S/PV.6747 Security Council

I thank Mr. Kobler for his briefing. I now give the floor to the representative of Iraq.

Allow me at the outset to congratulate you, Madame, and your country on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for this month. I am sure that your leadership skills and talents will help to achieve the objectives of the Security Council this month. I would like to also extend my thanks to the previous Security Council President, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, for his efforts during the month of March. I would also like to thank Mr. Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, and his team in Baghdad and New York for their sincere efforts in helping the people and Government of Iraq. Having reviewed the report of the Secretary- General on UNAMI’s work in Iraq (S/2012/185), I would like to present the following comments. On the political level, the convening of the twenty-third regular session of the Arab summit in Baghdad on 29 March 2012 was a milestone for Iraq’s return to its positive regional role and its integration into the Arab world after long years of isolation imposed on it following Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The summit was attended by presidents and leaders of Arab countries and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Iraq asked the Arab States to agree on a new vision for the relationships among Arab States in light of the great transformations in the region on the political, social, cultural and security levels. The absence of such a vision shall put us in complex situations that no country would be able to deal with alone. The summit adopted the Baghdad Declaration, which includes the positions of the Arab leaders regarding important regional and international issues. The completion of the withdrawal of United States forces from all Iraqi territory, in accordance with the schedules agreed upon between Iraq and the United States in the status-of-forces agreement, is a historic victory for the option of negotiations, adopted by Iraq during a difficult and sensitive period of its modern history as it dealt with the issue of the presence of foreign troops. The withdrawal helped to establish a new era in the relationship between Iraq and the United States, where the Strategic Framework Agreement is the cornerstone of bilateral relations between the two countries. That agreement deals with political, economic, commercial, cultural, scientific and other fields in order to drive bilateral relations to greater cooperation and understanding in the next phase, which we firmly believe will be balanced between two sovereign nations on the basis of common interests. The withdrawal of United States forces helped Iraq to host the Arab summit in Baghdad as some Arab countries that severed diplomatic relations with Iraq after Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 refused to restore diplomatic relations with Iraq after 2003 or to open their embassies in Baghdad so long as there were foreign forces in the country. Following the withdrawal of foreign troops, Iraq is moving now to a new stage in the democratic political process, based on the Constitution and the rule of law in resolving all problems, and focusing on building and developing the economy and on strengthening efforts to establish better relationships with other countries based on mutual respect, common interests and non-interference in internal affairs. Iraqis today have a new Iraq that enjoys complete sovereignty, independence and free will, which have been achieved by the awareness and determination of the Iraqi people. Under the auspices of Mr. Jalal Talabani, President of the Republic of Iraq, the Iraqi political groups agreed on 6 February 2012 to achieve a national consensus to fulfil the aspirations of all the Iraqi people. They agreed on four guiding principles to continue the political process under the framework of the Iraqi Constitution, which are, first, standing as one bloc against terrorism and armed groups; secondly, the Constitution is the basis for the settlement of disputes and that all shall abide by it; thirdly, all components of the Iraqi people should be fully represented in the political process; fourthly and finally, the Iraqi judiciary is an independent authority and it is on an equal level with other authorities and must remain free from political interference. The Vice-President of the Republic of Iraq, Mr. Khodair Al-Khozaei, met with the members of preparatory committee of the national conference on 12 February 2012. Yhey agreed on the general framework of the agenda of the conference and the formation of subcommittees to study all the issues discussed in preparation for the national conference. I can assure the States members of the Security Council that Iraqis never fail to settle their disputes through peaceful means and negotiations. They learn in the new democracy to shout at each other instead of shooting at each other and to resort to ballot boxes rather than bullet boxes. In the framework of the tireless efforts made by the Iraqi Government to grant more powers to provincial councils, the Council of Ministers headed by Mr. Nuri Kamel Al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq, held a session in the province of Basra for the first time in the history of that province. During that session, a series of decisions were made to strengthen the powers of the provinces. In the conference on decentralization in Iraq, which was held on 27 February 2012, the Prime Minister stressed the need