This toolkit presents a vision a transitional/ restorative justice path in Iraq depends the participatory approach to deal with the human rights violations that happened in the past to transfer to more stability social environment.

Please click here to read the toolkit

The analytical report sheds light on the stages of the electoral process, starting with the electoral campaign and nomination stage, passing through the election day, to the counting and sorting process, while the period of preparing and writing the report lasted from 10 to 25 October last.

The report documented a number of violations that accompanied the electoral process, and the role and efforts of the Independent High Electoral Commission and international and local organizations monitoring elections in laying the foundations for free and fair elections.

The report came out with a set of recommendations that would improve the level of organization of the upcoming elections.

To view the text of the report

 The report tackled  and mentioned  various issues, the use of deadly force against protestors , attacks and crimes against activists and supporters of demonstrations such as assassinations, abductions, arbitrary arrests , as well as violations of rights of freedom of expression and restricted access to information .

We express our deep concerns over the high number of killed protestors  and the continued use of  extensive use of force against the demonstrators. We call up on all government parties to immediately stop the violence and resort to the language of dialogue.

To download the report click here

Introduced to the 9^th Conference of the Iraqi Al-Amal Association (IAA)

This report introduces an analysis of the current situation in Iraq, the advancement of the IAA’s engagement, and strategic plans for 
the future.

Overview of the General Situation in Iraq

Generally, the Iraqi people were optimistic when the new Iraqi government announced that it would reform its performance and responded positively to the widespread demonstrations in July 2015. The government announced a package of government and parliamentary reforms, which included reducing the number of ministries and terminating the posts of Vice Prime Ministers, reducing the vast numbers of bodyguards for influential and senior government staff, having some military and security senior officers step down, and proposing to reopen past and current files of corruption under the supervision of a supreme committee. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives voted by a majority to accept the report of the Investigating Committee about the fall of Mosul City, and passed a few laws, including the Labour Law, the Law of Political Parties, and the Law of the Iraqi Media Network.

Despite government and parliamentary decisions to adopt standards of competence and integrity in the nomination of candidates for senior positions in state institutions and to move away from relying on party affiliations and sectarian standards, the actions taken were indefinite, unprofessional, and lacking transparency; some of them were also unconstitutional and illegal, as in the case of the Vice President’s dismissal. Also unconstitutional and illegal were the steps taken to improve electrical services, some anti-corruption measures, and efforts at economic and financial reform, which remain mere promises.

In light of the above-mentioned facts, the overall situation in Iraq remains as follows:

1. Economic recession continues due to the large fiscal deficit in the state budget arising from lower oil prices, corruption, waste of public revenue, and massive spending on military needs. Financial mismanagement led to the halt of investment projects. It seems that the situation in Iraq will be complicated; the government may not have the capacity to cover its operating budget and pay the salaries of the public staff.
2. Combating the terrorist groups of ISIS still persists on various fronts, resulting in the liberation of several districts in Salahadeen; unfortunately, these efforts have caused the fall of many martyrs, especially volunteers of the Popular Mobilization Forces and unarmed civilians. Obviously, international and regional military interventions have resulted in victories over ISIS; however, they have also fuelled frictions among Iraqi political powers and their counterparts in the militia groups. Such frictions could generate sharper disputes at any time in the future; these groups utilize young men who are driven by the culture of violence and intolerance.
3. The security situation remains fragile; incidents of kidnapping, killing, and threats from armed gangs against the unarmed civilians are increasing. Fighting among armed clans continues, since the security authorities cannot stop it and the judicial system is quite weak.
4. The ruling political parties are hostile to each other due to sectarian, political, and ethnic divisions. They are in conflict about benefits and privileges for their senior representatives, ignoring their duties to serve the civilians’ interests, to ensure security, and to uphold the rule of law.
5. Iraq continues to suffer from scarcity and the degradation of basic services to meet the population’s needs (especially for the three million internally displaced people, IDP), the dominance of tribal law, and the supremacy of religious fatwas to solve all types of conflicts. These issues have led to the increasing marginalization of women’s status and have negatively impacted the social fabric, strengthened old social practices, protected GBV perpetrators, and created new problematic phenomena, including sex and human trafficking, early marriage without court approval, and an increase in the number of “honour crimes”.
6. Minority-based migration out of Iraq has increased remarkably, especially among Christians and Yazidis, followed by the uncontrolled, astronomical numbers of young graduate and skilled people fleeing to Europe due to the loss of hope for any improvement in Iraq’s economic and security situations; this pattern of migration will affect Iraq’s demographic systems and will have negative consequences for the nation’s scientific, economic, and cultural life.

