الدكتور القدو وحضور رائع في مؤتمر دولي

 
 Status of Minority Rights and Politics in Iraq

Hunain Al-Qaddo.

Minorities in Iraq include various ethnic and religious groups. The kurds,Assyrians also known as (khaldo-Syriac-Assyrian) and Iraqi Trukmen represent the three largest non Arab minorities in the country. Other smaller ethnic groups include Armenian,Shabak,Yezidis and Mandaeans. There are also small Palastenian and Chechen communities. Some groups are both religious and ethnic minorities, these are Mandaeans ,Yezidis and Armenian. The above groups have not enjoyed equal status with the majority Arab populations throughout Iraqis eighty five years history. In a similar way to the Shia Muslims, the ruling Baath party harshly oppressed the Iraqi minorities during its rule of Iraq for 34 years. Iraq is regarded one of the most multi-ethnic and multi-religious countries in the Middle East, yet some of the above minority groups were denied their identities under Bathiest regime .Christian, Shabak, Yezidis and Mandaeans were subject to the process of Arabization. The situation of Kurds, however, has changed since the toppling of Saddam s regime.
Given the long experience of serious human rights violations in Iraq,the new Iraqi constitution ,which was approved by Iraqi National Assembly and subsequently by referendum in October 2005 placed particular emphasis on the advancement of human rights and the participation and protection of the different communities in Iraq .Articles 2 secondly,3 ,4, 14,16 and 125 of the Iraqi constitution provided guarantees of religious rights and freedom of religious believes and admitted that Iraq is a country of multiple nationalities and sects. On the other hand article 125 states that "this constitution shall guarantee the administrative, political, cultural, and educational rights of the various nationalities, such as Turkmen,Chaldeans, Assyrians, and all other constituents, and this shall be regulated by law". Despite of the Iraqi constitution which recognizes the identity of most of the Iraqi religious and ethnic groups, minorities have become victims of extremism and fanatic agendas ,victims of conflict over their lands , criminal groups and Kurdifying process. Minorities used to make up as much as 14 percent of the Iraqi population before the collapse of Baathist regime. Nine years later a high percentage of minorities fled the country due to the lack of security, the absence of legal protection, weak representation and participation in policy and decision making at regional and federal levels of government. Therefore, since 2003 a dramatic exodus of Iraq s minorities has taken place.
The security situation has greatly improved during the past years and mass casualty attacks nearly diminished but there are indications that violence has shifted to actions more focused on political ends and special targets. Members of Iraqi religious and ethnic minorities have still been targeted by a campaign of violence, including truck bomb attacks on minority villages in the Nineveh Plains, hostage taking, kidnapping, killings and attacks on minority-owned business. In December 2011 this violence spread to the autonomous Kurdistan Region, normally peaceful area to which many minorities fled in the hope of finding better security.
In 2012, Iraq seems to be at a crossroads, particularly with security in comparison with previous years. The downward trend in levels of violence, since a high point was reached after the bombing of the Al-Askari shrine in Samarra in 2006, appears to be bottoming out. In the disputed areas which are mainly controlled by Kurdish security forces, which are homes to many Iraqi minorities,has experienced many attacks . In August of 2012 a truck bomb attacked a mosque in Muwafaqia village killing 3 and wounding around 70 Shabak worshipers,some of them were seriously injured. In the same time 8 young Trukmen people, in Amerly village in Kirkook province, were assassinated by a terrorist group.The withdrawal of the American forces at the end of 2011 caused anxiety among the minority communities in Nineveh Plain. U.S. forces played an important role in defusing tensions there. Violence and confrontation between ethnic and religious groups have been on the increase in Kirkuk and in Nineveh Plain. Article 140 intended to reverse or provide redress for demographic manipulation dating back to the Saddam period has not been implemented yet. Christian religious and political leaders have started complaining about demographic changes in Nineveh Plain; accusing Shabak community attempting to control Bertallah sub-district, which is home for both Christian and Shabak. The forces of the federal government have not been allowed by Kurdistan Region to be deployed in the disputed areas to ease the tension and provide security and protection to minority communities.
Minorities continue to be targeted specifically, even if the reasons for this targeting, and the identity of the perpetrators, are not always clear. According to new research carried out by MRG and its Iraqi partner organization (IMC) most of the respondents believe that the sectarian and political reasons are the main factors behind their killings. While most of the attacks in the northern disputed areas have not been claimed, inevitably, suspicion is drawn to armed insurgent groups, motivated by a radical view of Islam. Such groups have claimed responsibility for similar attacks. Insurgent groups may target minorities for number of reasons: to create an atmosphere of fear and chaos ,take revenge on minorities for sectarian reason and halting government plans to establish order and rule of law to be exploited by militias to advance the interest of some political parties.
In a briefing report issued in June 2012 by Minority Rights Groups International under the title "Improving security for minorities in Iraq";the report indicates that there is credible evidence that KRG security forces use intimidation and commit human rights violations in order to pressure minorities political representatives to ally with KRG parties in a bid to establish control over the disputed areas of the North. In attempt to control the disputed areas the KDP has established pro-KDP organization among Shabak community and Christian community alike; such as Macho center and Shabak Consultant Body to promote the idea that Shabak is a tribe out of mainstream of Kurdish nationality. The Kurdish mass media started a campaign of Kurdifying process by reinventing a new name for Shabak calling them Shabak Kurd. Accordingly Shabak was denied of being refered to or recognized in the Iraqi constitution. Yazedi community also has come under a great pressure from KRG government by imposing on them a Kurdish identity; despite that Mr.Amen Farhan(Yazedi Member of the Iraqi Parliament ) regards Yazidies as a religious and ethnic group.
In September 2008,the Iraqi Parliament passed the long awaited Provincial Election Law. The law guaranteed a number of seats for minorities in provincial councils, initially the Kurdistan Alliance rejected the reserve seats which was allocated particularly for Shabak and Yazidi community in Nineveh Provincial Council. With a pressure exercised by Special Representative of U.N for Iraq and with support of United Iraqi Alliance and some members of Iraqi Block reserve seats were eventually allocated for the above communities as well as for Mandeans and Christian. Eight seats were reserved in the electoral law for minorities for parliamentary election, which took place on 7th of March, 2010; 5 seats for Christian and 1 seat for each of Shabak ,Yazedi and Mandaeas. In the run up to the national elections which took place on 7 March 2010, ethnic and religious minorities, particularly Christians and Shabak, were targeted. Community leaders reported to UNAMI claiming that attacks were intended to discourage minorities from voting. As a result, Christians gained 3 out of the 5 seats, while Shabak lost their seat to KDP.
In conclusion, the question of guaranteed seats for minorities is controversial and it has been exploited by big political parties for advancing their agenda particularly in disputed areas. The implementation of the right to effective political participation of minorities in Iraq is fundamental human rights, but still minorities have been marginalized in real participation of political life at both regional and federal level of the government. Arab-Kurdish tension and disputes over implementation of 140 articles have deeply affected the effective political participation of minorities. Iraqi government should take effective measures to end discrimination. It should consider for instance, instituting independent monitoring and complaints mechanisms designed to prevent discrimination in voting, vote fraud, intimidation and similar acts that inhibit the effective participation of minority communities in elections. Insurgency, militia and extremism and conflicts over disputed areas poses a great threat for the security of religious and ethnic groups all over Iraq. Finally, it is clear that in the long term, many of the above issues will not be resolved unless the deeper underlying political problems are resolved. Sunni-Shia and Arab –Kurd reconciliation is vital for clearing up the standing issues such as the implementation of article 140 to improve security not only for minorities but also for all Iraqi communities.