Iraqis Wage New Battle for Freedoms!
Shukur Khilkhal – Al-monitor The battle over civil liberties has erupted again, after a draft law written under the government of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on freedom of expression, assembly and peaceful protest was returned to parliament in October. This draft law was presented to the previous parliament in October 2012, but it did […]
A New Northern Frontline Where Iraq’s Kurds and Shiites are Facing Off!
niqash | Sulaymaniyah In Iraq’s northern disputed territories, minor skirmishes, rumours of looting, arson and speculation about political power plays have locals frightened of a new front line near Iraqi Kurdistan. It has nothing to do with extremists, rather it’s about the Iraqi Kurdish military and the increasingly troublesome and lawless Shiite Muslim militias. […]
For three days, a group of Iraqi and international civil society activists met in the Norwegian city of Oslo to discuss the current crisis in Iraq. They came together to build international solidarity with civil society in Iraq in order to promote the far-reaching political and social reforms that are essential to confronting the root […]
Civil Society, Civil Forces and the Crisis of Democracy in Iraq
Ismael Dawood The Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative Paper prepared for ICSSI conference in Oslo – Norway – 2014 The political situation in Iraq has suffered from a kind of paralysis as it waits to see what will happen on the ground: after Mosul and most of the cities of Salahuddin and Anbar fell […]
Al-Mada Press/ Baghdad On Thursday, company representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Minerals demanded that the parliament put pressure on the government to pay their salaries, which have been stalled for three months and to bring these ‘at risk’ companies back to a system of central funding, that is, funding by the Iraqi government. […]
‘Ghost’ Soldiers, Funding Issues, Lack of Morale, Unity Shatter Iraqi Army!
According to the recently revealed results of a governmental investigation, practically every fifth soldier of the Iraqi armed forces existed only on paper. Sputnik – Alexander Mosesov As the Iraqi Armed Forces have suffered crushing defeats to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in 2014, the jihadists have not only captured half of Iraq’s territory, but also revealed the poor […]
For Yazidi Women, Escaping ISIS Doesn’t Mean The Ordeal Is Over!
NPR – December 10, 2014 Barzan is a young Yazidi man, with sad blue eyes. His mother, five of his sisters and his niece are being held by the so-called Islamic State, taken when the extremist group swept through the Sinjar area of northern Iraq in August. They are seven of some 5,000 Yazidis still being […]
Abdul-Mahdi: Now Real Work Begins for Baghdad, Erbil!
Cengiz Çandar – Al-monitor Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Iraq’s former vice president and current oil minister in Haider al-Abadi’s government, spotted me aboard a flight from Beirut to Istanbul. He was in a rush, on his way back to Baghdad after the Nov. 27 OPEC meeting in Vienna. I met up with him Dec. 1 around midnight at his hotel […]
Stop Ilisu – Stop Destruction and Instability!
Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive Batman/Turkey Press Release – 05.12.2014 Ilisu Dam’s construction may be continued after a 4 month halt! Stop Ilisu – stop destruction and instability! The Turkish State Hydraulic Works (DSI) has announced few days ago that after a four month break that the construction of the highly criticized Ilisu Dam and Hydroelectric […]
Labor legislation in Iraq: between reality and the future
Wesam Chaseb Ouda Iraq’s program Manager – Baghdad, International Solidarity Center This document prepared for the ICSSI conference, Oslo , Norway – November 2014 Introduction As we speak today, the labor legislation that was valid during the era of Saddam Hussein remains in effect. No fundamental changes have occurred, other than a minor adjustment by Paul Bremer, […]
Yasser Salem Executive Director of Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq Paper prepared for the ICSSI Conference in Oslo, October 2014 Introduction Between the laws still in affect that were passed during the previous era of dictatorship (which do not take into account the principles of democracy) and the violations and attacks being carried […]
Women Trade Unionists and Working Women in Iraq Today!
Unionists: Ilham AbdulMaaboud Majeed President of the Communications Syndicate Member of the Executive Office of the General Federation of Trade Unions working in Iraq / Basra branch Paper Prepared for ICSSI Conference in Oslo – Norway October 2014 The situation of Iraqi women in general Iraqi women suffer dramatic injustice and persecution, both […]