URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY
IRQ 001 / 0407 / OBS 031
Assassination
Iraq
April 5, 2007
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iraq.
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) of the abduction and subsequent murder of Mr. Najim Abd-Jasem, General Secretary of the Mechanics, Printers and Metalworkers Union in Baghdad since 2003 and a founder as well as a leader of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW).
According to the information received, on March 27, 2007, Mr. Najim Abd-Jasem, was abducted in Baghdad. His body, showing clear signs of torture, was found three days later, on March 30, 2007.
A very principled trade union leader, Mr. Najim Abd-Jasem was fired from his job during Saddam Hussein’s regime for having opposed the government’s official union.
The Observatory recalls that on January 25, 2006, Mr. Alaa Issa Khalaf, a member of the Executive Board of the Baghdad branch of the Mechanics Union, and a prominent member of the GFIW, was shot dead by several unidentified men as he left for work from his home in Baghdad. Likewise, Mr. Thabet Hussein Ali, director of the General Trade Union for Health Sector Workers in Iraq, was abducted on April 7, 2006 by a presumed terrorist group as he was leaving his union’s headquarters in Baghdad Al-Mansour neighbourhood. His body was found the following day, riddled with gunshot wounds and bearing marks of torture (See Observatory 2006 Annual Report).
The Observatory is very concerned that murder of labour leaders in Iraq has become a troubling trend in a country where trade unionists still operate under anti-union legislation which dates back to the Saddam-era, and urges the Iraqi authorities to immediately ratify the Convention 87 on freedom of association of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
More generally, the Observatory expresses its deepest concern at the situation of human rights defenders in Iraq, who face tremendous risk to their lives and security, and who are therefore conducting their activities in an extremely precarious situation.
Actions requested:
Please write to the Iraqi authorities urging them to:
i. guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of all human rights defenders working in Iraq, including trade unionists, in all circumstances;
ii. conduct a fair, impartial and independent inquiry into the assassinations of Mr. Najim Abd-Jasem, in order to identify the authors, bring them to justice and pronounce sentences proportional to the gravity of their crimes;
iii. guarantee that adequate reparation is provided to the victim’s family;
iv. end all forms of harassment and ill-treatment of human rights defenders in Iraq, and guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders and organisations are able to carry out their work without any hindrance;
v. ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, as well as article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually or in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
vi. guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments ratified by Iraq.
Addresses:
Mr. Nouri Kamel Mohammed Hassan al-Maliki, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, Bagdad, Iraq, c/o Permanent Mission of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28a, 1209 Geneve, Switzerland, Fax: 00 41 22 733 03 26, E-mail: mission.iraq@ties.itu.int
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Geneva-Paris, April 5, 2007
