Politics

HRW asks Iraq to reform legislation, take measures against COVID-19 in prisons

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday asked the newly appointed government and Council of Representatives in Iraq to bring existing Iraqi laws in line with international standards and to take measures against COVID-19 in prisons and detention facilities.

Halgurd Sherwani 2020/05/14 10:22

middle east HRW Iraq COVID-19

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday asked the newly appointed government and Council of Representatives in Iraq to bring existing Iraqi laws in line with international standards and to take measures against COVID-19 in prisons and detention facilities.

The HRW remarks on COVID-19 measures come as Iraqi health authorities in Baghdad on Wednesday reported 119 new coronavirus infections across the country in the previous 24 hours, marking the highest numbers of infections per 24-hour in Iraq.

The HRW report pointed to four areas of legislation that requires Iraq’s legislative and executive bodies’ attention such as “legal representation, torture, enforced disappearance, and domestic violence.”

The group asked the Iraqi parliament’s legal committee to “support passage of the bill,” in which amendments made to Bar Association Law of 1965 by the previous parliament, requiring “all facilities housing detainees and all courthouses to provide adequate space to allow for consultations with lawyers, including private rooms.”

“The government should seize this opportunity [end of Islamic State war] to focus on protecting Iraqis’ basic rights and bringing Iraq’s laws in line with international standards,” Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at HRW, said.

The group also called on Iraq’s parliament to pass the bill that prohibits confessions extracted under torture, claiming that “passage of this bill [would] help to address the extensive use of torture to extract confession.”

According to the HRW, a source told the group that “he knew of at least one prison in Baghdad where prisoners and guards contracted COVID-19.”

On Thursday, the HRW sent a letter to the Iraqi government, urging it to take necessary steps to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 in prisons and detention facilities by reducing the numbers of inmates.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany