“Respect for human rights is at the basis of any democracy, and strong action needs to be taken by the Iraqi authorities to ensure that each and every person in this country can fully enjoy his or her fundamental rights – including social and economic rights,” stressed the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Mr. Martin Kobler.
Other concerns focused on the reliance on confessions as the foundation for convictions in judicial proceedings, the implementation of the death penalty and a lack of appropriate resources for prosecutors and courts to address overcrowding in detention centres. The situation in the prisons is still of serious concern.
“I am calling on the Iraqi authorities to address the serious human rights violations highlighted in this report,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
“In particular, I would like to stress that under international law, the death penalty is permitted in very limited circumstances, including after trial and appeal proceedings that scrupulously respect all the principles of due process,” she said. “The number of executions so far in 2012, and the manner in which they have been carried out in large batches, is extremely dangerous, cannot be justified, and risks seriously undermining the partial and tentative progress on rule of law in Iraq outlined in this report. I encourage the Iraqi Government to declare a moratorium on all executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty in the near future.”
(Source: UNAMI)
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