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Human rights recommendations to Iraqi
Kurdistan Regional Government
5.7.2007
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July
5, 2007
HRW To the Kurdistan Regional Government -
On Arbitrary Arrest and Detention
- Appoint as a matter of urgency an independent
judicial committee to review the legal status of
detainees held in the custody of the Asayish forces.
- Immediately release or charge with cognizable
criminal offenses all those currently held without
charge.
- Immediately release all convicted prisoners held
in Asayish custody who have already served their
sentences. Transfer any convicted prisoners still
serving time to a prison under the authority of the
Ministry of Interior’s police forces in accordance
with legislation currently in force.
- Ensure that persons taken into custody are brought
before an investigative judge within 24 hours of
arrest, in conformity
with Iraq’s Code of Criminal Procedure.
- Establish effective judicial mechanisms to enable
all detainees to challenge the legal basis for their
detention.
- Establish effective judicial mechanisms to provide
all detainees with a prompt and fair trial on the
charges against them.
- Ensure that family members and legal counsel have
prompt access to detainees.
- Limit the use of confessions as a basis for
pretrial detention or conviction to confessions
freely made in the presence of counsel and ratified
within 24 hours before a judge and the defendant’s
counsel.Suspend those provisions of the CCP that
permit the use of confessions and other evidence
obtained through torture or other coercive methods.
- Ensure that theAsayish forces comply with domestic
legislation that requires the issuance of arrest
warrants from a judicial authority before arrests,
except those in flagrante delicto.
On Torture and Other Ill-treatment
- Publicly condemn the practice of torture and other
ill-treatment and declare unequivocally that such
abuses will not be tolerated.
- Investigate promptly all allegations of torture
and ill-treatment, and ensure that guards,
interrogators, and other prison officials who are
found responsible for the abuse of prisoners are
subject to disciplinary measures or criminal
prosecution as appropriate. To that end, authorize
the establishment of a transparent and independent
body to investigate allegations of torture by
Asayish personnel.
- Conduct an immediate medical examination of any
detainee alleging abuse.
- Ensure that prisoners have access to medical care
on a regular basis.
- Compensate victims of torture, ill-treatment, and
arbitrary detention adequately and speedily.
On Providing Greater Access and Transparency
- Ensure that all detainees are held in recognizable
places of detention that are accessible to
government inspection, independent monitors,
relatives, and defense counsel, such access being
regular and unimpeded. The Ministry of Human Rights
should regularly visit all detention facilities,
assess treatment of detainees and conditions of
detention, and make public its findings.
- Ensure regular access to detention facilities
under the authority of the Asayish forces by
independent domestic and
international monitoring organizations.
On Meeting International Standards
- Ensure that conditions in detention centers
conform to international standards, including the UN
Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners and the Body of Principles for the
Protection of All Persons under Any Form of
Detention or Imprisonment. Detainees are entitled to
sufficient food and water, prompt access to medical
treatment, adequate washing facilities, and clean
and adequate bedding. They must not be subject to
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or
punishment.
- Work with the Iraqi government to ratify the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention
against Torture). Work with the Iraqi government to
become a party to the Optional Protocol to the
Convention against Torture, which allows independent
international experts to conduct regular visits to
places of detention within the territory of states
parties, to assess the conditions of detention, and
to make recommendations for improvements.
- Implement the general recommendations made by the
Committee against Torture in May 2002 and by the UN
special rapporteur on torture in 2003, to establish
a fully independent complaints mechanism for persons
who are held in state custody.
To the government of the United States and other
Multinational Force governments
- Assist the Kurdistan regional authorities in
establishing a mechanism for the prompt
investigation of allegations of torture or
ill-treatment at the hands of law enforcement
officials, including the Asayish forces.
- Ensure that assistance to the Kurdistan Regional
Government is not used to contribute to human rights
violations.
- In the context of assistance provided to the
Kurdistan Regional Government, send a clear and
consistent message that respect for human rights is
integral and essential to the success of any
security policy, including counterterrorism
operations.
- Follow up the cases of all detainees arrested in
joint operations of Iraqi and US military forces and
reportedly subsequently transferred to the custody
of Kurdistan authorities, to ensure that Kurdistan
authorities release such detainees or promptly try
them in accordance with Iraqi law.
To the international donor community
Closely monitor any police, security, and
counterterrorism assistance to the Kurdistan
Regional Government to ensure that human rights
standards are strictly observed by police and
intelligence forces.
- Provide human rights training as an integral
component of all capacity building and training
programs involving the police and intelligence
agencies. Such training should include a component
designed to stop the use of torture and other cruel,
inhuman, and degrading treatment as an interrogation
technique or as punishment.
- Ensure that aid given includes assistance for the
development and support of local human rights groups
with a monitoring capacity and the development of an
independent human rights commission.
This report was researched and written by staff
members of the Middle East and North Africa Division
of Human Rights Watch. Sarah Leah Whitson, executive
director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and
North Africa Division, and Ian Gorvin, consultant to
the Program Office of Human Rights Watch, edited the
report. James Ross, senior legal advisor, provided
legal review. Assef Ashraf, associate for the Middle
East and North Africa Division, prepared this report
for publication. Additional production assistance
was provided by Grace Choi, publications specialist,
and Fitzroy Hepkins, mail manager.
Human Rights Watch wishes to acknowledge the
cooperation and assistance received from officials
of the Kurdistan Regional Government, political
leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, members and staff of
the Kurdistan National Assembly, the directors and
staff of the Kurdish security forces, prison
officials, and judicial personnel. We also
acknowledge the cooperation and assistance received
from the General Command, Task Force 134, Detainee
Operations, Multi-National Force-Iraq. Human Rights
Watch also wishes to express its deep appreciation
to the detainees who spoke with us.
Human Rights Watch would like to thank the
Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation, Stichting Vluchteling,
NOVIB, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the David and Lucile
Packard Foundation, the Oak Foundation, the Ruth
McLean Bowman Bowers Foundation, ACT Netherlands, a
joint project of Kerkinactie and ICCO, and the many
individuals who contributed to Human Rights Watch’s
Iraq emergency fund.
hrw org
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