Development Fund for Iraq
Development Fund for Iraq
2023-11-11
Diaa Al-Mohsen
This fund was established pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution No. 1483/2003, where the resolution stipulated in paragraph (20) of it:
((It is decided that all of Iraq’s exports of oil, petroleum products and natural gas sales after the date of making this decision shall be consistent with prevailing international market best practices, and that their accounts shall be audited by independent public accountants accountable to the International Council for Monitoring referred to in paragraph 12 above in order to ensure Transparency, and it is also decided that all proceeds coming from those sales, with the exception of what is stipulated in Paragraph 21 below, will be deposited in the Development Fund for Iraq until a duly formed, representative and recognized Iraqi government is completed.) End of text.
Pursuant to this decision and the text of the paragraph above, all sales of Iraqi oil and oil and gas products sold in the global market became deposited in this fund, after deducting the compensation amounts resulting from the invasion of Kuwait, and this continued in this manner until the year 2010, when the UN Security Council issued Resolution 1956/2010. Which is stated in paragraph (1) thereof:
((Decides to terminate, on June 30, 2011, the arrangements specified in paragraph 20 of resolution 1483 (2003) regarding the deposit of proceeds from sales of exports of oil, petroleum products and natural gas in the Development Fund for Iraq, and the arrangements referred to in paragraph Clause 12 of Resolution 1483 (2003) and paragraph 24 of resolution 1546 (2004) regarding the monitoring of the Development Fund for Iraq by the International Security Council for Advice and Monitoring, and further decides that the provisions of paragraph 22 of resolution 1483 (2003) shall remain in force until that date, subject to the exception provided for In paragraph 27 of the decision 1546 (2004), including those relating to funds, financial assets and economic resources described in paragraph 23 of that resolution).
Upon a preliminary reading of the two texts, we find that there is an obligation for Iraq in the first resolution that all sales of Iraqi oil, oil products, and gas be deposited in this fund, and Iraq has no right to choose in this matter, if we take into account that the UN Security Council acts in issuing this resolution until Chapter Seven. From the Charter of the United Nations, while in the second resolution it specifies a final date for the continuation of the first resolution, whereby Iraq will be free to dispose of the sales of its oil, petroleum products and gas that it exports.
Some people confuse these two resolutions and imagine that Iraq, even under Resolution 1956/2010, is still depositing oil revenues, petroleum derivatives, and gas that are exported in the Development Fund for Iraq, which is incorrect as is clear from the text of paragraph (1) in Resolution 1956/2010, i.e. After 2011, Iraq began to dispose of its money completely freely, with no one as its guardian
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