Tag Archives: Iraq
29 July 2013
The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry warned the UN Security Council that the Syrian conflict is turning global.
Serry stated that Syria is increasingly turning into a regional, if not a global, battleground citing a surge in sectarian violence in Syria and the broader region. According to Serry, the use of military might against civilian areas by the government forces attracts increasing numbers of foreign fighters.
The statement comes after the UN special envoy to Iraq warned the Security Council two weeks ago that the battlefields in Iraq and Syria are merging.
Source: The Washington Post | UN envoy warns that Syrian conflict is increasingly regional, if not global
25 April 2013
On 24 April 2013, the District Court of the Hague in the Netherlands ordered Frans van Anraat, a Dutch national and former businessman convicted of selling raw materials for mustard gas to Saddam Hussein, to pay compensation to 17 victims of chemical weapon attacks by the regime of Saddam Hussein in 1988.
The case was brought by survivors of attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja in Iraq in 1988, in which an estimated 5,600 civilians were killed.
The judgment raises interesting questions from a shared responsibility perspective, as Van Anraat was only one of many contributors to the eventual injuries (see blog post written by André Nollkaemper here).
Source: Judgment Rechtbank 's-Gravenhage | LJN: BZ8333 | C/09/355125 / HA ZA 09-4324 (in Dutch)
Source: The Washington Post | Dutch court awards compensation to Iraqi, Iranian mustard gas attack survivors
25 April 2013
On 24 April, the District Court of the Hague in the Netherlands ordered Frans van Anraat, a Dutch national, to pay compensation to 17 victims of chemical weapon attacks by the regime of Saddam Hussein in 1988. The judgment raises interesting questions from a shared responsibility perspective, as Van Anraat obviously only was one of many contributors to the eventual injuries.
The case was brought by 17 survivors of the 1988 attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja in Iraq, in which an estimated 5,600 civilians were killed. Saddam Hussein ordered the Halabja attack as part of a crackdown on a Kurdish rebellion in the north, during the final months of the war with Iraq.
In the 2007 judgment in the criminal trial, the Court had found that Van Anraat was Iraq’s sole supplier of a chemical substance used in the production of mustard gas. He had claimed that he believed the chemical was to be used in the Iraqi textile industry. The Court rejected that argument in the criminal trial, saying that he knew the chemicals might well be used for war crimes. Van Anraat is now serving a prison sentence in the Netherlands. (more…)
8 March 2013
An investigation by The Guardian and BBC Arabic has revealed how two United States (US) special forces veterans played a key role in training and overseeing US-funded special police commandos who ran a network of secret torture centres in Iraq. The two veterans reported directly to General David Petraeus, who had been sent into Iraq to organise the Iraqi security services.
Source: The Guardian | Revealed: Pentagon's link to Iraqi torture centres
6 March 2013
The United Nations refugee agency, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that one million people have fled Syria, in particular to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq. Since 1 January 2013, the number has risen with more than 400.000.
International donors have pledged 1.5 billion Dollar for a UN response plan to help the displaced people, but only 25 per cent of this has been funded.
Source: Reuters | One million refugees have fled Syria: U.N.
Source: UNHCR - The UN Refugee Agency | Number of Syrian refugees reaches 1 million mark