Denunciation and Condemnation of the Missile Attack on Erbil

Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (GOV.KRD) - The missile attack on populated areas in the city of Erbil on March 13th is considered an attack on the lives and security of the citizens of the Kurdistan Region and the sovereignty of Iraq, as well as a violation of UN Security Council Resolution No. 598 (1987), which called for a cessation of fire between the Republic of Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This violation is considered interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state in accordance with United Nations General Assembly Resolution No. (36/103) dated December 9, 1981. Full adherence to the principle of non-interference of all kinds in the internal affairs of states is a matter of great importance for maintaining international peace and security and for materializing the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Based on the standards of international law, the missile bombing on the city of Erbil and targeting citizens is a crime of aggression and contradicts the peremptory norms that are general rules in international law and is considered a violation of international human rights conventions and specifically the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which urges the guarantee of the right to life and protection of property.

Furthermore, in Article VI of the rules of procedure of the Council of the Arab League, it is stated that such actions have implications for preventing the enjoyment of human rights. It also urges holding perpetrators accountable for the damages that occurred to the property of individual civilians and compensating them for the damages they suffered.

The Charter of the United Nations also affirms that states must rely on negotiation, investigation, mediation, reconciliation, arbitration and judicial settlement, or resort to regional agencies and organizations or other peaceful means they deem appropriate.

Accordingly, the UN Security Council must take the necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of acts of aggression in order to maintain international peace and security and to prevent actions that threaten the security of Iraq, considering the inadmissibility of interference and the protection of its independence, sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity, national unity and security.

As the Charter of the United Nations indicates in Article 1 of Chapter I, the purpose of the United Nations is the maintenance of international peace and security by peaceful means. To this end, the United Nations must take joint measures to prevent threats to peace in accordance with the principles of justice and international law. Article 2 also calls on the member states to resolve their disputes by peaceful means in a manner that does not jeopardize international peace, security and justice.

Therefore, the international community must put an end to such attacks and violations against the citizens of Iraq.
 
We, as the regional government, strongly condemn this attack, and we also call on the Iraqi government, through its permanent missions to the United Nations and international agencies, the European Union, the United Nations Human Rights Council, Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Organization of Islamic Countries to hold emergency sessions to denounce these attacks, to prevent the recurrence of these aggressive acts against the Iraqi people, and to compensate the citizens for the damage they suffered.

We also call on the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs to submit a request to the UN Security Council through the Permanent Mission of Iraq at the United Nations headquarters in New York, in order to assess the damages and issue a decision to compensate Iraqi civilians for the damages they sustained, similar to the United Nations Committee, which was established in 1991 as a subsidiary body of the Security Council, to pay compensation to Kuwaitis for damages caused during the Gulf War, including business losses and property damages.

From this point of view, we demand the formation of a joint team by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate the facts and conduct an impartial investigation to condemn the aggression and provide compensation.

We also call on the European Union, through the European Commission for Human Rights, to form a fact-finding mission to the areas that became targets of the missile attacks to unfold the precise civilian and property damages. We also ask the Human Rights Committee of the League of Arab States, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation to send representatives to Iraq for the same purpose.