BASIC FACTS

The Republic of Iraq is located in the Middle East at the northernmost end of the Persian Gulf, and borders Syria to the west, Jordan and Kuwait to the southwest, Saudi Arabia to the south, Iran to the east, and Turkey to the north. Iraq is a parliamentary democracy that gained independence in 1932.

Capital: Baghdad

Currently, Iraq has no active nuclear, chemical, biological or ballistic missile programs and is a member of all nonproliferation treaties and regimes. However, Iraq pursued nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs in the past. Iraq dismantled its WMD following the 1991 Gulf War under international surveillance. In 1999 a United Nations panel of experts concluded that “the bulk of weapons of mass destruction programmes have been eliminated”.

Beginning in the 1960s, Iraq sought to establish a nuclear weapons program. In 1991 the Iraqi program had produced highly enriched uranium as well as weapons design. After robust inspections, in 1997 the IAEA concluded that the Iraqi WMD program had been incapacitated.

TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

• Joined the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1961
• Signed Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968
  • Ratified in 1969
• Acceded to the 1925 Geneva Protocol in 1931
• Acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2009
• Signed Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1972
  • Ratified in 1991
• Signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 2008
  • Ratified in 2013
• Signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967
  • Ratified in 1969
• Signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963
  • Ratified in 1964
• Signed the Sea-bed Treaty in 1971
  • Ratified in 1972
• Acceded to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in 2007
• Acceded to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 2014
• Signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2009
  • Ratified in 2013
• Signed the Convention on Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD) in 1977
• Acceded to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials (CPPNM) in 2014
• Acceded to the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) in 2013

 

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 36^th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1981

LINKS

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