Since July 2015, demonstrations have spread through most provinces, where tens of thousands of people, mostly youth, have switched to continuous peaceful demonstrations, carrying banners to fight corruption and present senior corruptors to justice, to end sectarian and party quotas, to reform and build a civil state, to seek judicial reform, and to obtain public services and ensure that government provides water and electricity.

The Supreme Shia religious authority has adopted a positive attitude to the demonstrations and has brought attention to the people’s needs, calling for the government to speed up the process of reform. It has also called for a civil government, sought to bridge the gaps between its systems and civil society organizations (CSOs), built communication channels with leaders of the demonstrations, and helped to generate positive momentum in the popular movement towards the process of a comprehensive reform of government building and policy making. It has also improved the relationships among the decision-makers, including the House of Representatives and Civil Society groups.

That the government has allowed popular demonstrations and has told the security authorities to respect the participants in these demonstrations shows that the situation has significantly improved. However, some violent responses have been reported against the peaceful demonstrations, including assassinations, kidnappings, arrests and interrogations, and death threats to a number of the protesters, activists, and journalists. Therefore, this underscores the need for cooperative relationships among leaderships of the demonstrations, activists, and civil society organizations; such relationships should improve the results of the popular demonstrations calling for better governmental and judicial reformations

Iraqi Al Amal Association activities

The IAA’s work and activities have remained distinguished; it continues its monitoring of the hot issues, for whom the IAA advocates and whom it seeks to empower, and engagement at many levels — including local communities and CSOs, as well as strengthening cooperative relationships with the parliament and some senior staff within government ministries, INGOs [international non-governmental organisations], and donors. For instance, the IAA participated actively within the Civil Initiative to guarantee a preliminary agreement with the Parliament concerning the “Diversity Protection Law”, introducing amendments to the “Protection from Domestic Violence Law” and the “Political Parties Law”.

In May 2015, in Erbil, the IAA held the Regional Women’s Security Forum for the MENA region about SCR 1325. After this, it formed a cooperative relationship with the Gender Unit at UNAMI to hold the National Conference in Erbil in August 2015, to empower women combating terrorism and violent extremism. The Ministry of Women (before its dissolution) also invited the IAA to participate in drawing the map for the emergency plan for implementing SCR 1325. The IAA also remains active within the National Committee for the Population’s Policies.

Further, the IAA addressed a letter to the General Secretary of the UN and the Security Council members, in the name of the Iraqi Women’s Network and the Civil Initiative, raising a number of issues that should be taken into consideration upon renewing the UNAMI’s mandate for the upcoming year. Actually, the new SCR 2233/2015 incorporated some points raised in this letter.

The IAA sponsored the research and analysis produced by Alaa Muatasim Ali on ‘Security, Religion, and Gender in Ninawa City, who also conducted a similar research project on the same topic in Anbar City last year. The IAA issued a booklet, “Views on Jaafari Personal Law Project,” as part of its campaign to expose how this law’s goals and details would affect women’s rights and society.

Our colleague Ms. Hanaa Edwar, invited to participate in various significant international forums on behalf of the IAA, has travelled to Tunisia, Brussels, Chile, Rome, Japan, Salvador, New York, and Geneva; finally, she joined the International Advisory Committee of the UNDP. Mr. Jamal Al Jawahiri also participated in several other international and regional conferences; he introduced a presentation on the Legal Frame of Civil Society Organizations in a conference in Tunisia and, in Beirut, made a presentation on Transparency and Accountability. Ms. Surood Mohammed Falih went to Holland to participate in the International Forum for Women Leaders, which dealt with SCR 1325. Other members, including Vivian Alaa and Elham Maki, participated in training courses and workshops in various regions, such as Beirut and South Africa, about project management, women’s political status in MENA, social media networking, and human trafficking.

Organizational and administrative status of the IAA:

Complying with the new administrative restructuring and the decisions of the 8^th conference, the IAA Board of Trustees appointed Mr. Jamal Al-Jawahiri as the Executive Director to regulate the administrative work of the organization. The IAA will expand its membership and volunteer base, as the IAA’s engagement has expanded rapidly. The IAA office in Karbala Governorate was shut down due to lack of funding from international donors.

