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Focus on creating a culture of human rights

Iraq's new human rights minister welcomed a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), calling for independent monitoring, but said much more needed to be done in order to protect human rights. Iraq needs a national ombudsman and an independent legal and judicial reform commission to investigate alleged human rights violations by Coalition forces and to reform existing laws, said the report, which was released on Friday. Iraq's new human rights ministry opened an office two months ago in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, Baktiar Amin, the new minister and international human rights activist, told IRIN in Baghdad. Pictures taken by US soldiers working at Abu Ghraib and released recently show naked prisoners forced to simulate sex acts and other human rights violations. At least six court martials are pending, with two soldiers already sentenced to up to one year in prison. "Our old minister found some violations before the pictures appeared on TV," Amin said. "He found torture of the detainees and bad circumstances. That information was sent to Mr Bremer [US administration head in Iraq]," he maintained. No one was available at the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to comment on the report. Amin said he did not see anything "striking" in his recent tour of Abu Ghraib as part of negotiations to open the office, which has seven lawyers, a psychiatrist and a social worker to field complaints and liaise on prisoner issues. The group saw 250 families last week trying to visit relatives, for example, he said. Amin now is pushing to tour other prisons in Iraq, all of which are currently run by US-led forces. "Our team is observing and trying to figure out what happened," Amin said. "The most important thing is to take measures to make sure it doesn't happen again." Amin is calling for all Iraqi detention centres to be managed by his countrymen, although he admitted that capacity was lacking. "We will need to educate the people working in prisons and to train the police," Amin said. "It's not an easy issue. We have had a pattern of systematic torture for decades. We have to get them to respect international norms." Army, police and Civil Defence Corps training includes classes on human rights. But observers say they often see police using old, violent methods on people they detain. "Our police force needs more training, because the recruits are still young and need more experience," said one aid agency worker who declined to be named. "We don't have a mature intelligence or security body, so that can lead to human rights abuse as well." DEALING WITH THE PAST Iraq may need to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission similar to the one established in South Africa to address past crimes, the UN report said. Officials should also create a national human rights commission, open a reparations office for victims and start an education fund, among other things, the report added. But it's hard for Iraqis to focus on human rights when they're still worried about the basic standard of living and issues such as sewage in the streets and getting more electricity, said Edmond Adam, interim director of the Middle East Council of Churches, working in Baghdad. Georgio Tarditi, head of mission at Lifeline, Relief in Crisis, another NGO, agreed with Adam, although he said that he had not seen the UN human rights report yet. But Tarditi also pointed out that any national "ombudsman" may end up being disliked by everyone, because they would have such a controversial job. Since Iraq had such a poor record of human rights under former President Saddam Hussein, Amin planned to open human rights offices across the country and in every ministry, while offering numerous training classes for people from all walks of life - in schools, businesses and local aid agencies to start with. He also wants to open "healing centres" for victims of torture and shelters for those who need to escape domestic violence or other violence. BUILDING HUMAN RIGHTS Iraq's previous human rights minister resigned over what he saw as human rights abuses in Fallujah, just west of Baghdad, in April by US forces fighting insurgents there, Amin said. Acting minister Amin was given the post as part of the new interim government in Iraq named last week. It's hard to get started, however, when human rights workers don't have much authority, said Jabar al-Aibi, a human rights spokesman in the ministry. Ministry of Justice workers support them in theory, al-Aibi said, but in many cases the laws don't exist to back up their human rights investigations. If the laws exist, they're hard to enforce, al-Aibi explained. "If someone complains to us that his car was hit by a US Humvee [vehicle], for example, we don't even have the authority to pursue his claim," al-Aibi said. But the CPA is making efforts to establish some sort of compensation and US troops have set up reparations offices for victims of car accidents and perceived rights violations. Amin said he would create special departments for women's rights, children's rights, missing persons and prisoners of war from the Iran/Iraq conflict. More than 200,000 people disappeared under Saddam Hussein - many are expected to be found in mass graves across Iraq. He also wants to open a human rights training centre in Baghdad to focus on areas such as civic education, tolerance and democratic values. "Most important is to show other countries how Iraqis can change their thinking from a country of repression and dictatorship to one that is open and supports human rights, Amin said.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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