Iraq before parliamentary elections - Security Council briefing | United Nations

The Security Council today (10 Jun) heard a briefing on the situation in Iraq from the Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), Mohamed Al Hassan, who spoke about the progress made in Iraq in preparing for the national parliamentary elections set for November. Al Hassan said Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) “is committed to doing its best towards a free, fair and transparent election with the participation of all Iraqis without fear and intimidation.” For its part, UNAMI, Al Hassan said, “will spare no effort in providing the most professional technical support towards this end, including efforts to promote the widest participation of women, youth and minorities.” On the Kurdistan region of Iraq, the Special Representative said he expects the concerned parties “will be able to form a competent government that will serve the interests of the people of Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Iraq at large.” He emphasized that the Baghdad-Erbil relationship “is a partnership that necessitates ongoing dialog and collaboration grounded in the Constitution of Iraq to effectively address and resolve any outstanding issues between the two sides.” Al Hassan noted that “hundreds of thousands of individuals remain displaced in Iraq, including 100,000 primarily Yazidis, from Sinjar who live in ID camps and informal settlements throughout Iraq under precarious conditions.” He said, “the government of Iraq needs to accelerate the adoption of a comprehensive national plan for durable solution,” and stressed that the return process “cannot just be physical relocation. It needs to be a meaningful process that rebuilds lives, livelihoods, and hope for the future.” On the outstanding issues with Kuwait, the Special Representative welcomed “the increase in field missions and the use of advanced technologies to identify national burial sites,” but said, “there is a need to redouble these efforts, strengthening cooperation and coordination, including in the search of witnesses, towards finding the remains of 300 Kuwaiti missing persons and provide long overdue answer to their families.” Iraqi Ambassador Abbas Kadhom Obaid Al-Fatlawi for his part told the Council that “Iraq, since the year 2003 and for two decades has proven its principled position based on good neighbourliness with the state of Kuwait and promoting bilateral relations with Kuwait at all levels, social, economic and political.” He said, “we seek seriously to end all outstanding issues with the state of Kuwait, which was simply the outcome of an individual dictatorship behaviour, and we have honoured our commitments to pay indemnity to the state of Kuwait in the amount of 52.4 billion US dollars.” UNAMI’s mandate will conclude on 31 December 2025 at the request of the Iraqi government.


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