The United Nations calls on Iraq to “criminalize enforced disappearance”
The United Nations called on the Iraqi authorities to include the crime of enforced disappearance in domestic criminal legislation, and to ensure that no one is detained in a secret location.

In order to confront the phenomenon of enforced disappearance, the Iraqi authorities had worked to establish two fact-finding committees during 2016 and 2018 and draft a bill to protect people from enforced disappearance, which is still being discussed in the Council of Ministers.

Persons Protection Act
The UN committee called on the Iraqi authorities to expedite the review of the draft law on the protection of persons from enforced disappearance in line with the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, in addition to ensuring consultation with all stakeholders, including civil society organizations, according to the committee’s report, which warned against That “the delay (in adopting the draft) has contributed to the continuing decriminalization of the crime of enforced disappearance” in the country.

Lack of reliable data
The United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances has also expressed concern about the lack of reliable data on cases of enforced disappearance in Iraq, and on the numbers of unidentified bodies and mass graves.

The UN committee recommended the Iraqi authorities to establish a unified database at the national level for all the disappearances that have occurred in the country since 1968.

The committee reported receiving “allegations about 420 places of secret detention” in Iraq, calling on the Iraqi authorities to “conduct an investigation into these allegations, close any of these facilities or convert them into regular, registered and supervised detention centers, as well as take all necessary measures to ensure that no detention is made.” Someone, in secret, in the future. “

It is noteworthy that Iraq is one of the regions with the largest number of missing persons in the world, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.