Iraq, 2014

I salute the

General Assembly on behalf of Iraq and congratulate

Mr. Sam Kahamba Kutesa on his election as President

of the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. We

wish him and the Secretary-General every success

during the session. I would also like to thank the

Secretary-General for the vital role he has played in the

past years in supporting and enhancing the progress of

my country, something for which we in Iraq are grateful

and proud.

Fourteen years ago, heads of State and Government

committed themselves to the fulfilment of the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015,

focusing on issues that are now still vital, foremost

among which are social and economic development, the

protection of international peace and security, the end of

the arms race, disarmament, elimination of weapons of

mass destruction (WMDs) — whose very name incites

fear in everyone — fighting terrorism and widespread

organized crime, guaranteeing human rights and the

effective coordination of humanitarian assistance

efforts, and promoting justice and international law.

In that context, we would like to remind the General

Assembly of our very bitter memory and experience as

victims of WMDs in Halabja, the peaceful Kurdish city

that was attacked by chemical weapons in 1988 at the

hands of the dictatorial regime then in power.

Next year, we will celebrate the seventieth

anniversary of the founding of the United Nations as an

Organization that represents international legitimacy.

That occasion will allow us to express the value of the

Organization and its achievements. It will also be an

occasion to take up more initiatives to settle disputes

by peaceful means and promote human rights and

larger freedoms and equality for all. We will also be

celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Fourth

World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, which

was a turning point in seeking to promote the rights

of women and curb all forms of violence to which they

are exposed. We need to promote efforts to protect

our planet from pollution and create a sound, clean

environment to fight the problems of poverty, illness

and illiteracy.

The success of political parties in Iraq in establishing,

a few weeks ago, a Government of national unity that

represents Iraqis every stripe was extremely important.

It is a Government that everyone feels represents them.

Its programme responds to their aspirations and hopes

to move forward with their provinces into another era

of stability, internal progress and rebuilding. It is a

Government that seeks to build friendly relationships

in the region based on understandings that guarantee

peaceful coexistence among States of the region on the

basis of mutual interests and good-neighbourliness.

The establishment of the Government was a firm

response to a real danger that was stalking us all,

namely, the danger posed by Islamic State of Iraq

and the Levant (ISIL). That infamous and evil group

has launched international terrorist actions to attack

defenceless civilians. It has ushered in a new era and

brought terror to a new level. ISIL has been able to

occupy areas in more than one city in Iraq and Syria

and established a State based on hatred and rejection

of the Other. In the past few months, we have seen

how that heinous terrorist organization committed

crimes against humanity, such as killing and displacing

people, committing genocide and ethnic cleansing and

inflicting great suffering on all components of the Iraqi

people with its horrific crimes and massacres.

It has kidnapped women and sold them as enslaved

captives. It has destroyed religious shrines and houses

of worship, as well as cultural and historic monuments.

It has oppressed components of the Iraqi people on

the basis of their ethnic identities, like Turkmens

and Kurds, and targeted religious and confessional

minorities, including Yazidis, Christians and the

Shabak. We would like to thank the free people of the

world who have expressed their dismay, rejected those

crimes and stood in solidarity with the victims by

providing assistance.

That terrorist organization disposes of huge

financial and military assets. By declaring the so-

called Islamic Caliphate, ISIL has become a magnet

for militants and extremists in the Middle East and the

world, who have declared allegiance to that obscurantist

regime and started working under its command. Among

the most dangerous phenomena of that transformation

is the emergence of a new generation of terrorists who

have American, European or other citizenship.

The Iraqi Armed Forces, the Peshmerga and the

Popular Defence volunteers have been able to stop

the advance of ISIL and prevent its occupation of new

areas. We also succeeded in breaking the siege and

liberating cities that had been occupied by the terrorists

of that dangerous organization. The huge humanitarian

and military support that we received from United

Nations organizations, the United States, the States

of the European Union and other friendly States has

played a vital role in assisting us in confronting that

obscurantist terrorist group. We shall neever forget

the support we received against that group, which

confirmed to our people that we are not alone in our

fight against terrorism.

I would like here to express the gratitude of all

the people of Iraq and our Government’s appreciation

to all those who stood by us in our war against those

enemies of humankind. We would like to thank those

whose efforts made the Paris and Jeddah conferences a

success. And we would like to thank those who made

every effort to adopt a Security Council resolution

that guarantees solidarity and partnership in facing

terrorism and the challenges it poses to everyone.

