Iraq-Kuwait (Missing Persons and Property)
Expected Council Action
In October, the Security Council is expected to hold a meeting on the Iraq-Kuwait file concerning missing persons and property. Council members will consider the Secretary-General’s report on implementation of resolution 2792 of 17 September 2025, due by 30 September.
Background and Key Recent Developments
The Council’s engagement on this file follows the conclusion of the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on 31 December 2025. UNAMI had overseen the missing persons and property issue since 2013, under resolution 2107. As the mission, wound down, Kuwait pressed for the file to remain under direct Council oversight, while Iraq favoured resolving it through bilateral channels following UNAMI’s closure. On 17 September 2025, the Council unanimously adopted resolution 2792, which authorised a senior representative of the Secretary-General to promote, support, and facilitate the repatriation or return of missing Kuwaiti and third-country nationals (or their remains) and Kuwaiti property, including the national archives, and requested progress reports from the Secretary-General every six months. The adoption marked a transition of responsibilities pertaining to the Iraq-Kuwait file from UNAMI to a follow-on mechanism.
On 31 March, the Secretary-General reported to the Council that the Secretariat had established the mechanism and appointed Mari Yamashita as senior representative, effective that day, supported by a small team. The letter described the representative’s priorities as building confidence between Iraq and Kuwait; addressing political and technical obstacles; encouraging the use of modern technology for search and identification; and working closely with both governments, the Tripartite Commission—comprising France, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the US, and chaired by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)—and relevant UN entities.
Since her appointment, Yamashita has engaged both capitals directly. She met Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji in Baghdad on 15 June, receiving assurances of Iraq’s “full cooperation” on the file, and was received by Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah in Kuwait City two days later. The two also met again in September on the margins of the General Assembly’s High-Level Week to discuss efforts to “achieve tangible progress”, according to a press statement by the foreign ministry.
The Iraq-Kuwait file’s cooperative tone stands in contrast to a fraught regional backdrop. Since the outbreak of the US-Iran war in February, Iran-aligned Iraqi militias operating under the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” umbrella have struck Kuwaiti territory on multiple occasions, including Kuwait’s civilian airport. The attacks prompted calls for Baghdad to rein in the militias. For a bilateral relationship that both governments have framed in terms of reconciliation and “brotherly” trust, the episode underscores the limits of Iraqi state authority and adds a layer of strain.
Key Issues and Options
The key issue for the Council is whether the new follow-on mechanism can sustain progress on the missing persons and property file now that UNAMI is no longer present on the ground. A related issue is reciprocal access for excavations, as Iraq has alleged that Kuwait has not responded to repeated Tripartite Commission requests to excavate potential sites on Kuwaiti territory in search of Iraq’s own missing nationals, a grievance that is likely to resurface at the October meeting. One option would be for the Council to request that the Secretary-General’s reports specify the excavation access granted by each side in order to better assess this claim through verified information.
Another outstanding issue concerns the return of the Kuwaiti national archives. Iraq maintains that it has already returned large volumes of material, while Kuwait says Iraq has not specified what remains outstanding. Council members could press both parties towards agreeing on a documented inventory process to resolve this impasse.
A further issue is the duration of the senior representative’s mandate. Iraq has voiced reservations about the five-year term set out in resolution 2792 and has signalled discomfort with the prospect of a second term, while Kuwait has framed the mechanism in more open-ended, institutional terms. This divergence could shape how benchmarks for the mandate’s success are eventually set, and Council members may wish to use the October meeting to signal expectations for periodic progress reviews.
Finally, members may want to assess whether search and identification work has lost momentum. No Kuwaiti remains have been recovered since 2019. With UNAMI’s departure, the Tripartite Commission is now the principal technical vehicle for this work. Council members could ask that future Secretary-General reports detail what forensic and technical support the Tripartite Commission has requested to help identify where the bottleneck lies.
Council Dynamics
Council members remain broadly aligned on this file—both resolutions 2732 (2024) and 2792 (2025) passed unanimously. The UK, as penholder, has been the driving force behind sustaining Council attention on the issue and stressed the humanitarian imperative during the September 2025 vote. Other members (France, the A3+, China, Panama, and the US) have voiced consistent support for the new mechanism, while differing somewhat in tone: the US linked its support to broader concerns about UN mission cost and duration, while European and African members framed it in humanitarian and reconciliation terms.
| Security Council Resolution | |
| 17 September 2025S/RES/2792 | This resolution on the situation between Iraq and Kuwait authorised the appointment of a Senior Representative with a mandate to promote, support and facilitate efforts to repatriate or return missing Kuwaiti and third country nationals and missing Kuwaiti property. |
| Security Council Meeting Record | |
| 17 September 2025S/PV.9997 | This was a meeting on the situation between Iraq and Kuwait at which resolution 2792 was adopted. |
