Amnesty enters the row on Iraqi constitution

Even before the final draft of the Iraqi constitution has been finalised ,concerns have been building over the type of Iraq being brought into effect .

Amnesty international have today added their voice to the concern of the future of human rights in the new Iraq

Amnesty have asked the Iraqi government to look again at the following issues

'address concerns that Islam may be used to perpetuate discrimination against women and ensure that the constitution prohibits unequivocally discrimination on the basis of gender and promotes women's full rights;

prohibit discrimination on all grounds included in international human rights treaties;
make a specific reference to international human rights law as one of the sources of national legislation. In case of conflict between national and international laws, the Constitution should specify that international law should prevail;

emphasise that all human rights, including civil, cultural, economic, political and social are protected and are indivisible;

protect the rights of the child as guaranteed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the definition of the child as "every human being below the age of eighteen", as well as the prohibition of the recruitment or enlistment of children under 18 years into armed forces (or groups), and their use in hostilities;

abolish the death penalty which Amnesty International considers to be the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and violates the right to life;

establish universal jurisdiction for the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, extra-judicial executions and "disappearances".

prohibit discrimination and protect rights to all those under the jurisdiction of Iraq, according to international human rights law, and not only to Iraq citizens. Only specific rights can be limited to citizens, in a way consistent with international human rights law'

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