The Human Rights Office of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) was established in August 2004, subsequent to the attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad in 2003 and the evacuation of UN international staff from Iraq. The UNAMI mandate was set out in Security Council resolution 1546 of 8 June 2004 to “ promote the protection of human rights, national reconciliation, and judicial and legal reform in order to strengthen the rule of law in Iraq.”
Accordingly, from the very outset, the UNAMI Human Rights Office (UNAMI HRO) established links with governmental institutions and civil society in Iraq, and on the basis of extensive consultations, drew up and proposed a comprehensive Human Rights Programme for Iraq, which was to serve as a guide for coordinated activities to be undertaken in the process of the re-construction of the country. Activities envisaged in the Programme aimed to provide support to key ministries, such as the Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense; support for Law and Judicial Reform; support for Civil Society; support for the development of a National Strategy on Options for Transitional Justice; support for the development and implementation of a National Programme on Human Rights Education, and support to the media. The Programme was designed to actively involve a number of other agencies and programmes of the UN Country Team. The HRO was organized to focus on monitoring and on reconstruction, to support the development of a human rights culture and related human rights institutions.
The 2004 Human Rights Programme thus marked the beginning of a long-term effort by OHCHR, UNAMI Human Rights Office and partner UN agencies to assist the Iraqi authorities to meet their human rights obligations, while helping create credible civil society organizations with an ever-improving capacity to effectively engage in all aspects of the human rights work in the country.
In 2004 and 2005, the UNAMI Human Rights Office, in close consultation with the Government of Iraq and the non-governmental community, implemented a series of activities in the context of the strategy set out in the Human Rights Programme. Several of these capacity development projects were carried out in collaboration with its partners: UNDP, UNOPS, international and national NGOs. The capacity development activities in support of Iraqi Ministries, most notably the Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense, intended to enable them to carry out their mandates and responsibilities while ensuring the full protection of human rights and respect and fulfillment of their human rights obligations. For example, under the Human Rights Programme, a number of activities were undertaken to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Human Rights to monitor the condition of detainees in detention facilities and prisons across the country and lead the systematic and scientific excavation of Iraq's many mass graves. The Human Rights Office additionally supported numerous training courses for the Ministries of Justice, Interior and Defense, as well as other state and government institutions, on international human rights law and IHL.
One of the major projects under this Programme was the support for the establishment, in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Rights, of a National Centre for Missing and Disappeared Persons, to assist in the rehabilitation and support for the surviving families of such persons.
During this period, for the purposes of supporting the realization of the various activities under the Human Rights Programme and its outreach to Iraqi civil society, the HRO established a presence in Basra and in Erbil, in addition to its offices in Baghdad and Amman.
In 2005, in response to a surge in numerous cases indicating a serious deterioration in the human rights situation in the country, HRO introduced the publication of regular reports reflecting its monitoring activities, in an effort to draw attention to the need for meaningful action by the authorities concerned to address and redress these violations.