Ad Melkert, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Iraq, responded to widespread concern among Euro MPs about Camp Ashraf.
December 1, 2010
In a hearing held by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on December 1, 2010 Mr. Ad Melkert, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Iraq, responded to widespread concern among Euro MPs about Camp Ashraf.
In his opening remarks he said: We are monitoring the situation in Camp Ashraf and regularly meet with government representatives in order to help sustain the humanitarian situation there, on the basis of a number of key principles that we remind the Iraqi government time and again that they should be adhered to.
He added: We are also available on 24 hours seven days’ week bases to be in touch with the residents’ leadership and they also make use of that when they are necessary. When challenges arise, we are informed and we in turn inform immediately the authorities and of course do not hide our concern if there is a reason to do so.
To allay concern raised by the President of the European Parliament delegation on Iraq, British Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson, about use of 140 loudspeakers around Ashraf installed by agents of the Iranian regime with full backing of Iraqi forces in order to torture psychologically its residents, Mr. Melkert said: I subscribe fully to the view that those loudspeakers do not serve any reasonable purpose and we have from very outset asked the Iraqi government to make sure that these loudspeakers would be removed.
He concluded by saying that this was just one of many examples where “we are trying indeed to our best of abilities to represent views that are based on fundamental principles of human rights that should guide this situation.”
