UIA consists of 200 bar associations representing 2 million lawyers from 110 countries across the globe
In a document signed by the President of UIA Mr. Driss Chatter, this union calls for protests against prison-making measures in Liberty and Iraqi armed forces leaving the Camp Liberty vicinity.
The UIA was established nearly a century ago in 1927 by a group of European lawyers in order to launch international communication between lawyers and bar associations. Currently, consisting of over 200 bar associations, organizations and lawyers-jurists federations along with thousands of individual members, this union represents over 2 million lawyers from 110 countries across the globe.

Protest against turning of Camp Liberty into a prison; armed forces must leave
A few days after the transfer of 400 Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty, all signs suggest that Liberty is a prison with very high security and the relocation project aims at obliteration of the democratic and legitimate opposition of the despotic regime ruling Iran.
Residents of Liberty are not free to leave the camp; have no access to lawyers or free access to medical services. In this small camp which is surrounded by high concrete walls, Iraqi armed forces have a central station with three subsidiary stations and have also put up machine guns. There are eavesdropping devices in the vicinity of the camp and numerous espionage cameras are installed at various points inside the camp. There is no doubt that the output of these devices are provided to the Iranian regime; a matter with obvious perils for the residents and their families. The transfer process for residents was very humiliating and they were treated like POWs; their inspection alone took eleven hours to complete.
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General had declared in his statement of January 31 that the infrastructure of this camp fulfills humanitarian standards, but the reality is exactly the opposite.
The camp suffers from acute shortage of potable water and electricity. Open sewage tanks produce intolerable odor and pollution and seriously threaten the health of the residents. The tanks cannot be emptied. Trailers are filthy, dilapidated and most are unusable.
We call on the UN Secretary-General, the U.S. Secretary of State, and the EU High Representative to:
Firstly- strongly condemn the shameful actions by the Iraqi government.
Secondly- call on the Special Representative of Secretary-General to turn impartial and disregarding political considerations defend the rights of the Iranian refugees and to break his silence in face of the suppressive measures of the Iraqi government
Thirdly- provide the minimum assurances for the residents and in particular persuade the Iraqi government to move all Iraqi forces to the outside of camp’s perimeter walls. Without these assurances, no one else would go to Camp Liberty from Ashraf and those who have gone there would demand their return to Ashraf particularly that these conditions are totally unacceptable to Muslim women.