to give local Governments more power in the reconstruction field, which is the demand of many provinces in Iraq. The achievement of security and stability was and remains a central priority in the work programme of the national partnership Government. That was clearly embodied in the Iraqi security forces’ ability to take full responsibility for the security of the country before and after the withdrawal of foreign forces, which is reflected clearly in the lower level of violence across the country. The Prime Minister, during his meeting with senior security chiefs on 1 February, stressed the need to work to ensure measures to control the security situation and fill all possible gaps that terrorists are trying to use to destabilize the country. He also called for more coordination and cooperation between local governments, the military and security forces. On the social and economic levels, on 8 March the Council of Representatives ratified the federal budget for 2012, with a total value of about $100 billion, which reflects an increase of approximately 20 per cent from the federal budget for 2011. At the same time, the Iraqi economy has been witnessing notable improvement in its basic indicators since 2003, such as the unemployment rate, which fell from 51 per cent to 15 per cent; the poverty rate, which fell from 54 per cent to 23 per cent; and the inflation rate, which fell from 65 per cent to 6 per cent. With the backing of Prime Minister Al-Maliki, the Supreme National Committee for the agricultural initiative in Iraq held a meeting on 4 January 2012 in which the ways to achieve further development in the agricultural sector in Iraq were discussed in the light of the phenomena of drought and climate change. In that context, the federal budget for 2012 allocated approximately $500 million to support for agricultural projects and for the advancement of the agricultural sector in Iraq. On 1 March, the Prime Minister of Iraq visited the Ministry of Electricity to follow up on the Ministry’s efforts to provide electric power to citizens. During his meeting with officials in the Ministry, he called for more cooperation and coordination between the Ministries of Oil and Electricity in order to provide fuel to power stations and facilitate the entry into Iraq of materials for the electricity sector. It should be noted that electricity production has seen a noticeable increase from 3,500 megawatts in 2003 to around 7,500 megawatts in 2012. However, the sharp rise in living standards and the salaries of Iraqi citizens has caused a huge increase of electricity consumption and demand, and the Government is trying to solve the problem. Under the auspices of Prime Minister Al-Maliki, the first floating port in the province of Basra has been inaugurated, with an export capacity amounting to 850,000 barrels per day. The port represents one of the five ports to be constructed with a capacity of 850,000 barrels a day each. In a related matter, the rate of Iraqi oil production has continued to increase and amounted to 2.358 million barrels per day in 2010 and 2.653 million barrels per day in 2011. The Iraqi Government is planning to further increase production in 2012. The Iraqi Government has allocated $85 million from the federal budget for 2012 to fund programmes in partnership with the international community, including the specialized agencies of the United Nations, in order to implement a range of projects related to the United Nations development framework for Iraq. On the human rights level, the Council of Representatives ratified the creation of the Independent High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq on 9 April. That step is a milestone in improving human rights situation in the new Iraq and was designed to improve Iraq’s human rights record and its ongoing programmes to promote respect for and the protection and advancement of human rights, to ensure people’s enjoyment of those rights, to establish democratic life and to support human development. In the framework of the efforts made by the Iraqi Government to determine the fate of missing persons who were victims of Saddam’s brutal regime, the Ministry of Human Rights signed on 12 March a memorandum of understanding with the International Commission on Missing Persons. The agreement was signed in order to enable Iraqis to carry out DNA tests on the remains of victims buried in mass graves, identify those remains and return them to their families after years of suffering from not knowing the fate of their loved ones. On 5 March, the presidency of the Republic of Iraq ratified Law No. 16 of 2012 concerning the formal accession of Iraq to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the General Assembly in 2006. The Convention was ratified to ensure and promote the right of persons with disabilities to enjoy fundamental rights in a way that preserves their human dignity. In the framework of the efforts made by the Iraqi Government in the empowerment of Iraqi women, Iraq has withdrawn its reservation on article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in accordance with the provisions of article 8, part II of the Iraqi Constitution. The latter article grants a child born to an Iraqi woman the same right to obtain Iraqi citizenship as a child born to an Iraqi man. In the era of the Saddam regime, only children born to Iraqi men could obtain Iraqi citizenship. Within the framework of the efforts made by Iraqi Government to develop the education sector in Iraq, the Prime Minister announced the near launch of a national