Tracking Number: 221188
Title: "Rights Rapporteur Doubts Iraq Regime Capable of Change." UN Human Rights Rapporteur Max Van der Stoel says human rights violations in Iraq "are the worst since World War
II." (920327)
Translated Title: Relator derechos humanos duda regimen de Irak pueda cambiar.; Le gouvernement Irakien ne changera pas ses methodes. (920327)
Author: HOLMES, NORMA (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date: 19920327
Text:
RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR DOUBTS IRAQ REGIME CAPABLE OF CHANGE
(Van der Stoel discusses human rights report) (740) By Norma Holmes USIA Staff Writer Washington -- Violations of human rights by Saddam Hussein's "ruthless" Iraqi regime "are the worst since World War Two" and offer little hope for change, U.N. Human Rights Rapporteur Max Van der Stoel said March 27.
In a briefing for foreign journalists at the U.S. Information Agency's Washington Foreign Press Center, Van der Stoel said he is convinced that torture is inherent to the character of the Iraqi regime and he is pessimistic that the regime in Iraq is capable of change.
The former Dutch foreign minister, whose report on human rights violations in Iraq over the past few years led to a strong U.N. Security Council condemnation of the Iraqi regime earlier in March, is on a four-day visit to the United States to confer with various officials on the findings of the U.N. study.
He said it was his "main conclusion that there is a pattern of grave and persistent violations of human rights which date back to the beginning of the '80s and which still continue until this very day."
Van der Stoel said "the overwhelming evidence, all pointing in the same direction," is that the regime under the absolute control of Saddam Hussein continues "torture of the gravest nature, summary executions, arbitrary detention" and rejects all U.N. inquiries concerning disappearances. He said people have been arrested by the security services, and since then, their relatives never heard about their fate.
"I have tried to find any signs of liberalization of the regime -- I failed to find any," Van der Stoel told a questioner who asked if any moderation in the regime could be detected since the publication of the U.N. study.
"On the basis of the information that I have collected, I have concluded that Iraq has so far refused to comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 688, which asks Iraq to end its repressive policies," Van der Stoel said.
The rapporteur said that at the outset of his investigations, "when the Kurds claimed that 182,000 were missing, that seemed an extraordinarily high number, but...the more I got into this matter, the more I became convinced that this figure was less than realistic."
He emphasized, however, that "it would certainly be a mistake" to suggest that Kurds alone have been the victims of the Iraqi regime. He said his investigations established that the regime has been equally ruthless in the persecution of Turkomen, Assyrians and Shia, and particularly Shia clergy. The clergy, who had numbered 10,000 in villages throughout Iraq, by last year had been reduced to "around 800," and now were rarely seen.
Noting that "there are alarming reports of new Iraqi military action to try to break the remaining resistance" of any dissidents, Van der Stoel said he has recommended to the U.N. Human Rights Commission to propose yet another resolution on Iraq, dealing with the creation of a "corps of human rights monitors" who travel around Iraq freely and have the right to visit prisons and other places of detention.
Van der Stoel said the commission has asked that he develop the idea in consultation with the U.N. secretary general and report on it to the U.N. General Assembly. "That will be my immediate future task -- to work out a scheme for these human rights observers to be sent to Iraq in order to protect the lives of those thousands of people whose lives are at risk in present-day Iraq."
Responding to questions, Van der Stoel said he met earlier in the day with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Edward Djerejian. He declined to characterize the discussions, however, noting only that he had been apprised of U.S. policy concerning the situation.
On the Washington leg of his U.S. visit, Van der Stoel also met with members of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Middle East advisers of the National Security Council, and other State Department officials, including Princeton Lyman, assistant secretary for refugee programs; John Bolton, assistant secretary for international organizations; Richard Schifter, assistant secretary for human rights and humanitarian affairs; and Under Secretary of State Arnold Kanter.
NNNN
File Identification: 03/27/92, PO-506; 03/27/92, EU-521; 03/27/92, NE-516; 03/30/92, AE-108; 03/30/92, AR-102; 03/30/92, AS-106; 03/30/92, EP-112; 04/01/92, AF-303
Product Name: Wireless File
Product
Code: WF
Languages: French
Keywords: VAN DER STOEL, MAX; IRAQ/Politics & Government; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUSSEIN, SADDAM; ATROCITIES; KURDS; UNITED NATIONS-HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Thematic
Codes: 2HA; 1UN
Target Areas: EU; NE; EA; AR; AF
PDQ Text Link: 221188; 221320; 221842
USIA Notes: *92032706.POL
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