May 4th 2006 | IRBIL
From The Economist
Attacked by insurgents, hobbled by factions, Iraq's unions fight for air
AN ELECTRICIAN in Basra plunges to his death while repairing a pylon, felled by a sniper's bullet. A group of construction workers are stopped at a bogus checkpoint near Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, and then taken off their bus and shot. A secondary-school teacher in Mosul is gunned down as she leaves for work in defiance of insurgents' demands that she stay at home. These apparently unrelated attacks, in different parts of Iraq, occurred on the same morning last month. They would have gone largely unnoticed but for the fact that the ten people killed that day were all members of the country's increasingly vocal trade-union movement.
According to the Iraqi Workers' Federation (IWF), more than 2,000 of its members have been killed as a direct result of the economic scorched-earth policy waged by the insurgency. Assaults on oil pipelines and electricity substations have left a trail of human casualties. Teachers, health-care workers and civil servants are also considered “legitimate” targets.
It is not just the rank-and-file who are at risk: union leaders have been picked out for assassination. In the most notorious case, in January 2005, Hadi Saleh, the founding father of the post-Saddam union movement and president of the Iraqi Federation of Workers' Trade Unions, was tortured and then shot by gunmen, thought to be survivors of the former regime.
Iraqi unions had been battered for some 30 years by the Baathists, who had eradicated any organisation that resisted party rule. After Saddam Hussein's removal in April 2003, a new, independent movement came swiftly to life. The IWF, the teachers' union and other associations now lay claim to up to 1m members. They have notched up a series of successes, challenging the hiring and wage policies of foreign-owned contractors in the oil industry (the privatisation of which they strongly oppose), as well as winning extra security protection for reconstruction workers in Baghdad and central Iraq.
But at a recent meeting in Irbil with British trade unionists, Iraq's union leaders made urgent pleas for solidarity and help from their comrades in the international labour movement. “We will always fight to protect our members' rights,” said Hadi Ali, the IWF's vice-president. “It doesn't mean we are against change...We are also all fighting to transform Iraq into a sustainable democracy, and unions may well be the most powerful weapon in that battle.”
It is not just the chronic insecurity that is making life tough for Iraqi workers and their representatives. Unionists accuse the new Iraqi authorities of exploiting Saddam-era laws to suppress their new-found independence. Making matters worse, there are reports that Islamist parties linked to the Shia-led government are trying to create client, sectarian unions.
Particular concern is caused by Decree 8750, passed last August by the interim administration of Ibrahim al-Jaafari. This provides for state control of the finances of all of Iraq's trade unions, and is seen as threatening their independence. A free trade-union movement, argue members, would do much to help the country avoid the ethnic and sectarian disputes at grassroots level that threaten to escalate into civil war. Historically, both the members and leaders of Iraq's unions have cut across ethnic and religious lines.
Hashmiya Mohsen, the feisty head of the Basra branch of the electricity workers' union, lists other ways in which independent, democratic unions can contribute to reconstruction: the inclusion of marginalised groups (women, for instance); the acceptance of elections as a part of life; and lessening the suspicion between local workers and foreign employers.
But first, says Ms Mohsen, one of very few female union bosses, the new prime minister, Jawad al-Maliki, should repeal Decree 8750. Determined to keep the idea of independence alive, she argues that getting rid of the decree “would be the best sign yet that Iraq's unions are seen as partners and not obstacles to our future.”
Wednesday, April 5
GUOE joins the Iraqi Freedom Congress
From the message below, it looks like Hassan Juma's oil workers' union has joined the Iraqi Freedom Congress, a campaign set up by the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq. There is no confirmation from the GUOE's website yet. If true, it represents a huge move forward towards working class unity in Iraq.
Letter from Samir Adil to the Leaders of the Southern Oil Trade Unions On the Occasion of Their Affiliation to Iraq Freedom Congress and Being Elected to Its Central Council
Brother Hassan Juma, president of Southern oil trade union
Brother Falih Abood, Secretary General of Southern oil trade union
Brother Abdullah Al-Maliki, Secretary of Basra trade union
Greetings,
On behalf of IFC central council and myself, I would like to express our great feeling of having you joined our organization IFC; also I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate ourselves for electing you to the central council to join the leadership standing.
Dear brothers;
The occupation has destroyed the entire country and converted it into a global battlefield. Moreover it continues the efforts to deliver the deathblow to the rest of the life basic factors. Here it is imposing the International Monetary Fund conditions on people, abolishing rations subsidy at this critical time when the unemployment in its highest rate ever, and opening fire on mass protests at every given opportunity as it did in Kirkuk last January killing 2 people, and the same took place in Samawa and Nassirya earlier.
Iraq Freedom Congress seeks to be a framework of the libertarian movement in the society where the labor movement considered its avant-garde. The modern history of Iraq is always mentioning proudly the great role of the oil workers strike of Gawerbaghi that brought down the pro-British government and convulsed the monarchy in 1946. The workers in Iraq, especially the oil workers may have a great role in the struggle to end the occupation, extirpation of terrorism and building a society where peace and prosperity become prevalent.
Dearest brothers,
We consider your joining IFC as an enormous step and tremendous accomplishment to our movement. Progressive figures and radical leaders taking charge in the central council empower us to secure the achievement of our goals. As the IFC is proud of having leaders like yourselves among its ranks, your choice of joining IFC is also your pride provided that you have chosen to be leaders of the first progressive movement for liberating Iraq and human together.
Long Live Oil Workers
Long Iraq Freedom Congress
Samir Adil
President of
Iraq Freedom Congress
March 36, 2006
Letter from Samir Adil to the Leaders of the Southern Oil Trade Unions On the Occasion of Their Affiliation to Iraq Freedom Congress and Being Elected to Its Central Council
Brother Hassan Juma, president of Southern oil trade union
Brother Falih Abood, Secretary General of Southern oil trade union
Brother Abdullah Al-Maliki, Secretary of Basra trade union
Greetings,
On behalf of IFC central council and myself, I would like to express our great feeling of having you joined our organization IFC; also I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate ourselves for electing you to the central council to join the leadership standing.
Dear brothers;
The occupation has destroyed the entire country and converted it into a global battlefield. Moreover it continues the efforts to deliver the deathblow to the rest of the life basic factors. Here it is imposing the International Monetary Fund conditions on people, abolishing rations subsidy at this critical time when the unemployment in its highest rate ever, and opening fire on mass protests at every given opportunity as it did in Kirkuk last January killing 2 people, and the same took place in Samawa and Nassirya earlier.
Iraq Freedom Congress seeks to be a framework of the libertarian movement in the society where the labor movement considered its avant-garde. The modern history of Iraq is always mentioning proudly the great role of the oil workers strike of Gawerbaghi that brought down the pro-British government and convulsed the monarchy in 1946. The workers in Iraq, especially the oil workers may have a great role in the struggle to end the occupation, extirpation of terrorism and building a society where peace and prosperity become prevalent.
Dearest brothers,
We consider your joining IFC as an enormous step and tremendous accomplishment to our movement. Progressive figures and radical leaders taking charge in the central council empower us to secure the achievement of our goals. As the IFC is proud of having leaders like yourselves among its ranks, your choice of joining IFC is also your pride provided that you have chosen to be leaders of the first progressive movement for liberating Iraq and human together.
Long Live Oil Workers
Long Iraq Freedom Congress
Samir Adil
President of
Iraq Freedom Congress
March 36, 2006
Iraqis still live with “shock and awe”
On the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Houzan Mahmoud says that women in the country are bearing the brunt as things go from bad to worse.
This article was published by the Tribune on 31 March 2006
On March 20, the Iraqi people have reached the dismal milestone of the third-year point since the United State-led invasion of Iraq. From the shock and awe of the aerial bombardment of 20 March 2003, they are now contemplating a fourth year of continuing terrorism, extreme insecurity, destruction, and the daily violation of women’s rights.
As we know, war in Iraq was sold to the world as a mission to bring about an end to “terrorism”, to plant the seed of “democracy” in this part of the middle east, and to free Iraqis from Saddam’s country-wide torture chamber. And as we equally now know, this has been far from the outcome, with Abu Ghraib’s ghastly porno-torture images, mass imprisonments and the daily bombing and shooting outrages.
Meanwhile, a parliament headed by a Shia majority are currently intent on ruling Iraq according to a version of Islamic law, or Sharia. Apart from the horrors of growing Shia–Sunni sectarianism, a major concern is the effect this is having on women’s rights in Iraq.
Resurgent Islamists are pushing Iraqi women back into a corner. Having enjoyed greater rights compared to women in the region for years, Iraqi women are now being stripped of even their basic rights. The ability to choose their own clothes, to be able to love or marry whom they want to. Life’s simple things are all now under heavy threat.
It has been calculated that in the last three years in excess of 2,000 women and girls in Iraq have been subject to kidnap, rape or even death on the grounds of preserving so-called ‘family honour’. The forced veiling of women has made a comeback. Women are now genuinely frightened of punishment from violent “moral” groups in the streets.
And it gets worse. Representatives of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq recently discovered a jail in al-Kazemiah district of Baghdad holding over 200 women (and some children) in appalling conditions. They were held by the Shia-dominated authorities, some for supposed involvement with the insurgency, some for other reasons. Many had been tortured or raped. I have the names of several victims (which cannot be revealed for reason of safety) and I have passed them to Amnesty International.
Between the roadside car bombs, hostage-taking and sporadic US “offensives”, we don’t hear much of the lives of ordinary Iraqis. Perhaps because it is not a happy subject. Children are queuing up at hospitals in various cities to sell their blood to raise money to survive. Drug abuse is widespread and many orphans are dependent. Child prostitution is now rife. One untold story is the growing gangsterism surrounding prostitution in general - countless women are being forced into selling their bodies. The lucky ones are fleeing the country in large numbers - chiefly to Jordan and Syria.
The invasion and occupation of Iraq has been an unmitigated disaster. I hold absolutely no brief for Saddam Hussein, whose cruelty was well-known. His regime was often vicious. I am one of its victims and I personally witnessed much brutality under his rule. But the subjugation of women was never a Ba’athist goal. Instead women are now caught between a pincer movement of a heavy-handed (and despised) occupation that cares little for women’s rights in Iraq, and an increasingly reactionary Islamic armed insurrection that aims to imprison women.
But there is still hope. Ask most Iraqis (the vast majority) and they will tell you that the exit of the Multinational Force is an absolutely essential if violence is ever to end in Iraq. And women’s rights need to be brought right up the political agenda. For example, the present Iraqi administration has provided absolutely no financial support for women’s refuges in Iraq. Instead my own organisation provides safe houses and safe rooms in Baghdad and Kirkuk. But we do this on a shoestring, dependent on support from women’s groups in the US and the Netherlands.
But there are signs that people in Iraq are determined to resist the violence of the insurgents, the occupying powers and the Islamists. In a number of districts of Baghdad, for example, committees formed by a new non-religious grouping called the Iraq Freedom Congress have recently formed to defend people’s safety. In Alexandria, Mahmoodya and Husseinya districts of the capital people do simple ‘community watch’ things like warn neighbours of possible impending attacks. It is a basic, homespun activity taking place in the security vacuum enveloping Iraq, but it works.
It is these efforts in Iraq that need international backing, and not divisive religious parties. The US/UK governments’ claim that they have “freed” Iraq has been thoroughly exposed as a lie. Three years on it’s time to start supporting the people of Iraq and their efforts to turn the corner on sectarianism and war.
Houzan Mahmoud is an Iraqi who lives in the UK. She is the UK head of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq and a member of the central council of the Iraq Freedom Congress
This article was published by the Tribune on 31 March 2006
On March 20, the Iraqi people have reached the dismal milestone of the third-year point since the United State-led invasion of Iraq. From the shock and awe of the aerial bombardment of 20 March 2003, they are now contemplating a fourth year of continuing terrorism, extreme insecurity, destruction, and the daily violation of women’s rights.
As we know, war in Iraq was sold to the world as a mission to bring about an end to “terrorism”, to plant the seed of “democracy” in this part of the middle east, and to free Iraqis from Saddam’s country-wide torture chamber. And as we equally now know, this has been far from the outcome, with Abu Ghraib’s ghastly porno-torture images, mass imprisonments and the daily bombing and shooting outrages.
Meanwhile, a parliament headed by a Shia majority are currently intent on ruling Iraq according to a version of Islamic law, or Sharia. Apart from the horrors of growing Shia–Sunni sectarianism, a major concern is the effect this is having on women’s rights in Iraq.
