Iraq at the 41st Session of the UN Human Rights Council:
• “Trials in Iraq are free.”
• “We do not impose restrictions on social networks and we do not block websites.”
• “The government in Iraq is working very seriously to develop the sector of public health to provide treatment to all the people of Iraq.”
• “Judges in Iraq have high salaries so they will not accept bribes.”
Miss Iraq Sarah Idan, UN Watch’s 2019 Ambassador for Peace, takes the floor:
“Madam Vice-President, speaking as a migrant woman from Iraq, I commend the Special Rapporteur for his important report. Mr. Morales, on page 8 you address the root causes that drive migration, including the need to flee conflict and persecution, food insecurity, and gender-based discrimination. I wish to share some personal reflections that exemplify the issues that drive migration, especially migrant women.
I am Sarah Idan, Miss Iraq 2017. Representing my people on the world stage is a mission I take seriously.
Six million Iraqis have been displaced due to conflict since 2014.
Several factors, including those addressed by the report in paragraphs 30 to 32, may explain migration from my country:
• Security forces in Basra kill protesters who merely demand clean drinking water, electricity, and an end to corruption.
• Iraqi migrants flee terrible living conditions, ongoing terror attacks, and assassination of public figures, especially women.
• Assyrians, Yazidis and other minorities are oppressed. Iraq which was known as the cradle of civilizations has now become a graveyard for ethnic and religious diversity.
Iraqi migrants believe that their government showed more loyalty to Iran than to its own people. They see streets named after Khomeini who murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
I ask the UN: Why has this Council never adopted a single resolution for the human rights of the Iraqi people?
How could you elect a government that oppresses its own people as a world guardian of human rights? Thank you.”
Iraq responds:
“Thank you for giving us a right of reply on this unreliable information, not in line with the noble goals of this organization. They seem to be mixing up the victim and the henchmen.
Iraq guarantees all its citizens the right to peaceful assembly and expression and the right to demonstrate. We have not one single detainee in our prisons detained because of their opinion. Thank you.”