As we meet in the Assembly today, hundreds of

thousands of displaced persons and refugees, who were

forced to leave their homes without taking with them

even the most basic possessions, look to us. Millions

of defenceless civilians who have been forced to live

under the oppression and tyranny of the terrorists of

the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) also look

to us. Their protection and needs are our common

responsibility. We call on the international community

to stand by our side in this war against terrorism

and to support our efforts and those of international

organizations and friendly countries in alleviating the

suffering of refugees, who hope someday to return to

their homes and to get rid of ISIS.

ISIS is a transnational and intercontinental

organization. We reiterate here that eliminating it can

be achieved only by forming a unified global front to

take measures to fight the takfiri approach and dry

up its connected financial, ideological, organizational

and military resources. We in Iraq are determined to

cleanse our land of ISIS. We would like to emphasize

that eliminating terrorism in Iraq will be an important

step in protecting our region and in ridding the world

of that danger.

Here we welcome Security Council resolution 2170

(2014), adopted in August, which calls on Member

States to prevent the support, financing and arming

of ISIS terrorists, the Nusra Front and other entities

related to Al-Qaida to prevent such flows into Iraq. We

should also like to commend the Human Rights Council

for its resolution condemning ISIS and establishing a

fact-finding commission to investigate crimes against

humanity committed by that group against all Iraqis.

In the context of the international response to

terrorism, and while we stress the importance of

consolidating the value and culture of peace and

coexistence in countries with multi-ethnic and

multi-confessional societies, we in Iraq call for

institutionalizing such a responsible position at the

United Nations. Such institutions must be tasked

with developing and operationalizing international

solidarity, using all the means available to fight

terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and to rid

the world of its evils. We also believe that the time has

come to work collectively within individual countries

and with all countries in the region so that we can

defuse tension about our security and achieve national

understanding that contributes to limiting the space

available to terrorism, which typically lives off conflict

and strife. The meetings held in Jeddah, Paris and New

York and the statements, declarations and resolutions

adopted have sent important messages to the Iraqi

people. We hope that all of them will be translated into

practical measures.

In the Middle East, it hurts us to see the recent

suffering of the fraternal Palestinian people in Gaza

and other Palestinian territories. We therefore renew

our call on the international community to honour

its commitment to the Palestinian people and exert

concerted efforts to restore peace and return to the

negotiations table in order to end the conflict and

achieve lasting peace and security. For our brothers in

Yemen and Libya, we hope for stability and the end of

the threats of terrorism and extremism. We also wish

success and progress on the democratic path chosen

by the Libyan and Yemeni peoples. We hope that the

fraternal Syrian people will be able to overcome the

country’s dilemma. We hope that Syrians will unite in

their efforts to arrive at a political solution that ends

the bloodshed and preserves life. We also hope that

such a solution will help neighbourly Syria to achieve

democracy, peace and security in our region. Continued

tension in those hotbeds in our region will only fuel

extremism and extremist obscurantist ideology. That

makes us all want to work together to expedite a search

for solutions to the problems that contributes to creating

a humanitarian environment based on civilization,

culture and freedom.

With regard to Ukraine, we express our concern

about the dangerous escalation of the situation. We

believe that the international community cannot allow

any exacerbation of the conflict, with the ensuing dire

consequences for civilians, whether they have been

displaced or are forced to live in conflict zones.

Iraq notes the results achieved by the Open

Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals.

The Group’s recommendations in its report (A/67/941,

annex) constitute an important step and deserve our

appreciation. We truly value the efforts they have

made to arrive at its conclusions. However, the issue

of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations does

not occupy the space it deserves in the report. It should

have been incumbent upon the Group to address that

challenge as an objective on its own and to look into

its core, manifestations, causes, repercussions and the

ways to address them.

Throughout this era, humankind has been able

to work to promote human partnership and enhance

prospects for peace, freedom, human rights, prosperity

and security. I stand before the Assembly today as a

representative of a country that was enervated by terror

for over a decade. On behalf of the millions of families

of martyrs, orphans and the bereaved, I address the

Assembly to stress that we have no other option but to

defeat ISIS everywhere. With will, determination and

vision, we look forward to a future in which we can

liberate our societies from the risks that continue to

threaten us.