Resurgent Islamists are pushing Iraqi women back into a corner. Having enjoyed greater rights compared to women in the region for years, Iraqi women are now being stripped of even their basic rights. The ability to choose their own clothes, to be able to love or marry whom they want to. Life’s simple things are all now under heavy threat.
It has been calculated that in the last three years in excess of 2,000 women and girls in Iraq have been subject to kidnap, rape or even death on the grounds of preserving so-called ‘family honour’. The forced veiling of women has made a comeback. Women are now genuinely frightened of punishment from violent “moral” groups in the streets.
And it gets worse. Representatives of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq recently discovered a jail in al-Kazemiah district of Baghdad holding over 200 women (and some children) in appalling conditions. They were held by the Shia-dominated authorities, some for supposed involvement with the insurgency, some for other reasons. Many had been tortured or raped. I have the names of several victims (which cannot be revealed for reason of safety) and I have passed them to Amnesty International.
Between the roadside car bombs, hostage-taking and sporadic US “offensives”, we don’t hear much of the lives of ordinary Iraqis. Perhaps because it is not a happy subject. Children are queuing up at hospitals in various cities to sell their blood to raise money to survive. Drug abuse is widespread and many orphans are dependent. Child prostitution is now rife. One untold story is the growing gangsterism surrounding prostitution in general - countless women are being forced into selling their bodies. The lucky ones are fleeing the country in large numbers - chiefly to Jordan and Syria.
The invasion and occupation of Iraq has been an unmitigated disaster. I hold absolutely no brief for Saddam Hussein, whose cruelty was well-known. His regime was often vicious. I am one of its victims and I personally witnessed much brutality under his rule. But the subjugation of women was never a Ba’athist goal. Instead women are now caught between a pincer movement of a heavy-handed (and despised) occupation that cares little for women’s rights in Iraq, and an increasingly reactionary Islamic armed insurrection that aims to imprison women.
But there is still hope. Ask most Iraqis (the vast majority) and they will tell you that the exit of the Multinational Force is an absolutely essential if violence is ever to end in Iraq. And women’s rights need to be brought right up the political agenda. For example, the present Iraqi administration has provided absolutely no financial support for women’s refuges in Iraq. Instead my own organisation provides safe houses and safe rooms in Baghdad and Kirkuk. But we do this on a shoestring, dependent on support from women’s groups in the US and the Netherlands.
But there are signs that people in Iraq are determined to resist the violence of the insurgents, the occupying powers and the Islamists. In a number of districts of Baghdad, for example, committees formed by a new non-religious grouping called the Iraq Freedom Congress have recently formed to defend people’s safety. In Alexandria, Mahmoodya and Husseinya districts of the capital people do simple ‘community watch’ things like warn neighbours of possible impending attacks. It is a basic, homespun activity taking place in the security vacuum enveloping Iraq, but it works.
It is these efforts in Iraq that need international backing, and not divisive religious parties. The US/UK governments’ claim that they have “freed” Iraq has been thoroughly exposed as a lie. Three years on it’s time to start supporting the people of Iraq and their efforts to turn the corner on sectarianism and war.
Houzan Mahmoud is an Iraqi who lives in the UK. She is the UK head of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq and a member of the central council of the Iraq Freedom Congress
Tuesday, April 4
Minutes of meeting of Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq held at Camden Town
Held at Camden Town Hall on 27 March 2006. (Thanks to Camden Unison, who kindly booked the room in line with their policy of support for asylum seekers and migrants).
NB Minutes are detailed in the hope that this will be useful to those who were unable to attend the meeting.
1. Welcome and Introductions. Apologies received from Sarah Ludford and Estella Schmid.
2. Update on present situation
Dashty Jamal from International Federation of Iraqi Refugees reported on: Problems in Iraq including Kurdistan
Iraqis are facing civil war, dozens of bodies of people who have been executed are found every day, kidnappings and bombings are rife, every sort of torture, honour killings are prevalent, etc etc.Many are killed by the US eg the recent atrocity at Baquba.
N. Iraq is not better, it is controlled by the PUK and KDP, there is no freedom of speech or activity, women are killed with impunity. Protesters are often arrested or even killed, eg students were killed in Kirkuk during a demonstration against high petrol prices recently. Students were shot at during demonstration in Erbil and in Ranya and Khoya recently.
Many writers are having problems, especially since the cartoons. A radical Islamic party issued a fatwa to threaten people who wrote critically of Islam. Dr Qadir, sentenced to 30 years in prison (now reduced to 18 months after a big international campaign) for writing two articles critical of the family of KDP leader Masoud Barzani, is being used to threaten other writers or people who want freedom of speech or political activity.
On 16 March, the anniversary of the chemical attack, there was a demonstration in Halabja by 5 or 6000 local people protesting at lack of services and health care.
PUK police fired on the demonstrators, killing a youth called Kurdo.
Hundreds of youth have been arrested in the last few days since the demonstration, militia are doing raidsto arrest people and to find film footage to identify protesters, Jalal Talabani (leader of PUK and President of Iraq) has threatened to use Baathist laws and apply the death penalty against those who destroyed the Halabja memorial.
A memorial demonstration to mark the destruction of Qala Diza is being planned and the PUK are threatening people they think will go.
On 21 March a student called Bazhdar Ali who was active in Erbil was arrested and beaten very badly by the bodyguards of 2 MPs who were present and did not like his speech on the situation of women. He was later dumped in the street and threatened. This is the reality of the situation in Kurdistan.
No government has yet been agreed since the election. There is a dark scenario in place – division by ethnicity and religion is springing up everywhere, you cannot find any safe place in Iraq.
Problems of the 15 who were forcibly returned in November
Hawar is still in Syria. Even on the Home Office’s own criteria he should not have been returned as he was not from one of the three supposedly safe in some cases northern governorates, but from Mosul, where he was not able to go back.
Another one is reported by his family to have severe mental problems because of his return.
Some returnees were interviewed by KDP police at airport, then invited to police station for further interview and asked to sign forms saying they would not leave Iraq again.
Returns via IOM
Home Office say over 1000 have gone back in last 18 months either via IOM or under their own steam. Home Office is still putting a lot of pressure on people to return via IOM. As part of their plan for the occupation the UK government is forcing people back to Iraq. The 15 who were deported were handcuffed and beaten. . NASS is still pushing asylum seekers to agree to voluntary return. They are offering (theoretically) £3000 to people. Last Saturday 83 people were returned to Sulaimanyah. (Previous returns have been to Erbil).
