ARABS-UN - June 4 - US Prisoner Abuse Could Be War Crime.

In a report on the human rights situation in Iraq, the acting High Commissioner for UN Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan says ill-treatment of detainees in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and other US-run detention centres "might be designated as war crimes by a competent tribunal". The report proposes the appointment of an international ombudsman to report on compliance of US-led coalition forces with the international humanitarian and human rights law. The report says: "The serious violations that have taken place must not be allowed to recur". (Leaked reports and photographs revealing systematic abuses of Iraqi detainees have caused an international outcry. The US has so far insisted that only a few low-level soldiers were to blame, but the high commissioner's report says the coalition authorities failed in their duty under the Geneva conventions to put measures in place to prevent ill-treatment). The report acknowledges that "the removal of Saddam Hussein must be counted a major contribution of human rights in Iraq" and could well have set Iraq "on the road to democracy, the rule of law and governance that is respectful of human rights". However, urgent measures are needed to improve security and protection of civilians, including the strengthening of human rights laws and institutions. The Iraqi interim government should also address Saddam's brutal legacy, including establishment of an Iraqi truth and reconciliation commission, the report says.