Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Disarmament Database

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Country Profile: Iraq

BASIC FACTS

Iraq is a Member Country of the NAM Movement since 1961 

The Republic of Iraq is located between Iran and Kuwait and borders the Persian Gulf. It was formerly a part of the Ottoman Empire. Much of Iraq’s urban population is found along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Iraq’s system of government is a Federal Parliamentary Republic. Iraq’s main export is crude petroleum. 

Capital: Baghdad

Iraq began the development of a nuclear weapons program in the 1970s, under then Vice President Saddam Hussein. Yet in 2003, the IAEA Director General announced that there was no evidence of a reconstituted weapons program.  In 2024, Iraqdiscussed plans with the IAEA to develop a peaceful nuclear energy program.  

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Iraq produced large quantities of botulinum toxin, anthrax and aflatoxin.  In 1991, the Iraq Survey Group confirmed that Iraq had abandoned their biological weapons program.  

Iraq has used mustard gas and tabun against Iranian and Kurdish populations. Iraq unilaterally declared that all chemical weapons disarmament issues were resolved in 1998, although various chemical weapons were found on the Iraqi black market after the 2003 Iraq War.

TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

  • IAEA Membership (1959) 
  • Signed Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) (1969)  
  • Geneva Protocol (1931) 
  • Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) (2009) 
  • Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) (1991)  
  • Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) (2013)  
  • Outer Space Treaty (1968) 
  • Partial Test Ban Treaty (1964)   
  • Sea-bed Treaty (1972) 
  • Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (2007) 
  • Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (2014) 
  • Convention on Cluster Munitions (2013) 
  • Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials (CPPNM) (2014)  
  • International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) (2013) 

 

AGREEMENTS: 

 

  • Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the IAEA (1960)  

 

  • Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (2014) 

 

  • Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (1988) 

 

  • Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (1988) 

 

  • Convention on Nuclear Safety (2024) 

 

  • Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (2024) 

 

  • Revised Supplementary Agreements Concerning the Provision of Technical Assistance by the IAEA (RSA) (1989) 

 

  • Agreement Between Iraq and the Agency Application of Safeguards in Connection with the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1972) 

 

  • Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the Republic of Iraq and the IAEA for the Application of Safeguards in Connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (2012) 


REGIONAL GROUPS

  • Member of the Conference on Disarmament
  • Member of the Arab League (1945)
  • Member of the G-77
  • Member of the G-21
  • Member of the Asia-Pacific Group
  • Member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

 

RECENT REPRESENTATION IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

  • Chair of the 2017 UN First Committee
  • President of the 36th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1981


LINKS

Country List (Office of Legal Affairs): Iraq (iaea.org)

Iraq. The Nuclear Threat Initiative. 

Permanent Mission of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations in New York

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq

UN State Summary

Ratification of Treaties & Membership in International Organizations Related to Disarmament