75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
UN Security Council briefing on Iraq/UNAMI
Statement by DPR Andre Lipand
August 25, New York
Thank you Mr. President,
I thank Special Representative Hennis-Plasschaert for her thorough briefing and I would like to express our full support to UNAMI’s efforts in Iraq. I also welcome the Iraqi participant in this meeting.
Estonia appreciates the continued commitment of the Government of Iraq to holding free and fair parliamentary elections in October and welcomes the progress in electoral preparations. We call upon all Iraqi stakeholders to contribute to a conducive environment to holding inclusive, credible and participatory elections, which are a crucial element in the path towards stability and restored public trust in the political system, the importance of which was well highlighted in the Special Representative’s briefing.
We welcome the launching of the workplan of the higher committee to promote and monitor women’s electoral participation and urge the Iraqi Government to ensure full and equal participation of women in the elections.
We also express our support to the Government’s commitment to implementing economic reforms, fighting corruption and to ensure state control over all armed forces, in order to respond to the legitimate calls of the Iraqis for improving the socio-economic situation, governance and long-term stability of the country.
In the context of continued attacks against demonstrators, political activists and journalists, we encourage the Iraqi authorities to increase efforts to ensure accountability for those responsible for violations and to safeguard the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
Regarding the Yazidi Female Survivor Law, we urge the Government to ensure its implementation and development of necessary by-laws, ensuring the return to normalcy for the survivors.
The continued terrorist attacks by ISIL as well as attacks against diplomatic missions and the Coalition Forces are deeply worrying. We strongly condemn such activity, which contributes to undermining Iraq’s stability, and call upon the Government to ensure that those responsible are held accountable. It is clear that the fight against ISIL is not over and Estonia remains ready so support Iraq in this regard.
At the same time, it is essential that all actors respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and refrain from any military action which would threaten the stability of the country. We support Iraq’s constructive engagement with its neighbours, including the planned conference with regional actors in Baghdad on 28 August.
We also commend the constructive engagement of the Iraqi Government regarding the issue of irregular crossings of migrants from Belarus to the European Union. I would like to highlight that Estonia strongly condemns instrumentalisation of migration and using innocent people to advance political goals.
Turning to the relations between Baghdad and Erbil, we encourage both Governments to increase efforts to implement the Federal Budget Law and to reach agreements also on other outstanding issues, which would contribute to increased stability for the whole country.
I thank you.