International Responsibility For Violation of The Rights of The Iranian POWs in Iraq

During the imposed war on Iran between 1980 – 1988, Iraqi forces detained about 40000 Iranian combatants and civilians and considered them as prisoners of war. Although Iraq was a party to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Iranian POWs become victims of various grave breaches of international humanitarian law by that regime.Hence these violations are sanctioned under international law and engage the personal criminal responsibility and international responsibility of that state, in this article, first the rights of POWs under International Humanitarian Law will be discussed then the grave breaches of the rights of Iranian POWs in Iraq will be proved by reference to ICRC reports on visits to Iranian POWs camps in Iraq. It consists of the two reports of the missions dispatched by the UN Secretary-General on the situations of POWs in Iran and Iraq and interviews with Iranian POWs. The issue of personal criminal responsibility of Iraqi war criminals and the international responsibility of Iraq as well as the reparation to Iranian POWs will be examined later with a special look into the UN General Assembly's 2006 resolution on basic principles and guidelines on the right to a remedy and reparation for victims of gross violations of International Human Rights Law and serious violations of International Humanitarian Law.