Iraq: Assassination of Mr. Alaa Issa Khalaf

IRQ 001 / 0106 / OBS 010

Assassination
Iraq
January 27, 2006


The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iraq.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) of the murder of Mr. Alaa Issa Khalaf, a member of the Executive Board of the Baghdad branch of the Mechanics Union, and a prominent member of the recently created General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW).

According to the information received, Mr. Alaa Issa Khalaf was shot dead at around 7.30 am on January 25 by several unidentified men as he left for work from his home in Baghdad.

The Observatory recalls that it is not the first time that a trade unionist was murdered or abducted in Iraq. For instance, on February 18, 2005, the Iraqi labour leader Mr. Ali Hassan Abd (Abu Fahad), a prominent and outspoken member of the Oil and Gas Union, was murdered on his way home. Mr. Ali Hassan Abd was one of the first activists to organise trade unions in the oil industry, encouraging union voice in a post-Saddam Iraq as early as April 2003. Likewise, on January 4, 2005, Mr. Hadi Saleh, International Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), was brutally tortured and murdered at his Baghdad home (See Observatory urgent appeal IRQ 001/0205/OBS 016, dated February 28, 2005).

The Observatory is very concerned that murder of labour leaders in Iraq has become a troubling trend in a country where trade unionists still operate under anti-union legislation which dates back to the Saddam-era, and urges the Iraqi authorities to immediately ratify the Convention 87 on freedom of association of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

More generally, the Observatory expresses its deepest concern at the situation of human rights defenders in Iraq, who face tremendous risk to their lives and security, and who are therefore conducting their activities in an extremely precarious situation.

Actions requested:

Please write to the Iraqi authorities urging them to:
i. guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of all human rights defenders working in Iraq, including trade unionists, in all circumstances;

ii. conduct a fair, impartial and independent inquiry into the assassinations of Mr. Alaa Issa Khalaf, in order to identify the authors, bring them to justice and pronounce sentences proportional to the gravity of their crimes;

iii. guarantee that adequate reparation is provided to the victim’s family;

iv. end all forms of harassment and ill-treatment of human rights defenders in Iraq, and guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders and organisations are able to carry out their work without any hindrance;

v. ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, as well as article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually or in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;

vi. guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments ratified by Iraq.

Addresses:

• Mr. Ibrahim Jaafari, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, Bagdad, Iraq, c/o Permanent Mission of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28a, 1209 Genève, Suisse, Fax: 00 41 22 733 03 26, E-mail: mission.iraq@ties.itu.int

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Geneva-Paris, January 27, 2006

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.

The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Email: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH: 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 01 43 55 18 80
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