No improvement in Iraqi human rights record

A report released by the UN rapporteur Max Van der Stoel on the occasion of convening the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva that the situation of human rights in Iraqi has not improved.

In his report for 1998, Van der Stoel said, "Human rights conditions in Iraq have not recorded any improvement, a matter which constitutes a threat to peace and security in the region."

He added that the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who he introduced as a dictator, but without using this word directly, "oppresses civil rights in life, freedom, and the freedoms to thinking, self-expression, meeting and rallying."