Tracking Number: 221019
Title: "Iraq's Rights Record Compared to Khmer Rouge, Idi Amin." Speaking at the National Press Club, UN Human Rights rapporteur Max Van der Stoel said that violations of human
rights by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein are among of the worst since World War II, comparable in gravity to the crimes of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia or Idi Amin in Uganda, an intolerable situation. (920326)
Translated
Title: Comparan historial derechos humanos de Irak con los del Khmer rojo e Idi Amin.; Irak: atteintes `intolerables` aux droits de l`homme. (920326)
Author: HOLMES, NORMA (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date: 19920326
Text:
IRAQ'S RIGHTS RECORD COMPARED TO KHMER ROUGE, IDI AMIN
(Van der Stoel comments on human rights report) (710) By Norma Holmes USIA Staff Writer Washington -- Violations of human rights by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein "are one of the worst since World War Two -- comparable in gravity to crimes of the Khmer Rouge (in Cambodia) or Idi Amin (in Uganda)," U.N. Human Rights Rapporteur Max Van der Stoel said here March 26.
Van der Stoel, who reported to the United Nations on the human rights situation in Iraq, told reporters at the National Press Club that the Iraqi regime's reign of terror "is an intolerable situation" and "the people in power are ruthless."
He said the whole picture "is even more horrifying because the regime does not focus its reprisals on 'saboteurs,' but entire families."
He said all segments of the Iraqi population are suffering -- not only Kurds, but Syrians, Turkomen, and especially the Shia clergy. "We have to be worried about it," he said.
Van der Stoel said 17,000 Iraqi disappearances have been reported, usually after arrest by the secret police. He added, however, "I am quite certain we have to speak in terms of many tens of thousands," because families of the missing, both inside and outside, often do not report disappearances, fearing reprisal.
The United Nations Security Council created a special commission on human rights in Iraq in March 1991 and requested its chairman to appoint a special rapporteur to make "a thorough study of the violations of human rights by the government of Iraq."
Van der Stoel said the commission's special report submitted to the U.N. secretary general on February 18 is based on exhaustive investigations, including interviews of Iraqis living in refugee camps in Saudi Arabia, exiles in Iran and Europe as well as written documents, video and audio tapes, and personal interviews with Iraqi officials.
In the end, "all evidence pointed in the same direction...what comes forth is that no method has been spared by the Iraqi government to break any possible resistance."
He said forms of torture include electric shock, severe beatings to the point of permanently crippling, chemical attacks, and incarceration. "Many, many people with whom I spoke still carry the evidence of torture," he said. "I mention this because of how serious the situation is, and how necessary it is to take these unusual measures."
He said the report takes an unusual turn in recommending that the United Nations appoint a number of human rights monitors to visit various places of detention, in the hope of deterring further persecutions by the regime.
Van der Stoel said the regime of Saddam Hussein "is one of the most authoritarian since World War II," and that makes him pessimistic about chances for any future change of the regime.
"Torture is inherent to the character of the regime...which is completely dominated by Saddam Hussein," Van der Stoel stressed.
In conducting the thorough investigation mandated by the United Nations, Van der Stoel said, he discussed the disappearance of a number of Shia clerics directly with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz.
"He suggested that they may have left the country or might of have been killed in the uprising," Van der Stoel recalled. "I replied that, according to evidence that I had collected, the arrests had occurred after the (Spring) disturbances, and nothing has been heard from them since. How is that possible?" the rapporteur asked. He said Aziz responded, "If they have been executed, I'm not going to apologize for this."
Similar statements have been provided by other officials in the regime, including the present minister of defense, who, as secretary general of organizations, was previously in charge of the regime's Kurdish persecutions.
Van der Stoel said he has in his possession a tape recording of the official whose identity has been verified who stated that his "way of looking after the families of what he calls saboteurs (the Kurds) -- and the best way to deal with them -- is to bury them."
Evidence that this is an operating philosophy, he said, can be seen in the almost total absence of Shia clergy on the village streets of Iraq. "There were 10,000 clerics last Spring, before the uprising in Iraq; barely 800 after; and now hardly any can be seen anywhere."
The Security Council, concerned with the ongoing persecution of Iraqi civilians, on April 5, 1991, enacted Resolution 688, demanding that Iraq immediately end the repression of the Iraqi civilian population, including Kurds. Resolution 688 insists that Iraq allow immediate access by the U.N. and humanitarian organizations to all those in need of assistance.
Earlier this month, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights condemned Iraq for "massive" human rights violations, including genocide of the Kurds.
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File Identification: 03/26/92, PO-409; 03/26/92, EP-413; 03/26/92, EU-409; 03/26/92, NE-406; 03/27/92, AE-505; 03/27/92, AR-504; 03/27/92, NA-503; 03/27/92, AS-505; 03/30/92, AF-106
Product Name: Wireless
File
Product Code: WF
Languages: Spanish; Arabic; French
Keywords: IRAQ/Politics & Government; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUSSEIN, SADDAM; ATROCITIES; MINORITIES; ABDUCTION; UNITED NATIONS-SECURITY
COUNCIL; INVESTIGATIONS; VAN DER STOEL, MAX; OPPOSITION GROUPS; DISSIDENTS
Thematic Codes: 2HA; 1UN
Target Areas: EA; EU; NE; AF; AR
PDQ Text Link: 221019; 221062; 221356
USIA
Notes: *92032609.POL
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