Iraq's application of international standards relating to victims of terrorism

The unusual increase armed conflicts around the world beside terrorist attacks happening in many countries that all led to serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have become a great concern for the international community due to a large number of victims caused by such acts. The unprecedented increase in the number of victims has led to the adoption of particular legal rules focusing on the legal status of the victims at the international level. This encouraged some to suggest that there has been now a new branch of international law called international law of victims. The legal status of victims of terrorism, however, has had less attention due to the main focus on countering terrorism itself. This is however, has changed with the increase in the number of victims of terrorism, particularly with the emergence of what is called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. This why there have been more legal rules focusing on the rights of victims of terrorism. These rights have also been adopted at the national level. Iraq is one of the countries which issued a law on the rights of victims of terrorism. This law is no 20 (2009) Compensation for Victims of Military Operations، Military Mistakes and Terrorist Actions as amended by law no 75 (2015). Accordingly, this study aims to explore and analyse the international legal rules relating to the rights of victims of terrorist actions and to review the international efforts represented by the relevant international treaties and decisions. This is to compare the international legal framework on the rights of victims of terrorism with the Iraqi legal system concerning such victims. The main aim of this comparison is to examine the extent to which Iraq law has managed to follow international standards relating to rights of victims of terrorism in order to identify strengths and weaknesses of the Iraqi law. This will be done through the study of the Law No. 20 on Compensation for Victims of Military Operations، Military Mistakes and Terrorist Actions 2009، as well as the First Amendment of this Law, represented by Law No. 57 Passed in 2015. This law constitutes the main legal basis for compensating victims of military operations and terrorist actions in Iraq