strategy for education aimed at creating the right foundation for a road map for the improvement of education in the country and at strengthening cooperation with international institutions and organizations concerned with education. On the regional and international levels, Saudi Arabia and Oman have appointed non-resident ambassadors to Iraq, while Palestine has appointed a resident ambassador, each of whose credential letters were received by President Jalal Talabani on 27 March. Iraq welcomes those appointments and emphasizes the Iraqi Government’s intention to strengthen relations with Arab countries and fortify joint Arab cooperation and solidarity. On 11 March, Mr. Hoshyar Zebari, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr signed an agreement at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to immediately pay the money owed to Egyptians who had worked in Iraq in the past but had not been paid by the former regime. On 16 February, the Council of Representatives ratified the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. That step fulfilled Iraq’s obligation arising from resolution 1957 (2010). Iraq, which endured and suffered from Al-Qaida and its affiliated terrorist groups before other countries, warns the entire international community to remain vigilant that the wave of Arab revolutions not be hijacked by Al-Qaida or other terrorist groups. Otherwise, people who are struggling for freedom, pluralism and justice will discover that extremist groups have stolen their spring, dreams and aspirations, distorted the great principles for which they fought, and tarnished the image of Islam and the values and principles of patriotism. A great deal of blood has been shed under the banner of resisting the occupation in Iraq, and thousands of civilians have been killed, although those civilian were not part of any occupying force. Car bombs and suicide attacks continued even after the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Iraq, which proves that fighting the occupation was simply a pretext used by terrorists to shed the blood of Iraqi citizens. Since the outbreak of the crisis in Syria, Iraq has upheld its rejection of the military option in dealing with the Syrian people’s demands for freedom, democracy and political pluralism. We have called on the Syrian Government and the opposition to shun the military option in order to avoid seeing convoys of Syrian victims, civilian and military alike, because it will ultimately exacerbate the conflict and throw the country into civil war. History and a sense of moral responsibility urge all of us to work to contain the violence and the fire raging in Syria. We must exert pressure on both sides of the conflict to engage in a national dialogue, which we believe is the best option for resolving the crisis in Syria. Iraq strongly supports the efforts made by the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, Mr. Kofi Annan, to contain the crisis and resolve it peacefully within a national framework. With the help of UNAMI, and in particular the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Martin Kobler, 1,200 members of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran have been transferred from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty. The Iraqi Government urges the Security Council to help relocate those persons to other countries as the Iraqi Government cannot allow them to stay in Iraq, in accordance with the Iraqi Constitution. On the situation between Iraq and Kuwait, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki visited the State of Kuwait on 14 February and met His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait. I am pleased to inform the estimated members of the Security Council that that visit brought about the final and comprehensive settlement of many issues, including the claims against Iraqi Airways by the Government of Kuwait. The visit also emphasized Iraq’s fulfilment of its obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions, including the payment of Iraq’s share of $600,000 to the United Nations to cover the expenses of the border pillar maintenance project and find a just solution to the problems of Iraqi farmers. The visit also witnessed an agreement to secure free navigation in Khawr Abdallah, through cooperation and coordination between the two countries. I am also pleased to inform Council members that Iraq and Kuwait have agreed to hold the second session of the Joint Ministerial Committee on 29 April of this year in Baghdad to consider all outstanding issues, particularly the issues of compensation, missing persons and Kuwaiti properties. My Government believes that that historic visit — which was described by the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, during his visit to Kuwait on 28 March 2012, as an important step — and the results achieved mark the beginning of a new stage of bilateral relations between Iraq and Kuwait based on mutual trust and will contribute to strengthening cooperation between the two countries. In conclusion, I would like to stress my Government’s gratitude to the members of the Security Council and for the role of UNAMI in Iraq, as well as for the efforts made by Mr. Martin Kobler and the UNAMI team in Iraq and the United Nations to provide the support requested by the Iraqi Government, in accordance with the mechanisms agreed upon between the two sides.

There are no more speakers inscribed on my list. I now invite members to informal consultations to continue our discussion on this subject.