It is important to note that IAA’s expanded consultative meeting, held last August in Erbil Governorate, included a thorough analysis of and discussion about the current political facts and their impact on the civil society in Iraq and the region. The meeting focussed on the concept of human security and the risks threatening our communities’ cohesion in Iraq. It discussed the IAA’s role and the challenges ahead, reviewed the IAA’s strategic plans, and confirmed the IAA’s determination to prioritize tasks and accomplish programs that are commensurate with the current stage. It also discussed topics related to cadres, internal and external communication strategies, and media.

In light of the above, the IAA has organized its priorities, challenges, and tasks as follows: 

1. Pay extensive attention to the IDPs degrading situations and protection of diversities;
2. Empower youth and women within the peacebuilding and security process, promoting a human rights culture, ensuring gender-based justice, a culture of tolerance, and citizenship rights;
3. Activate the role of CSOs in achieving political reforms and building a civil state;
4. Finalize the organizational structure of the IAA and increase our focus on areas of: human resource systems, media, archiving, the financial system, and expanding membership of the IAA;
5. Implement the Social Security Law for IAA’s staff and workers;
6. Register IAA in an advisory capacity with the UN Economic and Social Council.

13^th October 2015

Iraqi Al-Amal Association Holds its Ninth AGM

Iraqi Al-Amal Association held its ninth AGM in Baghdad on 10^th October 2015. The conference was attended by 55 delegates, staff and guests from partner NGO’s.

The participants reviewed the report from the Board of Trustees, which defined the most prominent issues and challenges in the situation in Iraq characterised by the proposed political reforms and the fight against terrorism, the security and military situation, the suffering of the displaced people, the uncontrolled migration out of Iraq among the ethnic and religious minorities as well as by the young people, the deteriorated levels of all services, and the weakness of the law enforcement authorities. These conditions have serious consequences on the social fabric, particularly on the conditions of women.

The discussions condemned the abuse of power and the attack on the protesters, activists and journalists. Information on the where-about of the activists Jalal Al-Shahmani from Baghdad and Wa’iI Jeboury Al-Mansour were demanded.

The conference also discussed the status of the Association and its activities. The report by the Board of Trustees concluded that the activities were distinctive, both for empowerment and advocacy campaigns,or the activities within local communities. They were all reflected through other reports presented by the managers of the programmes and Al-Amal offices in the provinces. The reports covered several items which were initiated on the basis of the Association’s strategic plan 2012-6201.

The activities included those relating to providing services for the displaced people in the fields of education, health and economic empowerment, as well as providing food and health assistance in a number of provinces. Reference was made to the programmes of “Human Rights Capacity Building for Civil Society Organisations” through Al-Nama’ Center, “Vocational Training for Young People”, “FamilyResource Centre” which is located in four provinces dealing with issues of domestic and community violence, “Political Empowerment of Women” which lasted over two years, “Field Research on the Worst Forms of Child Labour” carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry ofLabour and Social Affairs with the support from UNICEF, the study on the analysis of conflicts “Gender, Religion and Security in the Province of Nineveh”, and the project to develop a civics curriculum for first grade secondary schools in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, which is still in progress. All in addition to advocacy campaigns initiated by the Association, or the Association participated in, with regard to drafting laws, such as the political parties, the protection of biodiversity, the protection fromdomestic violence, and the implementation of the emergency plan for UN resolution 1325 on women’s participation in peace and security.

The conference discussed the internal affairs of Iraqi Al-Amal Association, coupled with the results of the broad consultative meeting which was held in August to enhance the institutional framework from the administrative, financial and human resources points of view. The consultative meeting was intended toaudit the strategic outlook of the Al-Amal Association.

The priorities and programmes, relevant to the current situation, were identified at the conference. Al-Amal’s financial report was presented with high transparency and was discussed and approved.

By secret ballot, the conference concluded it affairs with the election of the six members for the Board of Trustees, under the supervision of a lawyer.

After the conclusion of the conference, the Board of Trustees held its first meeting and elected Mrs.Hanaa Edwar as a Chairperson, Dr. Mohammed Al-Rubaie as Deputy Chairman, Ms. Amina Koyani asFinancial Secretary, with remaining members Dr. Faris Kamal Omar Nadhmi, Mr. Emad Jassim Salman, and Ms. Wethba Abdul Latif Taiar.

Update to the Assessment of Iraq’s

Compliance with

International Legal Standards December 2006

 For more information click here

A survey march 2009

Iraqi Al-Amal Association

Oxfam International

For more information click here
In her own words