OHCHR / IRAQ LEGISLATION CHANGES

The UN Human Rights Office on Friday expressed its alarm at proposed legislative changes in Iraq which could result in the death penalty being imposed for consensual same-sex relations. UNTV CH

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:16
• Production Date: 9 February 2024
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - OHCHR
• Subject Topical: HUMAN RIGHTS
• Geographic Subject: IRAQ
• MAMS Id: 3172406
• Parent Id: 3172406
• Alternate Title: unifeed240209b

Description

TORY: OHCHR / IRAQ LEGISLATION CHANGES
TRT: 01:16
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 09 FEBRUARY 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

Shotlist

FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Various shot, exterior UN Geneva

09 FEBRUARY 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Various shots, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Marta Hurtado, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We are troubled by proposed amendments to legislation in Iraq which, if approved, would impose the death penalty or life imprisonment for engaging in consensual same sex relations, as well as for certain forms of adultery. We call on the members of Parliament to ensure that any legislation is fully in line with Iraq’s human rights obligations.”
4. Wide shot, briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Marta Hurtado, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The proposed amendments are all the more alarming in the context of Iraq, given its widening use of the death penalty. More than a dozen prisoners were executed at the end of 2023, and reports have been received indicating that the execution of hundreds of prisoners has been recently authorised.”
6. Med shot, briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Marta Hurtado, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We call on the Government to halt all planned executions and establish a moratorium on any imposition of capital punishment, with a view to its abolition.”
8. Med shot, briefing room

Storyline

The UN Human Rights Office on Friday (09 Feb) expressed its alarm at proposed legislative changes in Iraq which could result in the death penalty being imposed for consensual same-sex relations.

“We are troubled by proposed amendments to legislation in Iraq which, if approved, would impose the death penalty or life imprisonment for engaging in consensual same sex relations, as well as for certain forms of adultery. We call on the members of Parliament to ensure that any legislation is fully in line with Iraq’s human rights obligations,” said spokesperson Marta Hurtado at the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.

This was among the issues raised, with deep concern, by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk with Iraqi authorities during his mission to Iraq in August last year, she said.

For countries which have not abolished the death penalty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iraq ratified in 1971, strictly limits the death penalty to “the most serious crimes”, which entails crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing.

“The proposed amendments are all the more alarming in the context of Iraq, given its widening use of the death penalty. More than a dozen prisoners were executed at the end of 2023, and reports have been received indicating that the execution of hundreds of prisoners has been recently authorised,” Hurtado said.

“We call on the Government to halt all planned executions and establish a moratorium on any imposition of capital punishment, with a view to its abolition,” she said.