Anglicans support efforts to improve human rights in Iraq

[Anglican Communion News Service] Anglican churches in Iraq have taken part in a United Nations process seeking to bring about improvements to human rights within Iraq.

Calling for the adoption of human rights treaties, freedom of religion and greater protection for women and girls, the churches also praised the Iraqi government for efforts being made.

These efforts were part of the U.N.’s Universal Periodic Review, in which every country is assessed for its record on human rights by other states and civil society organizations. At the end of the review, recommendations are given as to how the state under review can improve.

Recently, Iraq underwent such a review, and Anglicans, along with other churches, provided reports on the human rights situation. The Rev. Glen Ruffle, the Anglican Communion’s permanent representative to the U.N. in Geneva, delivered the statement at the 26th meeting of the 59th Human Rights Council in Geneva.

In the Anglican feedback, attention was drawn to the need for human rights treaties to be ratified by the Iraqi government, and for investment to be made in delivering transparent law, order and justice to increase societal trust.

The council also heard that churches called for freedom of thought and religion, and for state authorities not to record a person’s religion on official identification, which can lead to discrimination. In connection with this, churches also called for fairer promotions based on skills instead of connections, to ensure the best people for a role are the ones who perform it.

The Anglican message also supported a statement by the Lutheran World Federation calling for better protection in law for women and girls, specifically the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women — in particular Article 9, which states that “Parties shall grant women equal rights with men” with respect to their own nationality and that of their children, and Article 16, which instructs parties to “take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations.”

Acknowledging the difficult post-war context of Iraq, the Anglican statement also highlighted the need for states, “especially those states that invaded Iraq, to invest in and support the Iraqi government as they seek to rebuild and restore governance, strengthen national institutions, and combat corruption.”

The Rt. Rev. Sean Semple, bishop of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, which includes Iraq, said, “In these unstable, unpredictable times in the Middle East, particularly Iraq, our faith must steady, strengthen and direct us. We need to do all we can to work for — and to be a visible sign of — the peace and reconciliation that Christ inspires.”

Echoing these words, Ruffle stated that the “Christian churches stand ready to work with Iraqi authorities and civil society to seek peace and reconciliation” in Iraqi communities.