Human rights defenders in Iraq are subjected to death threats, arbitrary arrest, violent attacks, ill-treatment, torture and killings. Journalists exposing human rights violations or corruption are particularly at risk and at least 83 Iraqi journalists have been murdered since 2003, not counting conflict/crossfire related deaths, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Human rights defenders have faced attacks and persecution from various armed groups and militias as well as from the army, police, other government forces and international forces present in Iraq.

There has been a considerable growth in the number of human rights groups active in Iraq since 2003 however the serious insecurity in large parts of the country has severely limited the space in which they can work. The role of international organisations has also been severely limited due to the security situation, especially in the wake of the bombing of the United Nations offices in Baghdad on 19 August 2003, in which Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 17 UN workers, lost their lives.