Problems faced by asylum seekers here
People are getting letters from NASS asking them to go back to Iraq, or to move out of London. Vouchers are being reintroduced. Many people are under pressure from their children to go back, even if it is dangerous for them, because the children are so upset at not seeing their fathers for several years.
Detentions.
Of the 36 detained late last year, 34 are released but forced to sign twice a week
There are 3 people in detention now, who are 3rd country cases. IFIR has some clients who have been tagged and are restricted to certain areas.
3. Reports and discussion on current activities:
Statement and contacts
We have got good support so far and will circulate it again soon and hope to get more. We are trying to set up meetings with Simon Hughes MP and with John McDonnell MP and Jeremy Corbyn MP, all of whom are very busy.
Website: should be up and running from 1 April. We will use it for an on-line version of the petition. We will have links to other campaigns. Saman is working on it, including on some graphics to give it a distinctive identity.
Petition
Is being used in Hull,Manchester etc. Asylum seekers are working with the Federation to collect signatures. We used it on the anti-war demonstration, together with a leaflet based on the campaign’s statement.
Local and individual reports:
Gerry Hickey from Asylum Support Appeals Project explained that her organisation does NASS appeals, and that in particular it may be useful for people who believe there is no safe route to return them to Iraq to approach ASAP for help with their accommodation case. She said that a favourable decision on the non-existence of a safe route so that someone could not be returned and therefore should not lose their accommodation could have a knock on effect on actual asylum cases.
ASAP telephone number is 0208 864 5874, email Gerry@asaproject.org.uk.
She also pointed out that in the case of the Zimbabweans a test case had obliged the IAT to make a country case ruling which had resulted in the Home Office being unable to return people to Zimbabwe and that a similar case would be helpful to Iraqis if one could be taken.
Sawsan Salim from Kurdistan Refugee Women’s Organisation reported on the work of her organisation. In particular she noted that in her experience when the Home Office is given information about the problems of family violence that many women face in South Kurdistan, the Home Office tend to consult the PUK and KDP about whether such information is true, which enables those parties to deny having any responsibility for tolerating a climate where such problems are so rife. Campaigners should be aware therefore that the Home Office is likely to be “checking” information with parties who may be the source of some people’s reasons for not being able to go back.
She is still fighting cases where the Home Office is refusing to protect women who know they will be subjected to honour killing if they go back; 9000 women have been killed in this way since 1991.
She also pointed out that there are no rights for women in the new Iraqi constitution, which draws extensively on Sharia law; and also commented that the media here never shows the real horror of what is going on in Iraq – for example she has seen the shocking conditions in Baghdad and Nasiriya, but little of the reality is shown on TV here.
Jo Benefield gave detailed report on campaigning in Bristol. Bristol Campaign to Defend Asylum Seekers which has been focussing its work on asylum seekers from Iraq as there are many in the Bristol area. The campaign puts out material explaining the situation of these asylum seekers and those from other parts of the world, and helps some people with accommodation problems.She said that trade union support had been central to their campaign, and recommended that the Coalition should do likewise. Dashty noted that we had some support from the T and G and it was agreed that this was an area where we should try to do more. Jo also reported that STAR (Student Action for Refugees) and church organisations have been a strong part of the campaign. The group has worked with the Living Ghosts campaign.
Model Letters for MPs
Still being drafted.
Solidarity Greetings
Dashty sent a solidarity message from the Coalition to the recent Congolese demonstration outside the Home Office
Meeting with Amnesty.
Amnesty will be running a campaign soon around the question of destitute asylum seekers. We were told that Amnesty can sometimes take up individual cases; people need to be referred by their solicitors. They felt that Refugee Legal Centre is probably the organisation best placed to help with legal advice for asylum seekers who have no solicitor.
4. Future plans:
Conference
Dashty proposed that the coalition holds a conference to elect steering committee, get more organisations involved, raise money for the campaign, and to build the campaign. We hope to get more MPs supporting the campaign and working as a group to do lobbying on the issue.
After discussion it was agreed to avoid the 29 April as this was just before the local elections, and to go for the first possible Saturday thereafter. Sarah to contact John McDonnell.
Meet Home Office
Sarah proposed that the coalition send a delegation to meet the Home Office to raise the campaign’s demands and concerns. Agreed to try and do this soon.
Meeting in European Parliament
Dashty reported that Jean Lambert has agreed to host a meeting on the problem of returns to Iraq in the European Parliament in Belgium. She is still trying to get a date.
More public meetings
It is planned to hold more public meetings. First one will be in Manchester on 1 April.
Next campaign meeting:
Will be on April 18.
Help with campaign work
Nicola kindly agreed to help out with campaign work.
Thanks to all who attended, especially to the asylum seekers and those who travelled a long way.
NB Minutes are detailed in the hope that this will be useful to those who were unable to attend the meeting.
1. Welcome and Introductions. Apologies received from Sarah Ludford and Estella Schmid.
2. Update on present situation
Dashty Jamal from International Federation of Iraqi Refugees reported on: Problems in Iraq including Kurdistan
Iraqis are facing civil war, dozens of bodies of people who have been executed are found every day, kidnappings and bombings are rife, every sort of torture, honour killings are prevalent, etc etc.Many are killed by the US eg the recent atrocity at Baquba.
N. Iraq is not better, it is controlled by the PUK and KDP, there is no freedom of speech or activity, women are killed with impunity. Protesters are often arrested or even killed, eg students were killed in Kirkuk during a demonstration against high petrol prices recently. Students were shot at during demonstration in Erbil and in Ranya and Khoya recently.
Many writers are having problems, especially since the cartoons. A radical Islamic party issued a fatwa to threaten people who wrote critically of Islam. Dr Qadir, sentenced to 30 years in prison (now reduced to 18 months after a big international campaign) for writing two articles critical of the family of KDP leader Masoud Barzani, is being used to threaten other writers or people who want freedom of speech or political activity.
On 16 March, the anniversary of the chemical attack, there was a demonstration in Halabja by 5 or 6000 local people protesting at lack of services and health care.
PUK police fired on the demonstrators, killing a youth called Kurdo.
Hundreds of youth have been arrested in the last few days since the demonstration, militia are doing raidsto arrest people and to find film footage to identify protesters, Jalal Talabani (leader of PUK and President of Iraq) has threatened to use Baathist laws and apply the death penalty against those who destroyed the Halabja memorial.
