𝑵𝒂𝒋𝒊 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒋: 𝑬𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒓𝒂𝒒

The Executive Director of Geneva International Centre for Justice, Naji Haraj, emphasised that enforced disappearances are one of the most serious crimes suffered by the Iraqi people, since the US occupation of the country in 2003.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝟐𝟒𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑, 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐪.

In his lecture, he explained the magnitude of this crime, the parties responsible for it, and dealt with the policies implemented by the occupation, which led to the destruction of the judiciary, the spread of chaos, and an increasing absence of the rule of law. This latter point has paved the way, more recently for the occurrence of massive and widespread violations in Iraq, the most important of which has been the enforced disappearance of up to one million people, according to international estimates.

The Executive Director clarified the legal concepts of enforced disappearances, and the fact that it is a crime against humanity, and stressed the need not to fall victim to confusion between the concepts of ‘missing persons’ and ‘forcibly disappeared persons’, since a ‘missing’ person is one who has disappeared for neutral reasons, natural reasons, of reasons for whom no other person is culpable. In contrast, an enforced disappearance is a criminal offence, commonly committed by state authorities and constitutes a crime against humanity.

𝐌𝐫. 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐣 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐪, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬❜ 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫.

Further, he indicated that instances of enforced disappearance continue to this day, stressing the dominance of the sectarian dimension over the motives of this crime. He explained the processes of demographic change that take place after campaigns of arrest, disappearance, and intimidation of the population, which forces others to leave their areas of residence in a move which is combined with demolishing those peoples’ lands and razing their agricultural fields.

In the lecture, he referred to the violations that the Iraqi demonstrators 2019-2021 were subjected to, including the criminal disappearance and unlawful execution of some participants, and the fact that their fate remains unknown to this day.

Mr. Haraj also explained the procedures at the international level, explaining the role of the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearance, and the many recommendations it has issued regarding the obligations of the government of Iraq. Among the most important of these recommendations is the responsibility of the state to seriously search for all the forcibly disappeared, with the participation of families and civil society organizations, to investigate the reasons for their disappearance, to hold the perpetrators accountable, and to compensate the families. Further there are obligations to develope comprehensive and coordinated public policies to prevent the recurrence of this crime, investigate it and punish the perpetrators.

𝐇𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐍 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐪𝐢 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲, 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐪.

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