Iraq's Policies to Terminate the Mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in Light of Security Council Resolution 2732 (2024)

Abstract

The UNAMI mission has had a broad role in Iraq since its establishment on August 14, 2003, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution No. 1500, which gave the UNAMI mission a greater role in the political situation in Iraq. Therefore, the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani demanded a reorganization of the relationship with the United Nations by requesting the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) to complete its tasks by May 2026. The Iraqi government set January 2025 as the date for the end of the mission of the international mission (UNAMI), and said that it no longer needed its political role. The Iraqi government requested that the mission’s mandate be reduced to humanitarian and development issues starting from May 31, 2024, followed by a one-year period during which the remaining tasks would be transferred for a year to the country team in Iraq starting in May 2025. At the end of April 2024, UNAMI published a report evaluating its work in Iraq, and included a sentence about the threats that still exist in Iraq. Therefore, the political elite in Iraq were divided over the continuation of the UN mission (UNAMI) from The international position was divided, as Russia and China supported ending the mission of the United Nations Mission (UNAMI) in Iraq, and Britain and France supported the Iraqi decision to end the UN mission. However, the United States of America had reservations about the Iraqi decision and stressed the primary role of the mission in many important political issues, such as supporting the organization of elections and promoting human rights and others. However, the decision was finally issued by the Security Council in accordance with the Iraqi desire to restructure the mission while leaving the door open for evaluation under Article (9) thereof.