A/HRC/38/44/Add.1
of the world. The Anti-terrorism Law is not appropriate to address the crimes
committed, hold those responsible to account or provide victims with the remedies
and reparations to which they are entitled. Investigations into gender-based
persecution and crimes, alone or in intersection with religion and ethnicity, must be
prioritized.
82.
The current legal and political hiatus related to the implementation of Security
Council resolution 2379 (2017) must thus be promptly addressed. This requires urgent
legal reforms to give Iraqi courts jurisdiction over international crimes. In view of the
repeated evidence of miscarriages of justice, the Government must at the same time
take all necessary steps to address widespread reports of violations of fair trial and
due process guarantees, including torture to obtain confessions, and establish an
official moratorium on the death penalty.
83.
Article 409 of the Penal Code, which mitigates penalties for honour killings,
must be amended. Non-governmental organizations providing shelter to women and
girls fleeing gender-based threats to their life must be provided with the necessary
protection and immediate (legal) steps must be taken to provide those organizations
with the necessary licences to carry out their work. Due diligence measures should, in
addition, be applied to other individuals and groups at risk, including journalists and
media professionals, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons.
B.
Recommendations
84.
The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government of Iraq:
Post-conflict reforms
(a)
Ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
(b)
Accede to the Optional Protocols to the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture;
(c)
Incorporate into domestic legislation war crimes, crimes against
humanity, genocide and establish specialized court(s) with technical capacities and
jurisdiction over these crimes;
(d)
Repeal the Anti-Terrorism Law (No. 13) of 2005 and, pending legal
reforms, charge individuals for the full range of crimes committed under the Penal
Code;
(e)
Undertake security sector reform, with human rights and the protection
of the right to life at the forefront;
(f)
Place all security forces under the control of the Government, especially
in liberated and disputed areas, or disarm and disband them;
Accountability
(g)
Ensure that all parties to the conflict are held to account for their crimes,
including ISIL but also Government and affiliated forces, and Coalition Forces;
ISIL fighters
(h)
Prioritize prosecutions of ISIL suspects responsible for the most serious
crimes and consider alternatives to criminal prosecution for those suspected of ISIL
membership without evidence of any other serious crime;
(i)
Ensure that detention of ISIL suspects is carried out pursuant to the
Criminal Procedure Code, with a court-ordered arrest warrant and detainees being
brought before a judge within 24 hours;
18
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