A memorial demonstration to mark the destruction of Qala Diza is being planned and the PUK are threatening people they think will go.
On 21 March a student called Bazhdar Ali who was active in Erbil was arrested and beaten very badly by the bodyguards of 2 MPs who were present and did not like his speech on the situation of women. He was later dumped in the street and threatened. This is the reality of the situation in Kurdistan.
No government has yet been agreed since the election. There is a dark scenario in place – division by ethnicity and religion is springing up everywhere, you cannot find any safe place in Iraq.
Problems of the 15 who were forcibly returned in November
Hawar is still in Syria. Even on the Home Office’s own criteria he should not have been returned as he was not from one of the three supposedly safe in some cases northern governorates, but from Mosul, where he was not able to go back.
Another one is reported by his family to have severe mental problems because of his return.
Some returnees were interviewed by KDP police at airport, then invited to police station for further interview and asked to sign forms saying they would not leave Iraq again.
Returns via IOM
Home Office say over 1000 have gone back in last 18 months either via IOM or under their own steam. Home Office is still putting a lot of pressure on people to return via IOM. As part of their plan for the occupation the UK government is forcing people back to Iraq. The 15 who were deported were handcuffed and beaten. . NASS is still pushing asylum seekers to agree to voluntary return. They are offering (theoretically) £3000 to people. Last Saturday 83 people were returned to Sulaimanyah. (Previous returns have been to Erbil).
Problems faced by asylum seekers here
People are getting letters from NASS asking them to go back to Iraq, or to move out of London. Vouchers are being reintroduced. Many people are under pressure from their children to go back, even if it is dangerous for them, because the children are so upset at not seeing their fathers for several years.
Detentions.
Of the 36 detained late last year, 34 are released but forced to sign twice a week
There are 3 people in detention now, who are 3rd country cases. IFIR has some clients who have been tagged and are restricted to certain areas.
3. Reports and discussion on current activities:
Statement and contacts
We have got good support so far and will circulate it again soon and hope to get more. We are trying to set up meetings with Simon Hughes MP and with John McDonnell MP and Jeremy Corbyn MP, all of whom are very busy.
Website: should be up and running from 1 April. We will use it for an on-line version of the petition. We will have links to other campaigns. Saman is working on it, including on some graphics to give it a distinctive identity.
Petition
Is being used in Hull,Manchester etc. Asylum seekers are working with the Federation to collect signatures. We used it on the anti-war demonstration, together with a leaflet based on the campaign’s statement.
Local and individual reports:
Gerry Hickey from Asylum Support Appeals Project explained that her organisation does NASS appeals, and that in particular it may be useful for people who believe there is no safe route to return them to Iraq to approach ASAP for help with their accommodation case. She said that a favourable decision on the non-existence of a safe route so that someone could not be returned and therefore should not lose their accommodation could have a knock on effect on actual asylum cases.
ASAP telephone number is 0208 864 5874, email Gerry@asaproject.org.uk.
She also pointed out that in the case of the Zimbabweans a test case had obliged the IAT to make a country case ruling which had resulted in the Home Office being unable to return people to Zimbabwe and that a similar case would be helpful to Iraqis if one could be taken.
Sawsan Salim from Kurdistan Refugee Women’s Organisation reported on the work of her organisation. In particular she noted that in her experience when the Home Office is given information about the problems of family violence that many women face in South Kurdistan, the Home Office tend to consult the PUK and KDP about whether such information is true, which enables those parties to deny having any responsibility for tolerating a climate where such problems are so rife. Campaigners should be aware therefore that the Home Office is likely to be “checking” information with parties who may be the source of some people’s reasons for not being able to go back.
She is still fighting cases where the Home Office is refusing to protect women who know they will be subjected to honour killing if they go back; 9000 women have been killed in this way since 1991.
She also pointed out that there are no rights for women in the new Iraqi constitution, which draws extensively on Sharia law; and also commented that the media here never shows the real horror of what is going on in Iraq – for example she has seen the shocking conditions in Baghdad and Nasiriya, but little of the reality is shown on TV here.
Jo Benefield gave detailed report on campaigning in Bristol. Bristol Campaign to Defend Asylum Seekers which has been focussing its work on asylum seekers from Iraq as there are many in the Bristol area. The campaign puts out material explaining the situation of these asylum seekers and those from other parts of the world, and helps some people with accommodation problems.She said that trade union support had been central to their campaign, and recommended that the Coalition should do likewise. Dashty noted that we had some support from the T and G and it was agreed that this was an area where we should try to do more. Jo also reported that STAR (Student Action for Refugees) and church organisations have been a strong part of the campaign. The group has worked with the Living Ghosts campaign.
Model Letters for MPs
Still being drafted.
Solidarity Greetings
Dashty sent a solidarity message from the Coalition to the recent Congolese demonstration outside the Home Office
Meeting with Amnesty.
Amnesty will be running a campaign soon around the question of destitute asylum seekers. We were told that Amnesty can sometimes take up individual cases; people need to be referred by their solicitors. They felt that Refugee Legal Centre is probably the organisation best placed to help with legal advice for asylum seekers who have no solicitor.
4. Future plans:
Conference
Dashty proposed that the coalition holds a conference to elect steering committee, get more organisations involved, raise money for the campaign, and to build the campaign. We hope to get more MPs supporting the campaign and working as a group to do lobbying on the issue.
After discussion it was agreed to avoid the 29 April as this was just before the local elections, and to go for the first possible Saturday thereafter. Sarah to contact John McDonnell.
Meet Home Office
Sarah proposed that the coalition send a delegation to meet the Home Office to raise the campaign’s demands and concerns. Agreed to try and do this soon.
Meeting in European Parliament
Dashty reported that Jean Lambert has agreed to host a meeting on the problem of returns to Iraq in the European Parliament in Belgium. She is still trying to get a date.
More public meetings
It is planned to hold more public meetings. First one will be in Manchester on 1 April.
Next campaign meeting:
Will be on April 18.
Help with campaign work
Nicola kindly agreed to help out with campaign work.
Thanks to all who attended, especially to the asylum seekers and those who travelled a long way.
Monday, March 20
NO DEPORTATIONS TO IRAQ!
Dear friends,
You are invited to attend a working meeting of the Coalition to Stop Deportations at 7pm on Monday 27 March. The venue is Committee Room 2 at Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, which has kindly been booked by Camden Unison in line with its policy of support for asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers.
