RESOLUTION B3-0426/93

Resolution on human rights in Iraq

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the report submitted to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva on 1 March 1993 by the UN special rapporteur on Iraq, Mr Max van der Stoel,

A.whereas the report alleges that in recent months the Iraqi authorities have executed hundreds of persons from the south of the country in 'death camps',

B.whereas the report notes that prisoners from the south have been moved to camps in the north,

C.appalled that Saddam Hussein is seeking the destruction of the Marsh Arabs of Southern Iraq, and shocked by the barbarity of his methods, the systematic poisoning of water, the indiscriminate shelling of civilians and the destruction of the resources and environment of the people by draining the marshes,

1.Regards this information as extremely worrying;

2.Calls on the international community to exert pressure on the Iraqi authorities to bring an end to the executions and the transfers of prisoners;

3.Endorses the demand made by the UN special rapporteur that Baghdad should end the economic blockade on the Kurdish regions in the north of the country and the Shiite regions in the south;

4.Calls on the UN Security Council to warn the Iraqi government that unless it stops its attacks on the Marsh Arabs and the drainage operations within a matter of days, actions will be taken to ensure the safety of the Marsh Arabs in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 688;

5.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Iraqi Government and the United Nations.