MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION

4.4.2006

with request for inclusion in the agenda for the debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law
pursuant to Rule 115 of the Rules of Procedure
by María Elena Valenciano Martínez-Orozco, Panagiotis Beglitis, and Glyn Ford,
on behalf of the PSE Group
on the situation of the Assyrian community and in prisons in Iraq

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B6-0252/2006

B6‑0258/2006

European Parliament resolution on the situation of the Assyrian community and in prisons in Iraq

The European Parliament,

-  having regard to its previous resolutions on prisoners situation and torture,

-  having to the Convention against Torture and other inhuman and degrading forms of ill treatment,

-   having regard to the Geneva Convention on Humanitarian Law,

-	having regard to the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the	situation of human rights in Iraq for the 61th session of the UNHRC,
-	having regard to the Amnesty International report "Beyond Abu Ghraib: detention and	torture in Iraq" and the Human Rights First report “Command’s Responsibility. Detainee	Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan”,

-  having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas 30.000 people have been detained in US military premises in Iraq, mainly without being charged or tried and without the right to challenge their detention before a judicial body,

B.  whereas 14.589 people continue to be imprisoned in four American detention centres,

C.  worried by the allegations concerning the imprisonment of minors in Abu Ghraib and Um Qasr,

D.

deploring the deaths, since August 2002, of nearly 100 detainees while in the hands of

US officials in the “global war on terror”,

E.   having regard to the reports of churches being burned down in Bagdad and Kirkuk after the publication in Denmark of the cartoons of he prophet Mohamed,

F.  recognising the rise in attacks on Christian students in Iraqi Universities especially in Mosul, Christian citizens of Mosul being told to move from the area, their houses not being worth buying as they will be forced out soon,

G.  whereas the district of Bagdad, Dora, is being ethically cleansed by mainly Shia and Sunni Iraqis and whereas Christian houses are being leafleted to leave the country as a consequence of the recent bombings of the Moslem shrines,

H.  noting the dire situation of the Christian minorities, including the Assyrians, who have fled Iraq and are living as refugees in neighbouring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan, with no international aid, as noted in the UNHCR report,

I.  noting that the Assyrian people are the indigenous people of Iraq who have lived in the Nineveh plains in North Iraq for over 3,000 years, without any rights,

On the prisons on Iraq:

1.  Condemns the cases of torture and ill treatment in the Iraq prisons whilst deploring the fact that neither the MNF, the military US nor Iraqi authorities have established sufficient safeguards to protect detainees from torture or ill-treatment;

2.	Urges the Commission, the EU Member States and the EU CFSP High Representative to persuade the Iraqi, US and MNF authorities to take urgent and concrete steps to ensure	that the fundamental human rights of all detainees in Iraq are respected;
3.	Demands that the US, MNF and Iraq authorities subject all allegations of abuse to prompt, thorough and independent investigation and that any military, security or other officials	found to have used, ordered or acquiesced in torture be brought to justice;

4.  Welcomes the announcement made on 9 March 2006 by the US Army on the closing of the Abu Ghraïb detention centre and asks the US military authorities either to free or judge the 4.500 inmates and, in any case, to establish procedures guaranteeing the detainees of human rights international law and standards;

5.

Points out that detainees must be able to effectively challenge their detention before a

court; this right is one of the alienable rights which states are bound to uphold in all

circumstances, even in times of war or national emergency;

6.  Calls on the US to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention againstTorture (OPCAT), which will institute a complementary system of national and international visiting mechanisms to inspect places of detention;

On the Iraqi Assyrian minority:

7.  Asks the EU institutions to acknowledge the existence and under-representation of all Christian minorities in Iraq;

8.  Urges the EU to call on the Iraqi Government to look into the setting-up of a safe area for the Christian minorities where Christians can live outside Islamic law or for occupational forces to provide safety to the Christian areas;

9.  Calls for active involvement from Christian Iraqis with the rebuilding and the administration of the Nineveh plains in order to preserve their national, cultural, religious and ethnic identity and heritage within one undivided country of Iraq;

10.  Supports the Kurdish and Arabic leaders who have called for a safe haven for the Assyrian and Christian minorities;

11.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution together to the Council, the Commission, Member States, the Iraqi government, the government of the USA, the UN-Human Rights Commissioner, Miss Louise Arbor.