The Human Rights Office within the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) was established in 2004 with the mandate to ensure the promotion and protection of human rights as foreseen in Security Council Resolution 1546 of June 2004. Freedom of movement of UN staff continues to be severely restricted because of security conditions in all regions, except governorates under the authority of the Kurdistan Regional Government. As of this writing, despite the difficult security situation, the Office had monitored and reported on the human rights situation and had implemented capacity-building activities focusing on the rehabilitation and reconstruction of state and civil society institutions.
Until October 2007, the Human Rights Office had issued nine bi-monthly reports on the human rights situation in Iraq and two quarterly reports. These reports,which detail serious and widespread human rights violations, are intended to assist the Government of Iraq in ensuring protection of basic human rights and respect for the rule of law.
OHCHR supports the work of the UNAMI by assisting in the implementation of activities and providing guidance and expert advice on specific human rights questions. Monitoring is carried out from UNAMI’s human rights offices in Baghdad, Erbil and Amman. The UNAMI Human Rights Office promotes the protection of human rights, assists in the development of a strategy for transitional justice, and advocates for judicial and legal reform. Projects to support the establishment of a national human rights institution, a national centre for missing and disappeared persons and a centre for the rehabilitation of victims of torture will be implemented during 2008-2009.
OHCHR and UNAMI will continue to assist the Iraqi Government in establishing a national human rights commission in compliance with the Paris Principles, as provided for in the new Constitution. Cooperation with international human rights mechanisms, especially the special procedures mandate-holders, will continue.