There has been a report (see recent NCADC posting) that Tony McNulty, the Minister for Immigration, has just announced that it is "unlikely" that Britain will carry out more forced removals to Iraq. We welcome this news, but we can't rely on such vague statements, and in any case many people, probably several hundred people, who have been refused asylum and made destitute, have been herded on to so-called "voluntary" flights to Erbil /Hawler run by IOM. We need to keep pushing the coalition's demands:
… Stop deportations to Iraq
… Grant protection to all Iraqi asylum seekers and recognise them as victims of war.
… Allow them the right to work or to receive a decent level of benefit
… Immediately release the remaining few Iraqi asylum seekers held in detention
so that more people are not either forcibly deported or feel that they have no alternative but to go back on the IOM flights.
Proposed Agenda
1. Report and discussion on present situation:
returns via IOM
problems faced by asylum seekers here
problems in Kurdistan
2. Reports and discussion on current activities:
Statement
Website
Petition
Local reports
Letters for MPs
Report on meeting with Amnesty
3. Future plans:
Delegation to meet Home Office
Hold conference, hopefully on Sat 29 April, to elect steering committee and build the campaign
Any other ideas
We hope you can come along - if you can't but have any news to report or campaigning ideas to feed in, please email us beforehand. Thanks for your support, to Dashty Jamal (International Federation of Iraqi Refugees) 07734-704742.Email: d.jamal@ntlworld.com or Sarah Parker sarahp107@hotmail.com
You are invited to attend a working meeting of the Coalition to Stop Deportations at 7pm on Monday 27 March. The venue is Committee Room 2 at Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, which has kindly been booked by Camden Unison in line with its policy of support for asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers.
There has been a report (see recent NCADC posting) that Tony McNulty, the Minister for Immigration, has just announced that it is "unlikely" that Britain will carry out more forced removals to Iraq. We welcome this news, but we can't rely on such vague statements, and in any case many people, probably several hundred people, who have been refused asylum and made destitute, have been herded on to so-called "voluntary" flights to Erbil /Hawler run by IOM. We need to keep pushing the coalition's demands:
… Stop deportations to Iraq
… Grant protection to all Iraqi asylum seekers and recognise them as victims of war.
… Allow them the right to work or to receive a decent level of benefit
… Immediately release the remaining few Iraqi asylum seekers held in detention
so that more people are not either forcibly deported or feel that they have no alternative but to go back on the IOM flights.
Proposed Agenda
1. Report and discussion on present situation:
returns via IOM
problems faced by asylum seekers here
problems in Kurdistan
2. Reports and discussion on current activities:
Statement
Website
Petition
Local reports
Letters for MPs
Report on meeting with Amnesty
3. Future plans:
Delegation to meet Home Office
Hold conference, hopefully on Sat 29 April, to elect steering committee and build the campaign
Any other ideas
We hope you can come along - if you can't but have any news to report or campaigning ideas to feed in, please email us beforehand. Thanks for your support, to Dashty Jamal (International Federation of Iraqi Refugees) 07734-704742.Email: d.jamal@ntlworld.com or Sarah Parker sarahp107@hotmail.com
Friday, March 17
Iraq Union Solidarity leaflet for 18 March anti-war demonstration in London
On: the Tehran busworkers' struggle; why the demonstration has no speakers from the Iraqi workers' movement; the USLAW DVD; EDM on Decree 875; Iraqi unions' new joint committee. Download pdf here.
Wednesday, March 15
Iraqi unions launch united struggle
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 01/26/06
Author: Susan Webb
Iraq’s labor movement has formed a united permanent coordinating committee to “make its positions known” to the Iraqi government, and to challenge the dictates of international financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Six union federations, including two Kurdish labor organizations, issued a joint statement, Jan. 16, stressing “the importance of complete sovereignty for Iraq over its petroleum and natural resources” to “develop them in a way that assures a complete reconstruction of the country” and to “provide a decent living standard for Iraqis.”
Just recently, complying with IMF/World Bank demands, the transitional government tripled the price of fuel, sparking street demonstrations and other protests throughout Iraq. Moves have also been made to privatize the country’s significant public sector, part of transnational-corporate-friendly “structural adjustment” measures demanded by the international agencies.
Responding to these moves, Iraq’s labor unions called for retraction of the oil price increase and “rejection of the reduction of spending on social services, especially the elimination of government support for the food distribution system or the reduction of the number of items covered.”
The global institutions must “stop imposing structural adjustment conditions for loans,” and must agree to “provide funding for public services and state-owned enterprises without demanding their privatization,” the unions declared. They called for cancellation of debts owed by Iraq that “resulted from the policies of the former [Saddam Hussein] regime,” and demanded that the international financial institutions “engage in dialogue, discussion and negotiations with the trade union federations regarding their policies in Iraq.”
The joint statement noted that “the Iraqi economy has been severely affected by decades of sanctions, wars and occupation” and that “the wars and occupation have caused a dramatic decrease in the living and social standards of Iraqis and especially of workers.”
The unions called for adoption of “a new labor law and a pension and social security law that assure workers’ rights and are in conformity with international labor standards and human rights conventions.”
Iraq Federation of Trade Unions spokesperson Abdullah Muhsin told the World the unified labor coordinating committee was formed “as a response to anti-union order no. 875 issued by the government of Prime Minister al Jafaari.”
Decree 875, announced last summer, revoked previous agreements permitting trade unions to function without government interference. Under the new decree, the government authorized itself to seize control of all trade union monies and prevent the unions from dispensing any funds.
“The notorious Decree 875” was issued “to try to prevent this united, democratic national trade union center emerging in Iraq, and we will not let him succeed,” IFTU President Rasem AlAwady told a British trade union conference last fall.
The IFTU, the largest of the country’s labor federations, was a key player in helping form the unified labor committee, Muhsin said. The IFTU has merged with other smaller federations to form the new General Federation of Iraqi Workers, which is now preparing to hold its first national conference.
