apply to those detainees the best possible conditions. Now there are resources, if there is a will there is a way to improve the facilities and re-adjust all facilities," de Mistura said.
The U.N. report referred only to the first six months of 2008 because its author had to break off halfway through the year for personal reasons.
The U.N. said conditions in the justice system in the semi autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq were not much better.
There were cases of prolonged detention on vague accusations and long delays of up to four years in bringing people to trial.
In total, there were 50,595 detainees held in Iraqi prisons at the of June, the U.N. said.
"Certainly, what we saw in one location of 125 in 50 square metres, is unsustainable even from a purely hygienic point of view , even if it was not also from a human rights and psychological way. This is a challenge that Iraqi government is going to face ,we will be assisting them but this is a challenge they have to take," De Mistura said.
The U.N. report also highlighted the targeted killings of journalists, teachers, doctors, judges, government officials and minorities, such as Christians or Turkmen, as causes for concern.
In addition, it said women faced difficulties across Iraq as conservative groups tried to restrict their freedoms. Women's rights were also threatened in Kurdistan, where 50 women were murdered and 150 burned in the first six months of this year as a result of so called "honour crimes". - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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