The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq

Mission Mandate

In August 2003, Security Council Resolution 1500 established the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), a political mission administered by the Department of Political Affairs. In subsequent resolutions—1546 in 2004, 1770 in 2007 and 1883 in 2009—the Security Council expanded UNAMI’s presence throughout the country and broadened its mission. UNAMI is made up of more than ten UN agencies and a handful of international partners. In July 2011, Security Council resolution 2011 extended UNAMI’s mandate for another 12 months. The Mission's mandate includes:

• Promoting and supporting political dialogue and national reconciliation;
• Facilitating implementation of the International Compact for Iraq’s reconstruction, including coordination with donors and international financial institutions;
• Contributing and coordinating humanitarian relief and reconstruction;
• Assisting local and national government institutions;
• Strengthening the rule of law and the justice system;
• Advising Iraq’s High Independent Electoral Commission;
• Supporting the return of refugees and internally displaced persons; and
• Encouraging human rights.

Background

Following the 2003 invasion by a multilateral coalition led by the United States, the UN political mission was created to help the Iraqis establish a secure, stable, and democratic country to work alongside the coalition. Read more || Hide text

Despite major setbacks, such as the August 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in which twenty-three mission staff members, including the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello, were killed, the UN continues to support the Iraqi people. In 2005, UNAMI worked with the Iraqi government to conduct successful democratic elections; in March 2010, the Iraqi Government was able to administer their own elections, with minimal help from the UN and the international community. In May 2010, Iraq’s election commission sent the final results to the Supreme Court for certification, eventually naming Prime Minister Nuri Maliki.

As stated in the Secretary-General’s report on Iraq last year, disputed internal territories such as Kirkuk remain divisive issues. However, the Secretary-General noted a recent trend of dialogue and reconciliation among key stakeholders and parties to the disputes, and it is his hope that, under the extended mandate, UNAMI will continue to facilitate dialogue and, overall, strengthen democratic institutions in the country. The mandate calls for a renewed effort to advance gender equality and promote legal and judicial reform, among many other progressive appeals.

In December of 2011, the United States military completed its final withdrawal from Iraq.  This marks the official end of the more than 8-year long U.S. military mission in the country.  The official military mission has ended but the U.S. government maintains many interests in Iraq.  UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Iraq, Martin Kobler assures that, “all [the] interlocutors of the readiness of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq to support Iraqi leaders’ efforts to promote confidence and trust among the parties at this important juncture of the history of Iraq”.  The United States leaves behind a diplomatic mission consisting of more than 16,000 Americans (the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is the largest embassy maintained by any country anywhere in the world).

How This Affects American Interests

• Promotes dialogue. Beginning in June 2009, UNAMI facilitated a dialogue between representatives from the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan regional government about disputed internal boundaries. This Task Force on Dialogue meets weekly to further the national reconciliation between the two sides. The United States is working with UNAMI to continue this dialogue.

• Encourages Human Rights. In 2011, UNAMI worked closely with the government to establish an Independent High Commission for Human Rights to promote and protect the rights of all Iraqis in accordance with international standards. In coordination with the Iraqi government, UNAMI also led human rights training sessions for government officials in the Ministries of Interior and Justice, civil society organizations such as the Iraqi Bar Association, and 200 journalists.

• Supports development programs. On March 14, 2011 The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Iraqi Government made a four year agreement in support of a new $600 million government agenda. The agenda known as the Country Program Action Plan will create a public sector with better education, water and sanitation, and health services through a public modernization program. Together, the organizations will undertake the following projects: rehabilitating power stations, creating new ones, clearing mines, creating equal opportunity jobs, and initiating environmental programs.

• Promotes Democracy. Since its inception, UNAMI has played a pivotal role in facilitating seven national and provincial elections in Iraq, including the country’s historic 2005 parliamentary elections. The UN Mission helped establish and train Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), which administers the elections process in the country, and the UN continues to provide strategic and technical assistance and advice to the Commission. In 2011, IHEC asked UNAMI to play an advisory role in the selection process of its new Board of Commissioners. Scheduled to be completed in April 2012, UNAMI is working to ensure that the Board selections are made through a transparent, merit-based process.

