Human Rights & Diversity in Iraq

Today, to mark International Human Rights Day 2021, the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq launched the Human Rights & Diversity in Iraq art exhibition.

The two-day art exhibition brings together members of the Assyrian, Chaldean, Faili Kurd, Kaka’i, People of African Descent, Sabean Mandean, Shaback, Syriac, Turkmen, Yazidi and Zoroastrian components, presenting paintings, photographs, fabric, poems, sculptures, music, and other artefacts, celebrating Iraq’s rich linguistic, ethnic and religious diversity.

The event was also an opportunity to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the General Assembly on 10 December 1948. This year’s Human Rights Day theme ‘Equality – Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights’, reflects the spirit of Art 1 UDHR which provides that, ‘All Human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights’.

More than 30 participants from the international community, civil society and government representatives had the opportunity to exchange with artists and representatives of Iraqi components about the art and human rights issues in line with this year’s theme. The art exhibition was accompanied by a Zoroastrian musical performance.