2. Human rights and treatment of specific profiles
2.1 General human rights situation
Over the reference period serious human rights challenges persisted in the country. Authorities failed to hold perpetrators of serious crimes accountable,454 restricted civic space,455 and maintained discriminatory legal provisions affecting women456 and children.457 Perpetrators of violence against women458 largely acted with impunity, while legal protections and support services remained limited.459 Individuals with perceived affiliation with ISIL, including children,460 faced severe challenges, and limited reintegration prospects.461 LGBTIQ+ individuals continued to face threats from militias and social persecution.462 Civil society actors, human rights defenders, and journalists continued to face administrative and legal restrictions on their work, as well as threats and harassment, including online.463 Arrests of journalists covering protests continued.464
The use of torture and ill treatments during arrest and detention persisted over the reference period.465 Enforced disappearances continued, with estimates ranging between 250 000 and 1 million people missing over the past five decades.466
A few years after the Tishreen protests (2019-2021), progress on accountability remained limited.467 Amnesty International reported that, as of August 2024, out of 2 700 criminal investigations opened, only 10 arrest warrants had been issued and seven convictions handed down.468
Conditions in prisons remained dire, and prisoners were denied adequate healthcare. No effective investigations were carried out into deaths in custody.469 Death penalty is still in force in Iraq,470 while the KRG has maintained a de facto moratorium on the death penalty since 2008.471 The number of executions, all for terrorism-related offences, almost quadrupled in 2024 compared to 2023,472 including reports of secret executions.473 The counter-terrorism framework and practices in Federal Iraq and the KRI remained non-compliant with international human rights standards.474
UNAMI will cease all works and operations after 31 December 2025.475
In January 2025, Iraq underwent the fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR), receiving 263 recommendations from 93 countries on a variety of topics including: human rights framework, freedom of expression, death penalty.476
Several key draft laws aimed at protecting human rights, including on Anti-Domestic Violence, freedom of Expression, protection from enforced disappearances and protection of minorities, remain pending.477
- 454
AI, Iraq: Five years after Tishreen protests, impunity reigns supreme, 30 September 2024, url; AI, The State of the World's Human Rights; Iraq 2024, 29 April 2025, url; HRW, World Report 2025 – Iraq, 16 January 2025, url
- 455
UNSG, Implementation of resolution 2732 (2024), Report of the Secretary-General, 30 May 2025, url, para 52; UNSC, Implementation of resolution 2732 (2024) Report of the Secretary-General, 26 November 2024, url, para 54
- 456
Martini L.S., The Square Centre, From Personal Status to General Amnesty: A Controversial Political Process in Iraq, 12 March 2025, url; HRW, Iraq: Surging Unlawful Executions, 19 November 2024, url
- 457
OHCHR, Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Iraq*, 18 July 2025, url,
- 458
Martini L.S., The Square Centre, From Personal Status to General Amnesty: A Controversial Political Process in Iraq, 12 March 2025, url; HRW, Iraq: Surging Unlawful Executions, 19 November 2024, url
- 459
AI, The State of the World's Human Rights; Iraq 2024, 29 April 2025, url; HRW, World Report 2025 – Iraq, 16 January 2025, url
- 460
UNSG, Protection of civilians in armed conflict, Report of the Secretary-General, 15 May 2025, url, para 29; AI, Iraq: People held in Al-Jed’ah Centre subjected to torture and
- 461
UNIDIR, Reintegrating Iraqis Returning Home After Conflict: Lessons from Variation Between Four Communities, January 2025, url, p. 31
- 462
AI, The State of the World's Human Rights; Iraq 2024, 29 April 2025, url HRW, World Report 2025 – Iraq, 16 January 2025, url
- 463
UN in Iraq, For Iraq Yearbook 2024, 10 June 2025, url, p. 18
- 464
UNSG, Implementation of resolution 2732 (2024), Report of the Secretary-General, 30 May 2025, url, para 52; UNSG, Implementation of resolution 2732 (2024) Report of the Secretary-General, 26 November 2024, url, para 54; AI, The State of the World's Human Rights; Iraq 2024, 29 April 2025, url; GCHR, GCHR’s periodic report on human rights violations in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, 18 March 2025, url
- 465
GCHR, GCHR’s 35th Periodic Report on Human Rights Violations in Iraq, 15 May 2025, url
- 466
UNSG, Implementation of resolution 2732 (2024) Report of the Secretary-General, 30 May 2025, url, para 56
- 467
AI, The State’s of World Human Rights, April 2025, url, p. 208
- 468
AI, Iraq: Five years after Tishreen protests, impunity reigns supreme, 30 September 2024, url
- 469
AI, The State of the World's Human Rights; Iraq 2024, 29 April 2025, url
- 470
MENA Rights Group, Iraq’s human rights record assessed during its fourth Universal Periodic Review, 27 March 2025, url
- 471
HRW, World Report 2025 – Iraq, 16 January 2025, url
- 472
Guardian (The), Executions at 10-year high after huge increases in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, 8 April 2025, url
- 473
HRW, World Report 2025 – Iraq, 16 January 2025, url; MENA Rights Group, Iraq’s human rights record assessed during its fourth Universal Periodic Review, 27 March 2025, url
- 474
MENA Rights Group, Civil and political rights in Iraq since the 2019 Tishreen protests: Universal Periodic Review of Iraq, 13 August 2024, url
- 475
UN in Iraq, UNAMI, For Iraq 2024, 10 June 2025, url, p. 6
- 476
MENA Rights Group, Iraq’s human rights record assessed during its fourth Universal Periodic Review, 27 March 2025, url
- 477
UN in Iraq, For Iraq Yearbook 2024, 10 June 2025, url, p. 18