• Provides Critical Humanitarian Aid. In 2011, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners coordinated the provision of clean water, shelter, and sanitation assistance to nearly 500,000 displaced persons, while simultaneously pursuing more durable long-term solutions to the country’s displacement crisis, including return and resettlement. Also, the World Food Program (WFP) launched a school feeding initiative to help keep 550,000 Iraqi school children healthy and in the classroom and scaled up a cash-for-work program to provide short-term employment opportunities to Iraqis in regions particularly hard-hit by violence. The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is currently managing an educational program to instill young Iraqis between the ages of 12-19 with civic values and life skills to help deter recruitment of young Iraqis by extremist groups.

   

Ongoing Challenges

• Sectarian violence.Sectarian violence continues to be a major obstacle to the UN’s efforts in Iraq. There are 1.3 million IDPs registered with the UNHRC, with 467,000 of them living in dire conditions; one-third of those people live in Baghdad. Since the end of major violence, some 290,000 refugees and IDPs have- returned home. However, continuing violence and insecurity in Iraq has made it difficult for the UN mission to operate safely in the region. 

• Government instability. Recent uprisings in the Middle East have put new pressures on the Iraqi Government to maintain stability, the rule of law, transparency, and democratic dialogue between the countries political blocs. Public pressure for government reform within Iraq has demonstrated the continued need for support for such democratic governance practices. UNAMI remains committed to supporting efforts towards a stable, more peaceful, and prosperous Iraq by facilitating negotiations between political blocs on a number of issues including political appointments to security related ministries, restructuring of the Prime Minister’s cabinet, overseeing negotiations with the U.S. over troop withdrawal, and expediting reform negotiations between regional governments such as in Kurdistan.

• Disputes over the Kirkuk oil area. The Kirkuk region, which is inhabited by ethnic Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, sits on 13 percent of Iraq’s oil reserves. As a result, the Iraqi government and the largely autonomous Kurdistan Regional government disagree about who controls the region. While the Iraqi constitution presents a plan to determine control through a referendum, political feuding and the potential for conflict has delayed the vote. The UN, empowered by the Iraqi government, has outlined two possible solutions: a census and referendum or the establishment of Kirkuk as an independent province of Iraq. Both proposals are under consideration by all parties, and sides continue to meet under UNAMI auspices.

• Landmines. Iraq is one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world, with landmines and unexploded ordnance covering 1,730 square kilometers. Around 1.6 million Iraqis in 1,600 communities, or one in every 20 Iraqis, are affected. In 2006, Iraq signed the anti-personnel mine-ban treaty but instability has posed a serious challenge to fulfilling the treaty's mandate.  Marking the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action in April of 2012, the United Nations called for an Iraq free of all landmines by 2018, reaffirming its commitment to support the country’s Mine Action programme. “Each year on 4 April, countries around the world raise awareness about landmines and progress toward their eradication. In Iraq, we want to honor this day by drawing the attention to Iraqi women, men and children who have lost their lives or limbs, who have become blind, or who cannot move freely because of landmines,” said Martin Kobler, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq.
• Violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) youth.  Recent violence in Iraq against homosexuals and those perceived to be homosexuals by radical Islamic militia groups because of their western style of dress presents a disturbing trend of human rights abuses against Iraq’s LGBT community.  So called “Emo” youth have also been the target of violence; the “Emo” style of dress and culture is seen by militia groups as representing homosexuality and Satanism imported from the West.  As many as 70 Iraqi youth have been in recent months, violating the UN Human Rights Council’s 2011 resolution condemning discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also condemned such violence against homosexuals, “Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human… It is a violation of human rights when people are beaten or killed because of their sexual orientation, or because they do not conform to cultural norms about how men and women should look or behave.”

Updated April 2012