,321. The reprefientative Said that after the cease-fire had ended the armed conflicts in which Iraq had been recently involved, his country had tidopted m666ure6 to enable citizens to exercise their rights and freedom6 without Those measure6 included the dissolution of the Revolutionary di6criminetion. Ccurt in favour of the ordinary courts, the lifting of travel restrictions and 6 new law on the freedom of political partios, which had just been adopted by th6 National Assembly. The Iraqi population had suffered heavily as a result of the destruction caused by the war of January-February 1991 and the economic It was now sanctions applied by the international community to Iraq. incumbent on the international community, which had been responsible for imposing the sanctions, to cooperate with Iraq in creating conditions for the full exercise of human rights by the Iraqi people, 622. Referring to the Conunittee’s special request for information on the application of articles 6, 7, 9 and 27 of the Covenant, the representative pointed out that the recent Kuwait crisis had been the subject of several Security Council resolutions, which Iraq had accepted and would be Matters that were still pending implementing responsibly and with good will. before the Security Council could not be regarded as falling within the Committee's c_ompetence. 623. Members of the Committee, for their part, observed that by ratifying or acceding to the Covenant, State6 parties accepted the Committee’s competence aud could not evade their obligations under that instrument. The Committee had competence to monitor the implementation of the Covenant independently of any other obligations arising from Security Council recommendation6 and decisions or international instruments other than tae Covenant. The Committee was well aware that the situation of Iraq was difficult. However, the root cause of those difficulties was the Iraqi intervention in Kuwait on 2 Auguet 1990 and not the counter-action undertaken by the international conamunity , 624. With regard to the information consideration, the members of the cooperative response of the Iraqi view that the report fell short of provide the necessary information, Kuwait crisis. provided in the report under Committee, while welcoming the timely and authorities to their request, expressed the the Committee’s expectation6 and did not especially on the period preceding the to life 625. With reference to that issue, members of the Committee invited the representative of Iraq to comment on the effect of the events in the region since 2 August 1990 on the discharge by Iraq of its international obligations under article 6 of the Covenant, including its obligation to respect and to @Insure that all individual6 within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction enjoyed the right6 recognised in that article. They also wished to know whether Revolutionary Command Council Decree No. 940 of 1986, Prescribing severe penalties for offence6 against the President, was still in force: how often and for what offences the death penalty had been imposed since the consideration of Iraq’s second periodic report: how often the death Penalty had been carried out, in particular with respect to minors] what legal remedies were available to person6 sentenced to deathr whether there haa been any violations of the rules and regulations governing the use of firearms by -151-