Head of the Department of Human Rights Meets Ambassador of the European Union in Baghdad

Dr Hisham Al-Alawi, Head of the Department of Human Rights, has met the Head of the European Union Mission in Baghdad, Ambassador Ville Varjola, at the Ministry’s headquarters.

At the beginning of the meeting, Ambassador Al-Alawi expressed his appreciation of the support of the European Union mission to Iraq on several levels, especially in the field of human rights, and reviewed the efforts of Iraqi governmental institutions, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to address files related to the support and protection of human rights in Iraq. Dr Al-Alawi referred to the procedures of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi parliament to legislate a law on domestic violence, child protection, the disabled and the elderly in accordance with the best humanitarian standards, and the success of the Iraqi parliament in legislating a law that guarantees the rehabilitation of ISIS victims and expedite their integration into society.

Ambassador Al-Alawi also confirmed that Iraq seeksto address many urgent files such as the missing, cases of enforced disappearance and victims of terrorism, in addition to the continuous cooperation between the Government of Iraq and the governments of European countries regarding the Iraqi refugees stranded at the borders, and how this cooperation has resulted in the return of many of them to the homeland.

On his part, the representative of the European Union Mission commended Iraq’s efforts to protect and consolidate human rights and affirmed the European Union’s support for the Iraqi government’s efforts in this field, stating that there are financial grants to be provided by the European Union to Iraq in a way to support projects, and they are currently in the progress of studying a number of them.

At the conclusion of the meeting, both sides expressed their commitment to continuing the communication to expand cooperation between Iraq and the European Union.​