Hussein held a meeting with the US Ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Tueller, on Monday where they discussed the State Department’s report, human rights in Iraq, bilateral relations and ways to improve joint cooperation, the foreign ministry announced.

The ministry said the State Department’s Country Report on Human Rights, published on Wednesday, relied on previous reports issued in recent years.

The report said security forces in the country had kidnapped, intimidated and arrested civilians, cited cases of prisoners who were tortured and stated some internally displaced persons have not been allowed to return to their homes.

It also warned freedom of expression and media outlets have been dangerously restricted in Iraq, adding there were threats to journalists in the country.

Hussein held a meeting with senior officials at the foreign ministry on Sunday, according to Iraqi News Agency (INA), and said it was important to create a committee to research points brought up in the human rights report.

The ministry also announced Tueller brought up Iraq’s goal on forming a new government following the October elections, as well as regional and international issues, including the war in Ukraine’s effects on the security and humanitarian situation, in particular food security, NRT said in a report.

A convoy carrying food supplies from Ukraine to the Kurdistan Region, which has seen rising costs for basic goods, was held up last month due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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