MRAP calls for protection of Ashraf at Human Rights Council session .

The prominent non-government organization Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP) called for the protection of Camp Ashraf residents during the seventeenth session of the UN Human Rights Council session. MRAP said it hopes that current talks between the UN Assistant Secretary General Ivan Simonovic and Iraqi officials in Baghdad would involve the issue of the protection of Ashraf.

 It said the situation in Ashraf goes beyond political and legal considerations because it is a profoundly humanitarian issue and the international community is obligated to find a solution for the residents.
It added that almost two months after the massacre carried out by Iraqi forces at Ashraf on April 8, about 42 people out of a total of 325 injured are in critical condition. No investigations have taken place about the attack despite calls by the UN Human Rights Commissioner, MRAP said, adding that Iraqi forces have built large embankments inside the camp.
MRAP also voiced support for the European Parliament’s solution for Ashraf to immediately provide protection for the residents. It described the proposal as an effective and peaceful solution which would prevent another deadly attack.
The United States, the UN and the European Union should all immediately intervene to protect the residents of Ashraf, and any forcible displacement of the residents would only complicate matters further, MRAP added.
MRAP called on Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to send a team of UNAMI monitors to Ashraf to provide protection for the residents.