UN Authority Figures

UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security Chair: Iraq


The Iraqi parliament passed a law in November 2016 making militia units, including Iranian-backed groups accused of human rights abuses, an official part of the country's security forces. Photo: Members of the Iraqi Shiite Badr Army militia.
Source: The Washington Post, November 26, 2016

Mission of the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security of the General Assembly: "The First Committee deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community and seeks out solutions to the challenges in the international security regime." (General Assembly - Disarmament and International Security website, "First Committee")

Term of office: 2017-2018

Iraq's Record on Disarmament and International Security:
"Civilian authorities were not always able to maintain effective control of all security forces which include: the regular armed forces and domestic law enforcement bodies; the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state-sponsored umbrella military organization composed of nearly 60, predominantly Shia components , which report directly to the prime minister; and the Peshmerga--the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) principal military force. ... Violence continued to divide the country,... Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), members of the Federal Police, and the Peshmerga committed some human rights violations, and there continued to be reports of PMF killing, torturing, kidnapping, and extorting civilians." (US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2016, Iraq)

CONVENTION OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE ON COMBATING INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: "Peoples' struggle including armed struggle against foreign occupation, aggression, colonialism, and hegemony, aimed at liberation and self-determination in accordance with the principles of international law shall not be considered a terrorist crime." Ratified by Iraq.

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