Irak

The Government of Iraq has made “several important steps and promising initiatives” one year since its formation, but more efforts are required to address the populations needs, the Head of the UN Mission in the country, UNAMI, told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Tensions had been brewing for nearly a week in Kirkuk, a northern city which has historically been disputed between the federal government in Baghdad and authorities in the autonomous Kurdistan region of the north.

Iraq’s stability and hard-won gains require robust support amid concerns of shrinking civic space, postponed elections, and an unfolding climate emergency, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Thursday.

It is estimated that up to one million people in Iraq have disappeared over the past five decades – a crisis that continues today, UN independent human rights experts said on Tuesday, calling for investigation and legislation to eradicate “this heinous crime.” 

Iraqi lawmakers passed early Monday controversial amendments to the country's election law that could undermine the chances for smaller parties and independent candidates to win seats in future polls.

Twenty years after the U.S. invaded Iraq — in blinding explosions of shock and awe — American forces remain in the country in what has become a small but consistent presence to ensure an ongoing relationship with a key military and diplomatic partner in the Middle East.

The Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres, is in Iraq for the first time in six years, expressing support for the country’s people, the new Government and its ambitious reform agenda.

In its first three months in office, Iraq’s new Government has shown its commitment to tackle the most pressing challenges facing the country, including endemic corruption, poor public service delivery and high levels of unemployment, the senior United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, while underscoring the need of accountability.

The international community’s immediate priority in the Occupied Palestinian Territory must be reversing the trends that marked 2022 as one of the deadliest years in recent history, the United Nations senior official working to end the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict told the Security Council … .