Conclusions
Many thousands of hostages have been held in Iraq for extended period, some for over twenty-two years. It is estimated that one hundred thousand people were detained between 1980 and 1990 and known that an estimated four thousand are still in detention, but the true figure still detained may be many times this number. Although called Iranians by the Iraqi Government, all these detainees have Iraqi citizenship and many of them have served in the Iraqi army.
Despite the Iraqi Government's contentions, these detainees are not prisoners of war. The Iraq/Iran and Gulf wars are both now long ended and the majority of foreigners, including all westerners and most of the Kuwaitis, detained as 'human shields', have now been released. Therefore, even if they had been prisoners of war, there would no longer be any reason to hold them on these grounds. The hostages are not criminals either. They have not even been accused of any crime let alone tried and convicted. They are neither prisoners of conscience nor political prisoners. In most countries even prisoners who have committed serious crimes would have been released by now.
Many of the ex-hostages and their relatives sincerely believe that the remaining detainees are being held in order to exchange them for Iraqi prisoners of war still held by Iran. However it is not clear why Iran should want to exchange Iraqi prisoners of war for another group of Iraqi citizens.
The fate of these hostages of Iraqi citizenship is unknown. All contact with them was stopped by the Iraqi authorities at the end of 1988. Their fate is a basic human rights issue. Since there is no evidence of them having committed any crimes or Iraq having any legitimate reason for their continued detention they should be released immediately. In addition their families are entitled under international law and in terms of natural justice to know what has happened to them and, at least, to have their years of anxiety and worry as to the fate of their relatives or even whether they are alive or dead put to an end.
Unfortunately these detainees have no recognised status in international law and do not have the protection of any foreign government, since they are Iraqi citizens. Therefore there has not been any concerted international effort on their behalf, although a number of political and humanitarian organisations, including UN, the International Red Cross and Amnesty International, have recently taken an active interest in the fate of these detainees. The lack of international concern and action about these hostages should be contrasted with the successful international campaign for the foreign hostages in Iraq, particularly those detained during the second Gulf War.
A number of British politicians have agreed to act as mediators between the Committee and the Iraqi Government. After ignoring requests for information for years, the Iraqi Government responded for the first and only time in 1996 that all the hostages had been released in 1986. Unfortunately this is not the case and only 650 hostages are known to have been released at that time and the fate of the overwhelming majority of the remaining hostages is still unknown. However it is known that at least one of these hostages was released as late as 1993. The five ex-hostages, whose testimonies are given in the appendices, believe that, just as they were kept alive for many years, it is likely that many other hostages are also still alive.
It has been stipulated that the Iraqi Government should improve human rights before sanctions can be lifted. The Committee for the Release of Hostages and Detainees in Iraq therefore calls on the Iraqi Government to release all hostages remaining in detention to join their families, wherever they are, and to release full information about the fates and whereabouts of all hostages, whether they have been released or died. This would show the rest of the world that the Iraqi Government takes human rights seriously.
The Committee is strongly urging that the United Nations sends a human rights special investigation team into Iraq to determine the fate of all the hostages. This is analogous to the use of special investigation teams to determine the existence and status of any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. It is required by basic humanitarian compassion and concern for human rights. It is further justified by the evidence stated in section 5 of this report that chemical and biological warfare experiments on human subjects have taken place, contrary to UN Conventions on Human Rights and the Use and Banning of Chemical and Biological Weapons. It is further required in order to comply UN Resolution 688 and 1441, in compliance with which several special weapon investigations teams were sent into Iraq in mid-December 2002. These teams are expected to continue their inspections until mid February 2003.