UNAMI TO PULL BACK ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000738 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/06/2016 TAGS: PGOV PNAT KDEM IZ SUBJECT: UNAMI TO PULL BACK ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM AND FOCUS MORE ON HUMAN RIGHTS REF: BAGHDAD 567 Classified By: Political Counselor Robert S. Ford for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: At a February 27 meeting with MNF-I Deputy Chiefs of Staff MG Lynch, MG Findley and Poloff, DSRSG Stephan De Mistura said UNAMI clearly understood that constitution review would be best left off the agenda at the present time. De Mistura indicated that UNAMI would shift resources away from this area to efforts in support of Human Rights. END SUMMARY. -------------- UNAMI TO REFOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS -------------- ¶2. (C) On February 27, MG Lynch, MNF-I Deputy Chief of Staff, Strategic Effects Directorate, MG Findley, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy Plans and Assessments, and Poloff met with DSRSG de Mistura. During the meeting de Mistura said that UNAMI clearly understood that now was not the time to push for constitutional review (reftel). He said that this position would be respected by UNAMI and that, unless the Iraqis themselves push it, UNAMI "would not open this Pandora's Box". To this end, he said UNAMI will unofficially and quietly reduce its staff working on constitutional reform and refocus on other issues, specifically human rights. -------------- GOAL TO ESTABLISH A HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION -------------- ¶3. (C) DSRSG de Mistura said that an Iraqi-owned human rights system must be built to counter the death squads, indefinite detentions and other human rights abuses. To facilitate this he said that UNAMI will push the Iraqi government to set up an inclusive and independent Human Rights Commission by the end of 2006. De Mistura said that such a commission would be an important tool for the Iraqi people and serve as a bridge to bring international standards on Human Rights to bear in Iraq. According to de Mistura, in addition to this commission, UNAMI will also help draft specific legislation to improve human rights and support the build up of independent judiciary and penal institutions. ¶4. (C) De Mistura expressed a deep concern for human rights abuses targeting children, saying that he is aware of specific cases where terrorists have targeted children and schools. De Mistura stated that these kinds of attacks are particularly disturbing and UNAMI is tracking the issue and plans to launch a strong campaign to bring the issue to the attention of the international community. He specifically asked for MNF-I support in preparing this campaign by providing statistics and documentation where MNF-I is aware of such attacks, to include photos if possible. De Mistura said UNAMI will publish a special report on the topic to highlight the problem to the international community to perhaps "embarrass" the insurgents to reduce such attacks. KHALILZAD