The special UN Investigative Team probing ISIL atrocities in Iraq is making “real progress,” its chief said on Monday, as it begins to pinpoint the perpetrators of some of the worst crimes committed by the terrorist group during its years-long occupation of large swathes of the country.
Despite compounding crises that include the COVID-19 pandemic and plummeting oil revenues, a more prosperous and inclusive Iraq can be achieved provided the political will is there, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council during a virtual meeting held on Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and his Special Representative in Iraq, welcomed the long-delayed formation of a new Government in Baghdad on Thursday and called for meaningful reforms to be put into place to better the lives of the Iraqi people and strengthen democratic institutions.
In a joint appeal issued on Saturday, the five UN envoys to the Middle East urged warring parties in the region to work towards an immediate end to hostilities, in line with the Secretary-General’s recent call for a global ceasefire during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a global shortage of supplies and equipment to fight the deadly coronavirus pandemic, the UN health agency has assisted in successfully producing urgently needed laboratory items for testing suspected COVID-19 cases in Iraq.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the political, security, social and economic crises roiling Iraq, the top UN official in the country hopes it will spur leaders to put aside their differences and unite for the common good.
The UN mission in Iraq has called for ‘maximum restraint’ following a deadly attack on foreign forces serving under the United States-led coalition against the militant group ISIL.
Children are born innocent, “regardless” of their relationship to extremist fighters from the terrorist group known as ISIL or Da’esh, “and they should be treated with kindness and love”.
That’s one of the key points emphasized by religious leaders in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, in an unprecedented joint declaration, calling for justice on behalf of victims of the terrorist group, which once controlled large parts of Iraq and Syria.
Political leaders in Iraq will have to “step up to the plate” and prioritize national interests if the country is to realize a more just and prosperous future, the top UN official there said in the Security Council on Tuesday.
