PRe.25-I1509
The Universal Periodic
Review (UPR) was created by the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 to provide
a regular review of the human rights records of UN member states through a
common mechanism.
Once a state comes under
review, it may prepare its response to a background note and initial questions
raised by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The UNHRC should then engage in a dialogue
with the state under review to examine how well it is meeting its human rights
obligations and implementing recommendations for improvement from special
procedures or treaty bodies.
Iraq is included in the eighth
group of states to have their human rights records reviewed under the UPR
process during the seventh session of the UNHRC that begins in February 2010.
SOITM has compiled a report
for submission to the UNHRC under sections B, C, and D of the Information and Guidelines for Relevant
Stakeholders on the Universal Periodic Review Mechanism:
ü In Section B, SOITM focuses on the
normative and institutional framework of the state, placing particular focus
on:
·
The
undemocratic drafting process of Iraq’s constitution;
·
Discrepancies
in the Iraqi Constitution;
·
Discrimination
in the Iraqi Constitution
·
The
ongoing deadlock over issues of federalism
ü In Section C, SOITM comments on the
implementation and efficiency of the Iraqi normative and institutional
framework, drawing attention to the following in the north of Iraq
·
Inefficiencies
in administration
·
Lack
of human rights monitoring and evaluation
·
Demographic
changes
·
Imbalance
in standard of living
·
Incidences
of ethnic cleansing
ü In Section D SOITM issued a number of
recommendations to:
·
Iraqi
National Assembly
·
Iraqi
Government
·
UN
Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and international human rights
organizations
·
Members of the United Nations
Eight
annexes were attached to SOITM’s submission to the UNHRC:
·
Statements submitted by SOITM to the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights
·
Satellite maps of Kerkuk of 2002 compared with maps
of 2007
·
Official documents about the population of Kerkuk
city before and after occupation
·
Official documents about the complaint cases in the
Propriety Claim Commission of Kerkuk
·
Ethnic allocations of high-ranking posts in Kerkuk
·
Lists of Turkmen who had been intimidated,
arrested, kidnapped or assassinated
