​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office regularly engages with the Home Office regarding the impact of the UK's immigration policy on the UK's relationship with Iraq. The UK remains committed to strengthening the UK-Iraq bilateral partnership.

The UK is unable to independently and accurately verify the United Nations’ assessment on numbers of civilian deaths, injured persons and mass graves in Iraq. However, we believe that the task of locating mass graves and holding perpetrators to account is not an issue for Iraq alone but one of global concern, which is why the UK led on UNSCR 2379 to establish a team (UNITAD) to collect evidence of Daesh crimes in order to hold members of Daesh to account for their actions.

We have not made an assessment on staffing in the Iraqi Mass Graves Directorate, but we are pressing the Government of Iraq to work closely with the UN’s Investigative Team for the Accountability of Daesh, as well as non-governmental organisations and other bodies working on this issue. The issue of mass graves in previously Daesh held territory was also discussed in my recent meeting with Karim Khan QC who is the Special Advisor to UNITAD. He informed me that both UNITAD and the Iraqi Government will be visiting the first of these sites shortly.

The UK is unable to independently and accurately verify the United Nations’ assessment on numbers of civilian deaths, injured persons and mass graves in Iraq. However, we believe that the task of locating mass graves and holding perpetrators to account is not an issue for Iraq alone but one of global concern, which is why the UK led on UNSCR 2379 to establish a team (UNITAD) to collect evidence of Daesh crimes in order to hold members of Daesh to account for their actions. We are working closely with the team. However, it is clear that the scale of Daesh’s crimes against innocent civilians is horrific and marks an appalling period in Iraq’s history.

We are pressing the Government of Iraq to work closely with the UN’s Investigative Team for the Accountability of Daesh, as well as non-governmental organisations and other bodies working on this issue. The issue of mass graves in previously Daesh held territory was also discussed in my recent meeting with Karim Khan QC who is the Special Advisor to UNITAD. He informed me that both UNITAD and the Iraqi Government will be visiting the first of these sites shortly.

The UK is unable to independently and accurately verify the United Nations’ assessment on numbers of civilian deaths, injured persons and mass graves in Iraq. However, we believe that the task of locating mass graves and holding perpetrators to account is not an issue for Iraq alone but one of global concern, which is why the UK led on UNSCR 2379 to establish a team (UNITAD) to collect evidence of Daesh crimes in order to hold members of Daesh to account for their actions. We are working closely with the team. However, it is clear that the scale of Daesh’s crimes against innocent civilians is horrific and marks an appalling period in Iraq’s history.

We are pressing the Government of Iraq to work closely with the UN’s Investigative Team for the Accountability of Daesh, as well as non-governmental organisations and other bodies working on this issue. The issue of mass graves in previously Daesh held territory was also discussed in my recent meeting with Karim Khan QC who is the Special Advisor to UNITAD. He informed me that both UNITAD and the Iraqi Government will be visiting the first of these sites shortly.

The UK welcomed the launch of the NATO Training Mission Iraq at the Brussels Summit in 2018. We are commited to supporting the training mission through the deployment of the UK civilian and military personnel including a senior civilian adviser and other personnel as part of the NATO Communications and Information Systems Support Group, on rotation with other allies.

We regularly urge the Government of Iraq, at both official and ministerial levels, to uphold the freedoms and rights of all minorities across Iraq. We are working with the Government of Iraq to ensure that members of Daesh are held to account for their appalling crimes. The Prime Minister underlined this message with former Prime Minister Abadi during her visit to Iraq in November 2017, and both the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa and I reiterated it during our visits in March and April 2018 respectively. The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa also raised the need to protect minority communities with the new Iraqi Foreign Minister during a phone call on 14 November.

The UN Investigative Team (established under UN Security Council Resolution 2379) has deployed to Iraq to begin gathering evidence. The UK has committed £1 million to the establishment of this team. It will gather evidence of Daesh crimes, including those against the Yezidi, Christian and other minority communities; it aims to help secure justice for all Daesh's victims, regardless of their religion or belief.

The British Government does not publish details of prosecutions carried out by other governments.

​On 14 November I raised with Foreign Minister Al Hakim the need for reform of the Iraqi security sector, which should include bringing security forces and militias under the control of the Government of Iraq. The Prime Minister also raised this message with Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Mehdi by phone on 26 October. We will continue to make this clear to the Government of Iraq at all levels.

