The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) is demanding the U.N. General Assembly cooperate with them to further human rights in the region. The KRG asked that the General Assembly work hand in hand with the various agencies in Iraq to achieve this goal. The KRG’s Department of Foreign Relations head, Falah Mustafa, released the statement that the KRG “thanked U.N. agencies for their support and cooperation to Kurdistan Region and highlighted the principles of KRG in protecting and promoting human rights in the Region.”

Mustafa went on to welcome U.N.’s new head of the human rights office in Kurdistan, Yoshiko Hasumi. The statement said her tour “was aimed at looking into the aspects and assessing of appropriate programs/projects in the Kurdistan Region.” Mustafa also, “called for the need of U.N. agencies and other international organizations to be active players on the ground.” The parliamentary elections for Iraq concluded this past week and supposedly represent “further progress in building a stronger Iraqi democracy” despite it having the lowest voter turnout of post-Saddam elections.

The office of the Secretary-General of Iraq released the following statement,

The Secretary-General calls on all Iraqi political actors and their supporters to uphold peace as the results are processed. He further urges political actors to resolve any electoral disputes through established legal channels and to complete the electoral process by forming an inclusive government as soon as possible.”

Many political parties within the autonomous Kurdistan region have leveled allegations of electoral fraud against rivaling parties in the wake of the final results. Later the U.S. representative for the State Department, Heather Nauert, declared that the election results were not fraudulent and that no fraud had occurred during the running. This has not been well received by local Kurdish residents who have aligned themselves with the various political parties and as such likely have a biased view towards the opposition groups.

Featured image: Falah Mustafa Bakir, foreign minister of Iraqi Kurdistan By Treffen Falah Mustafa, cropped by Gugganij [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons