We would like to congratulate the President on his election to lead the General Assembly, and to wish him every success in his task.
I am speaking to the Assembly today as a representative of Iraq, a founding State of the United Nations. I am speaking on behalf of its people, whose roots go back to the most ancient times, to the civilizations of Ur, Sumer, Babylon and Assyria, the oldest known to humankind. We meet here today as we continue to face the health challenges created by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as those of violence, terrorism, sustainable development and climate change. These are grave challenges that require serious solutions. They once again underscore the central role of the United Nations and of international organizations in uniting those with differing positions in order to address these dangers, and it is time to address them together. Our meeting
this year is an opportunity to cooperate and agree on a road map for action for the future.
In Iraq, the Government has taken a series of necessary health measures to control the pandemic, despite our limited medical infrastructure, which suffered from extensive destruction during the wars we endured in recent decades. We have been able to increase the capacity of the governmental institutions providing treatment and prevention. Iraq was one of the first countries to join the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility to ensure vaccines for its citizens and foreign residents. I would like to take this opportunity to express the deep appreciation of my Government and people for the international organizations, particularly the World Health Organization, that have supported us in addressing this pandemic.
In the past 40 years alone, Iraq has suffered from wars, embargoes, tyranny and genocide campaigns. We have known mass graves, the Anfal or Kurdish campaign, the use of chemical weapons in Halabja, the draining of our marshes and the grip of terrorism on our cities. We have been able to overcome those terrible tragedies and liberate our cities from the evil forces of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da’esh), thereby delivering the world from their crimes, thanks to the courage of our army and police, as well as the Popular Mobilization Forces and the Peshmerga, with the support of the international coalition and our neighbours and friends, as well as the great role played by the religious authority of An-Najaf al-Ashraf in mobilizing people for that fateful confrontation. Our armed forces continue to act with determination to stamp out the remaining terrorist cells that threaten the security of Iraq, its region and the world.
We cannot understate the danger posed by terrorism. If we become lax or distracted by regional conflicts, we will simply see these obscurantist forces return to threaten our peoples and our security. Cooperation and solidarity are the only choice in our fight against terrorism and the groups that support it. We have to fight its funding, address its dangerous effects and provide reparation to its victims, ensuring that the horrible suffering we have seen is not repeated. Our obligation today is to rebuild our liberated cities and ensure that the displaced can return home. We have made some progress on that, and we hope to benefit from the support of the international community in rebuilding our regions freed from terrorism. We must respond to people’s urgent humanitarian needs and improve our capacity for rebuilding our country’s infrastructure so that our citizens will be able to once again live a dignified and normal life. In that context, I would like to underscore Iraq’s enactment of a law on Yazidi female survivors in order to ensure justice for the members of that group, who have suffered the worst kinds of oppression and exploitation at the hands of Da’esh. The law also covers women from other societal groups.
There is another problem, that of corruption, which is also a threat to the security and stability of the whole world. Our country is dealing with the corruption that has arisen in the wake of the heavy burden left behind by the wars, conflicts and violence that squandered a huge part of the country’s resources, depriving Iraqis of its riches. For Iraq the fight against corruption is therefore a national battle. We cannot normalize our country’s situation without defeating corruption. That means we must eliminate the sources of corruption and block their various forms of access. We must ensure the restoration of the funds that have been plundered or trafficked, much of which has been used to perpetuate violence and chaos in our country. We have no choice but to win this war.
Based on its commitment to fighting corruption, Iraq joined the United Nations Convention against Corruption of2000, as well as the Arab Anti-Corruption Convention of 2010. We are also working on a bill for recovering plundered assets, and the Government recently held an important conference aimed at coordinating efforts to that end. In that context, I would like to call on our friends in the international community to help us to find and restore the money that has been stolen from Iraq due to corruption, which would be a decisive deterrent step. We also reiterate our call for establishing an international alliance to combat corruption and restore pillaged funds, similar to the International Coalition against Terrorism. We cannot eliminate terrorism unless we eliminate corruption, which itself constitutes a political economy of violence and terrorism. Corruption and terrorism are interlinked, intertwined and mutually reinforcing.
Our planet is facing an existential danger from extreme climate change, which is threatening future generations. While our political views may differ, we must remain united in facing climate change, which is a danger that threatens us all. Iraq is experiencing difficult climate conditions. Desertification and scarce water resources have put us in fifth place among the
countries most weakened by climate change, according to the sixth Global Environmental Outlook’s regional assessment for West Asia. Iraq has acceded to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and we are working on a strategy aimed at preserving the environment and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We have drafted a document on national contributions to guide our economic transformation and promote the concept of a green economy in order to attract new investment to Iraq and ensure greater participation by the private sector in addressing climate change.