The UK welcomes the United Nations' 6 November report on Mass Graves, which underlines the scale of the horrific crimes committed by Daesh against humanity. We agree with the report's recommendations, including the pressing need for justice for victims and their families. It is important that the Government of Iraq allocates sufficient resource to this important task so that members of Daesh are held to account for their actions. The report will inform the work of the UN Investigative Team for the Accountability of Daesh in gathering evidence of Daesh crimes, for which the UK has provided £1 million in funding. UK officials in Baghdad regularly raise with the Government of Iraq the need to investigate missing persons and bring perpetrators to justice, but have not directly made representations about the number of criminal judicial processes it is engaged in nor about the planned timeline for exhumations. However, the UK and Iraq co-hosted a conference on 14 November in The Hague in order to discuss next steps on this agenda; attendees included UNITAD Special Adviser Karim Khan, the International Committee of Missing Persons and the Iraqi Chief Justice. The report makes clear the need to ensure that similar crimes are never committed again, and we are working closely with the newly elected Government of Iraq to address the conditions that led to Daesh's rise and ensure peace, stability and security for all Iraqis.

The UK welcomes the United Nations' 6 November report on Mass Graves, which underlines the scale of the horrific crimes committed by Daesh against humanity. We agree with the report's recommendations, including the pressing need for justice for victims and their families. It is important that the Government of Iraq allocates sufficient resource to this important task so that members of Daesh are held to account for their actions. The report will inform the work of the UN Investigative Team for the Accountability of Daesh in gathering evidence of Daesh crimes, for which the UK has provided £1 million in funding. UK officials in Baghdad regularly raise with the Government of Iraq the need to investigate missing persons and bring perpetrators to justice, but have not directly made representations about the number of criminal judicial processes it is engaged in nor about the planned timeline for exhumations. However, the UK and Iraq co-hosted a conference on 14 November in The Hague in order to discuss next steps on this agenda; attendees included UNITAD Special Adviser Karim Khan, the International Committee of Missing Persons and the Iraqi Chief Justice. The report makes clear the need to ensure that similar crimes are never committed again, and we are working closely with the newly elected Government of Iraq to address the conditions that led to Daesh's rise and ensure peace, stability and security for all Iraqis.

The UK welcomes the United Nations' 6 November report on Mass Graves, which underlines the scale of the horrific crimes committed by Daesh against humanity. We agree with the report's recommendations, including the pressing need for justice for victims and their families. It is important that the Government of Iraq allocates sufficient resource to this important task so that members of Daesh are held to account for their actions. The report will inform the work of the UN Investigative Team for the Accountability of Daesh in gathering evidence of Daesh crimes, for which the UK has provided £1 million in funding. UK officials in Baghdad regularly raise with the Government of Iraq the need to investigate missing persons and bring perpetrators to justice, but have not directly made representations about the number of criminal judicial processes it is engaged in nor about the planned timeline for exhumations. However, the UK and Iraq co-hosted a conference on 14 November in The Hague in order to discuss next steps on this agenda; attendees included UNITAD Special Adviser Karim Khan, the International Committee of Missing Persons and the Iraqi Chief Justice. The report makes clear the need to ensure that similar crimes are never committed again, and we are working closely with the newly elected Government of Iraq to address the conditions that led to Daesh's rise and ensure peace, stability and security for all Iraqis.

The UK welcomes the United Nations' 6 November report on Mass Graves, which underlines the scale of the horrific crimes committed by Daesh against humanity. We agree with the report's recommendations, including the pressing need for justice for victims and their families. It is important that the Government of Iraq allocates sufficient resource to this important task so that members of Daesh are held to account for their actions. The report will inform the work of the UN Investigative Team for the Accountability of Daesh in gathering evidence of Daesh crimes, for which the UK has provided £1 million in funding. UK officials in Baghdad regularly raise with the Government of Iraq the need to investigate missing persons and bring perpetrators to justice, but have not directly made representations about the number of criminal judicial processes it is engaged in nor about the planned timeline for exhumations. However, the UK and Iraq co-hosted a conference on 14 November in The Hague in order to discuss next steps on this agenda; attendees included UNITAD Special Adviser Karim Khan, the International Committee of Missing Persons and the Iraqi Chief Justice. The report makes clear the need to ensure that similar crimes are never committed again, and we are working closely with the newly elected Government of Iraq to address the conditions that led to Daesh's rise and ensure peace, stability and security for all Iraqis.