The UN Security Council unanimously voted to end the UN Political Mission in Iraq, which was established in 2003 to coordinate post-conflict humanitarian and reconstruction efforts and help ensure the security of the Iraqi people after the US-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council on Friday voted unanimously to end the U.N. political mission in Iraq, established in 2003 to coordinate post-conflict humanitarian and reconstruction efforts and help re-establish the country’s representative government after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The Iraqi government in a May 8 letter called on the Security Council to end the mission by the end of 2025, and the resolution does just that. The resolution extends the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, known as UNAMI, for a final 19 months until all activities end on December 31, 2025.
The U.S.-proposed resolution calls on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to prepare a “transition and liquidation plan” in consultation with the Iraqi government by December 31, 2024, to enable UNAMI to begin transferring its mission and withdrawing its staff and assets.
The council said it supports ongoing stabilization efforts in Iraq, including the ongoing fight against Islamic State and al-Qaida militants and their affiliates.
In 2014, Islamic State declared a caliphate over large swaths of Iraq and Syria and has attracted tens of thousands of supporters from around the world. The militants were defeated by U.S.-led military coalitions in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in 2019 but sleeper cells remain in both countries.
The council’s action comes as Iraq also seeks to wind down the military coalition formed to fight ISIS. About 2,500 U.S. troops are scattered across Iraq, mainly in Baghdad and military facilities in the north. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has maintained that Iraqi security forces are capable of dealing with any remaining ISIS cells in the country and that the coalition’s presence is no longer necessary.
The resolution adopted on Friday as UNAMI’s mission concluded expressed support for Iraq’s reform efforts to eradicate corruption, respect and protect human rights, provide essential services to its people, create jobs and diversify the economy.
The UN has called on the secretary-general to streamline UNAMI’s work ahead of the mission’s closure and to focus on providing advice, assistance and technical support to the government to strengthen preparations for free elections, including for the federal parliament and the Kurdish regional parliament.
The resolution also authorizes UNAMI to facilitate progress toward the final resolution of outstanding issues between Iraq and Kuwait that stem from Saddam Hussein’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait in August 1990.
The resolution also says UNAMI should assist in the return of internally displaced Iraqis and Syrians, provide health and other services, and assist with economic development. It also gives the mission a mandate to “promote accountability, protect human rights, and implement judicial and legal reform.”
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood welcomed the unanimous adoption of the resolution and UNAMI’s plan for an orderly wind-down.
“We all recognize that Iraq has changed dramatically in recent years and, as part of our commitment to foster a secure, stable and sovereign Iraq, it has been necessary to recalibrate UNAMI’s mandate,” he told the Security Council.
Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Anna Yevstigneva stressed that what was key for Moscow in voting in favor of the resolution was that the US took into account the priorities Iraq wanted UNAMI to focus on in its final months.
“Two decades after its establishment, UNAMI has realized its full potential to help rebuild the Iraqi state, and we are convinced that the Iraqi people are now ready to take full responsibility for the country’s political future,” she said. “We firmly support Iraq’s sovereignty and oppose any interference in the country’s internal affairs. This is essential.”
