The International Organization of Friendship and Reconciliation, with branches at 51 countries and six Nobel Laureates among its members, in a statement called for guarantee of Ashraf residents’ rights under Fourth Geneva Convention.
This statement which is the letter of Toussaint Y. HONVPOU, President of the National Movement for Reconciliation of Benin (Président du Mouvement National de Réconciliation du Bénin), addressing Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, partly reads:
Shocking reports regarding abusive behavior practiced by Iraqi security forces, revealed in nearly 400,000 document disclosed by WikiLeaks, has focused worldwide public opinion on crimes and human rights violations in Iraq…
Similarly, from the beginning of 2009 when US forces transferred the authority of Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi government, inhumane behavior towards the residents began in all aspects. During the Iraqi forces’ July 28-29, 2009 attacks on Camp Ashraf, 11 residents were killed 1000 were wounded and injured, with 36 residents kidnapped for 72 days.
UN Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak said, “The Principle of Non-Refoulement prohibits governments from transferring detainees to other countries where their personal security may be in danger…
The UN Special Rapporteur said the United States of America has the obligation that “whenever a detained individual is to be expelled, extradited or transferred to government officials, they must evaluate if this particular individual may face the threat of torture or not.”
He continued, “If this assessment does not take place or if the authorities, with this knowledge that the probability of the threat that the detainees may face torture, they continue to transfer them, in this case violated Article 3 of the UN Convention that precludes torture.”
The revealed documents of human rights violations by Nouri Maliki’s government and the continuous attacks of Iraqi forces against the defenseless Ashraf residents, especially the recent attacks that have taken place after UNAMI’s monitoring in Ashraf in June 2010, has once again proven that not only does the current Iraqi government not have the competence to protect Ashraf residents, the truth is the itself is literally considered the murderers of Ashraf victims. We cannot close our eyes on the tragedies taking place in Ashraf and urgent actions mentioned by Your Excellency regarding Ashraf residents:
a. By enforcing Article 45 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions, the US forces must re-station in Ashraf to provide protection for the UNAMI monitoring and the camp’s residents. Thus, mutual standards and conduct must return to the conditions before January 2009 when Ashraf protection was in the hands of US forces.
b. Reinstating the fact that Ashraf residents continue to be considered as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Conventions and they must enjoy fundamental rights and protections of this Convention and the 22-month long inhumane blockade on Ashraf must also be lifted.