The Jan. 16 statement was signed by the General Federation of Iraqi Workers, Oil Unions Federation in Iraq/Basra, Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, Kurdistan General Workers Syndicate Union/Erbil, and Iraqi Kurdistan Workers Syndicate Union.
suewebb@pww.org
Author: Susan Webb
Iraq’s labor movement has formed a united permanent coordinating committee to “make its positions known” to the Iraqi government, and to challenge the dictates of international financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Six union federations, including two Kurdish labor organizations, issued a joint statement, Jan. 16, stressing “the importance of complete sovereignty for Iraq over its petroleum and natural resources” to “develop them in a way that assures a complete reconstruction of the country” and to “provide a decent living standard for Iraqis.”
Just recently, complying with IMF/World Bank demands, the transitional government tripled the price of fuel, sparking street demonstrations and other protests throughout Iraq. Moves have also been made to privatize the country’s significant public sector, part of transnational-corporate-friendly “structural adjustment” measures demanded by the international agencies.
Responding to these moves, Iraq’s labor unions called for retraction of the oil price increase and “rejection of the reduction of spending on social services, especially the elimination of government support for the food distribution system or the reduction of the number of items covered.”
The global institutions must “stop imposing structural adjustment conditions for loans,” and must agree to “provide funding for public services and state-owned enterprises without demanding their privatization,” the unions declared. They called for cancellation of debts owed by Iraq that “resulted from the policies of the former [Saddam Hussein] regime,” and demanded that the international financial institutions “engage in dialogue, discussion and negotiations with the trade union federations regarding their policies in Iraq.”
The joint statement noted that “the Iraqi economy has been severely affected by decades of sanctions, wars and occupation” and that “the wars and occupation have caused a dramatic decrease in the living and social standards of Iraqis and especially of workers.”
The unions called for adoption of “a new labor law and a pension and social security law that assure workers’ rights and are in conformity with international labor standards and human rights conventions.”
Iraq Federation of Trade Unions spokesperson Abdullah Muhsin told the World the unified labor coordinating committee was formed “as a response to anti-union order no. 875 issued by the government of Prime Minister al Jafaari.”
Decree 875, announced last summer, revoked previous agreements permitting trade unions to function without government interference. Under the new decree, the government authorized itself to seize control of all trade union monies and prevent the unions from dispensing any funds.
“The notorious Decree 875” was issued “to try to prevent this united, democratic national trade union center emerging in Iraq, and we will not let him succeed,” IFTU President Rasem AlAwady told a British trade union conference last fall.
The IFTU, the largest of the country’s labor federations, was a key player in helping form the unified labor committee, Muhsin said. The IFTU has merged with other smaller federations to form the new General Federation of Iraqi Workers, which is now preparing to hold its first national conference.
The Jan. 16 statement was signed by the General Federation of Iraqi Workers, Oil Unions Federation in Iraq/Basra, Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, Kurdistan General Workers Syndicate Union/Erbil, and Iraqi Kurdistan Workers Syndicate Union.
suewebb@pww.org
Iraqi Women's League Conference
The 5th Conference of Iraqi Women’s League
(24-25 July 2005)
Held under the slogan: “A Peaceful and Democratic Iraq is the Guarantee for Women's Equality and Children's Happiness”
The 5th Conference of Iraqi Women’s League (IWL) was held in Baghdad during the period 24-25 July 2005, under the slogan: “A Peaceful and Democratic Iraq is Guarantee for Women’s Equality and Children's Happiness”. It was attended by 98 delegates. The opening session was given the name “Martyr Ayda Yassin”, in memory of the prominent leading figure of IWL who “disappeared” after being detained in 1980 by security forces of Saddam’s dictatorial regime.
The Conference endorsed a general report that dealt with major developments during the past decades and their impact on Iraqi society and the position of Iraqi women.
The report pointed out that the social and economic conditions in the country had deteriorated enormously as a result of the total and all-encompassing crisis of dictatorship during its reign of repression, as well as its internal and external wars. Iraqi women were in the forefront of victims of dictatorship, burdened with the consequences of catastrophic political decisions. They had to shoulder full responsibility for their families as a result of the loss of sons or husbands, whether in terror campaigns of physical liquidation or during the three wars waged by the ousted regime. Women had also the job of caring for war victims who were left disabled. They also became targets for political detention, humiliation, rape and various kinds of torture in prisons, and often ending up in mass graves.
As a result of poor economic conditions and rampant poverty, women were forced to take up difficult and dangerous jobs, under extremely complex conditions. They came to face directly the manifestation of social corruption, as well as systematic corruption practised by the regime’s leading figures and stooges. All these factors led to the fragmentation of families. The regime encouraged the revival of outdated customs and traditions that humiliate women and degrade their dignity. ,This in turn was used as a justification for the oppression and injustice against women, within family relations or in marriage, both as mothers and divorced women. Legislations and laws were enacted that debased the human dignity of women and reinforced their women’s position as an underclass.
The report drew attention to the “Faith Campaign” personally launched by the dictator Saddam Hussein, that deprived women of the rights that they had won over previous decades with their own struggle and supported by democratic and progressive forces in Iraqi society. The dictatorship’s policy during its final years meant that women were trapped at home, isolated from fields of work and general activity.
The report added that the above-mentioned conditions, that were described only briefly, did not end with the shameful downfall of dictatorship in April 2003. Our Iraqi people and social forces aspiring for social change, including the Iraqi Women’s League (IWL), are therefore determined to fight to tackle the legacy of dictatorship. Accordingly, the IWL strives to lay the proper foundations for a civilized society, based on democracy in economic, social and cultural fields. This vision shapes its understanding of social change, progress, women’s rights and their fundamental rights.
The report dealt with the position of Iraqi women after the war and the fall of dictatorship, with new political and social manifestations emerging with subsequent effects on all Iraqis, especially Iraqi women. Iraq now witnesses a new situation:, getting rid of dictatorship but falling under occupation. Refusal by the occupying forces to hand back political power and national sovereignty, as well as the responsibility for security, to the Iraqis, and the destruction of principal structures of the Iraqi state, has led to the deterioration of the security situation. Gangs of organised criminals, along with extremist reactionary forces and remnants of the dictatorial regime, are waging bloody terror against the Iraqi people under the pretext of resisting the occupation. Iraqi women have become an easier target for these gangs. In addition to arbitrary car bombings and explosions, women have been kidnapped, held as hostages. In addition, women have suffered from murder, barbaric slaughtering and rape.
