(Beirut) – The Iraqi government ramped up attacks on rights by passing or attempting to pass draconian laws that would restrict Iraqis’ freedoms throughout 2024, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2025.
For the 546-page world report, in its 35th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In much of the world, Executive Director Tirana Hassan writes in her introductory essay, governments cracked down and wrongfully arrested and imprisoned political opponents, activists, and journalists. Armed groups and government forces unlawfully killed civilians, drove many from their homes, and blocked access to humanitarian aid. In many of the more than 70 national elections in 2024, authoritarian leaders gained ground with their discriminatory rhetoric and policies.
“Iraq has an opportunity to enact structural reforms that would enhance basic rights and help preserve the country’s relative stability,” said Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Instead, they seem focused on legislating away Iraqis’ freedom, ramping up executions, and repressing dissent.”
- Iraq’s parliament debated an amendment to the Personal Status Law that would allow Iraqi religious authorities, rather than state law, to govern marriage and inheritance matters at the expense of fundamental rights. If passed, the amendment would have disastrous effects on women’s and girls’ rights guaranteed under international law by allowing marriage for girls as young as 9, undermining the principle of equality under Iraqi law, and removing divorce and inheritance protections for women.
- On April 27, parliament passed an amendment to the Law on Combating Prostitution, punishing same-sex relations with between 10 and 15 years in prison. The amendment also sets prisons terms of 1 to 3 years for people who undergo or perform gender-affirming medical intervention and for “imitating women.” The law also provides for up to 7 years in prison and a fine of up to 15 million dinars (about US$11,450) for “promoting homosexuality,” which is not defined.
- Iraqi authorities dramatically increased the scale and pace of unlawful executions in 2024, without prior notice to lawyers or family members and despite credible allegations of torture and violations of the right to a fair trial.
- The closure of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD) in September left survivors feeling uncertain about the future of ISIS accountability in Iraq. Outstanding issues include whether evidence collected by UNITAD will be preserved, as well as the need to exhume mass graves, provide for the return of displaced people, and compensate those whose homes and businesses were destroyed during the conflict.
The Iraqi authorities should reject the proposed amendment to the Personal Status Law, repeal the anti-LGBT law, and set a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.