We must revive Mesopotamia. This region was previously known as the Sawad Land and the Garden of Eden, thanks to its green and fertile areas. Because of its geographic location in the centre of the region and its diverse environment, which includes palm trees, marshes and the mountains of Kurdistan, Iraq has the potential to be an environmental meeting point for the countries of the Middle East. That will require international support in every area in order to assist Iraq in its efforts to implement those national policies and strategies.
No country has been spared or excluded by the climate crisis, and we cannot reduce or adapt to its disastrous and harmful effects through individual measures. No country that believes its measures can protect it from the risks of climate change will succeed if similar measures are not taken by its neighbours, its region and the whole world. Our sandstorms, water scarcity, rising temperatures and growing desertification are cross-border problems that will not be solved without shared coordination and planning, internationally and at a high level, combining national, regional and international plans.
Iraq is located in the heart of the Middle East, a region that is still suffering from wars and conflicts that are the result of a breakdown in its security and political systems over the past 40 years at least. The fact that Iraq ceased to play its natural role in the region has been one of the reasons for the region’s destabilization. That is why we have adopted a balanced policy based on dialogue and reducing tensions while building on common ground. We underscore the need to create a new organization based on cooperation and the economic links among the countries of the region with the participation of the international community — an organization that is able to respond to shared challenges, whether they are those of terrorism, extremism, unstable economic conditions, an inability to provide jobs for ever-growing numbers of young people, or the repercussions of climate change. My Government has therefore organized the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership in order to underscore that Iraq, which was a synonym for conflict, is now a meeting point for the interests of the peoples and States of the region. We will not see peace efforts succeed without Iraq, an Iraq that is safe, stable and fully sovereign and whose pivotal role in the region has been re-established. That requires regional and international support as well as an end to competitive behaviour and conflicts of others on our land.
We also note that the ongoing crisis in Syria and its terrible humanitarian ramifications for the Syrian people have long ceased to be acceptable. We want to remind the world that hotspots of terrorism are always active and thrive on the continuation of this crisis, thereby threatening the Syrian people and my country, indeed the entire region. It is high time that we moved seriously to end to the suffering of the Syrians, based on respect for their right to peace and freedom and by eliminating the pockets of terrorism that are still active there.
Iraq emphasizes its position on the importance of arriving at a comprehensive and fair solution to the Palestinian question. There can be no peace in the region without guaranteeing and achieving all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent State. The ongoing war in Yemen and its security and human repercussions are also a source of concern demanding a solution that ensures security and peace for its citizens and the countries of the region.
Next month, Iraq will see a decisive national event, the holding of early elections in response to a popular movement and a massive national consensus on the need for radical reforms and a new political and social pact that will address the previous system’s failings and ensure good governance. The elections will be decisive and will have major effects in Iraq and possibly the entire region. They will be held at the time when our people make their pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Al-Hussain in Karbala, embodying the noblest human values of reform, peace, the rejection of injustice and oppression and the importance of living a dignified life. Iraqis are firmly determined to preserve their nation, carry out reforms, fight corruption and achieve the right to a free and dignified life. In order to realize those
noble goals, it is essential that we restore Iraqis’ trust in their elections and ensure their broad participation. That is a top priority for us. We have enacted a new electoral law, more just and representative than the previous iteration, and established a new electoral commission, supported by the Government so that we can ensure that the elections will be well organized. In addition, we have a new electoral code of conduct aimed at ensuring the elections’ success and enabling them to pave the way for peaceful reforms through a Parliament and Government that genuinely respect the voice of the people without manoeuvring or manipulation. The fact is that one reason for the political tension in our country has been the flaws and the lack of popular trust in previous electoral processes. In that regard, I would like to thank the countries that contributed to the Security Council’s adoption of its resolution 2576 (2021), on supporting the electoral process in Iraq. We would also like to thank the Secretariat and the European Union for their role in sending international observers tasked with ensuring the greatest possible transparency, as well as the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq for all of its efforts in supporting the elections.
Iraq is a living example of diversity and profound human coexistence in history. Our people draw strength from that diversity and deep-rooted coexistence. We are aware that nations become stronger when respect for diversity becomes a criterion of their culture.
I would like to conclude by reaffirming that we are partners on this planet. We are partners in our aspirations, fears, concerns and human values. We urgently need solidarity if we are to halt the degradation of our environment and avoid wars and conflicts. Responding to those issues is the greatest gift that we can give future generations.