Full Details of UN Statement on Iraq

Resolution 1956 – Development Fund for Iraq Resolution

• Resolution 1956 formally terminates the arrangements established in 2003 for the Development Fund for Iraq on June 30, 2011, as a result of Iraq’s progress towards resolving debts and claims inherited from the previous regime and establishing accountable successor arrangements for the transition of the Fund.
• Arrangements for the DFI were originally established in UNSCR 1483 to accumulate all proceeds from the export sales of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas in Iraq until such time as an internationally recognized, representative government of Iraq had been properly constituted.
• The passage of this resolution indicates that the Council believes that significant progress has been made in establishing post-DFI, Iraqi-managed successor arrangements and the strengthening of Iraqi institutions, and that in light of this progress, the DFI arrangements will end on June 30, 2011.

Resolution 1957 – Weapons of Mass Destruction Resolution

• Resolution 1957 lifts the restrictions imposed by UNSCRs 687 and 707 relating to weapons of mass destruction and civilian nuclear activities.  The Security Council has taken this step in recognition of Iraq’s commitment to the international non-proliferation regime, its compliance with relevant treaties, its adherence to the highest non-proliferation standards, and its provisional application of the Additional Protocol to its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), pending its entry into force.
• Iraq affirmed in January 2010 to the UNSC by letter that it will support the international non-proliferation regime and comply with relevant disarmament treaties and other international instruments.  The IAEA expressed in a March 2010 letter from IAEA Director General Amano to the UN Security Council President that it has received excellent cooperation from Iraq.
• In 2009 and 2010, Iraq also acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, and subscribed to the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation.  The resolution lifting Iraq’s civilian nuclear restrictions reflects this record of progress.
• Iraq will remain under certain restrictions as a result of their commitments under the NPT and the CWC, however, the most significant result of lifting these restrictions will be the removal of the international stigma associated Iraq being subject to these Security Council Resolutions.
• However, Iraq will also now have the freedom to pursue a wider array of civil nuclear activities.