Meanwhile, the forces of political Islam in the southern and central areas of the country have exploited the social atmosphere resulting from decades of dictatorship’s rule, and its so-called “Faith Campaign”, to put forward their political alternative, with practical measures to implement their concept for the “Islamization of society”. This is achieved through imposing constraints on public and personal freedoms of individuals, especially with regard to women’s personal and civil freedoms. In this context, a psychological atmosphere has been promoted to impose changes on Iraqi women in a coercive manner, , for example imposing the wearing of Hijab in some areas. The attempt to abolish the Personal Status Law (in late 2003) signalled the intention to reverse women’s civil status. It has to be pointed out that the existing Personal Status Law was actually based on various denominations of Islamic law, and the alternative meant a return to sectarian jurisprudence in the field of personal status.
Iraqi women have managed to participate in political life during the past two years, though in a limited way. A number of women participated in the Governing Council, the Interim and Transitional Governments, and the National Assembly. The Iraqi State’s Administrative Law (the interim constitution) stipulated that the percentage of women in the elected National Assembly must be no less than 25%. Democratic women’s organisations played an active role in defeating Decree 137, issued by the Governing Council (in late 2003), that was effectively aimed at abolishing the Personal Status Law. An Iraqi Women Network was also set up, encompassing more than 50 women organisations.
During the past two years, the Iraqi Women’s League (IWL) participated in a host of activities concerned with women’s rights. IWL activists led the first women’s demonstration in Baghdad after the fall of dictatorship. The League initially faced the task of rebuilding its organisations in most Iraqi cities under the above-mentioned complex conditions. But this task faced a lot of obstacles as a result of the prevailing security and political conditions, thus hindering its fulfilment to the level desired by IWL. Further consideration of the current situation and work is needed, developing plans to utilize the potential of IWL.
The essence of IWL’s work, throughout its long history of struggle over more than half a century, lies in connecting between its fight for the freedom and sovereignty of the homeland and the struggle for women rights and children’s happiness. This is based on its awareness that women’s liberation can only be achieved with the liberation of the society. It is not an organisation that exists outside the context of the Iraqi society’s history and its political, social and economic contradictions. IWL also believes that the liberation of women is not an elitist type of work, or one that is part of charitable or humanitarian activity. IWL’s work and struggle is aimed for women’s rights and freedoms that are achieved as part and parcel of the struggle for social change, progress and democracy.
The report also presented IWL’s understanding of civil society organisations, as a means for public benefit rather than personal benefit or for the purpose of hegemony by political parties that are in power or outside it. Struggle must be waged against the latter tendencies, and against anything that leads to marginalizing IWL’s role and conception of civil society organisations.
Civil society is not an alternative to struggle for social change and progress; rather it is one of its manifestations. Overlooking this fact, or not acting in accordance with it, in spite of being real advocates of civil society as part of our developmental and enlightened project, will harm the future of civil society and nullify its real functions. This is why IWL’s work in the field of civil society organisations needs to be connected with our struggle to deepen and consolidate democracy.
Work Among Women Masses
The experience of IWL’s work throughout its long history has highlighted the fact that it becomes an effective mass force in society, and achieves gains for Iraqi women, when it is engaged in daily mass work, actively involved in residential areas and women’s gatherings, raising daily demands, helping to tackle social problems in urban areas, promoting health awareness, opening centres for eradicating illiteracy, and through raising the level of awareness of women in the countryside.
IWL activists had never been tied down to office work … IWL will not emulate some women fronts and organisations that want to gain a foothold through spending money or grants among women with the aim of buying off people. The secret of IWL’s success lies in developing close, strong and steady relations with the mass of women.
The need for the existence of IWL lies in undertaking this leading role, fearless of giving sacrifice, as it had often done throughout its history. Furthermore, unless the forces of political Islam can be countered by mass democratic struggle, any constitutional and political gains that have been made may be stripped of their democratic content.
The report drew attention to the concept of women’s rights on national and international levels, and the need to defend these rights. IWL will follow developments in women’s movements internationally, interact with them, and participate in formulating the principal guidelines concerning women rights on international level. Undertaking this task successfully requires an in-depth study of our society, drawing programs on the basis of existing facts, and relying on figures and statistics.
The report stressed the need for rejuvenating IWL’s methods of work, by discarding spontaneity, and acting in a spirit of solidarity as women fighting for a cause. This requires conveying accumulated experience, and helping young cadres to assume their role in IWL’s leadership, with the consent and support of women masses. It is essential to emphasize the issue of expanding democracy in daily work, involving as many members as possible in decision making, displaying transparency and a critical spirit, and empowering IWL organisations in the provinces and towns.
A spirit of initiative, collective work and approaching the masses on the basis of properly considered programmes, can help to achieve a qualitative change in IWL’s work.
Immediate Tasks
The report concluded by calling for the need to act as follows:
- Providing security and peace in our homeland should be one of the principal tasks for IWL.
- Struggle to end the occupation and achieve full restoration of national sovereignty, and to eliminate the legacy of dictatorship, especially in the fields that concern women’s rights and their fundamental freedoms.
- Empowering women and ensuring their full participation, equally, in all aspects of society’s life, including participation in the decision making process and holding positions in government, are fundamental issues for achieving equality, development and peace. Possible alliances must therefore be developed to achieve this objective, and to increase the present minimum 25% quota for women participation in the National Assembly to 40%. It also requires ensuring active participation of women in drafting the constitution, and that includes Iraq’s endorsement of all international covenants and agreements that guarantee women’s rights.
- Eliminating poverty through reliance on economic growth, social development, environment protection and providing social security require the involvement of women in economic and social development, achieving equal opportunities, and equal and full participation of women and men. All forms of pressure must therefore be exercised on the authorities, now and in future, so that this orientation is implemented in government policies. It must not be considered a minor demand.
- The battle of democratic freedoms, the battle of enlightenment, rationalism and the culture of tolerance and accepting the ‘Other’, and strengthening dialogue, is a principal battle for IWL. This is so because women’s rights and their principal freedoms are very closely connected to achieving these objectives. The IWL has to work for the unity in action of the women’s movement on the basis of diversity, pluralism and respect for the cultural specificities of the constituent components of Iraqi people, through developing forms of coordination and joint action, while stressing the need for maintaining IWL’s independence in its decisions and general policies. The IWL believes that its main field of work in this respect lies among women masses, to win more gains for women and guarantee, in practice, the rights and freedom stipulated in the constitution and relevant legislations.
(24-25 July 2005)
Held under the slogan: “A Peaceful and Democratic Iraq is the Guarantee for Women's Equality and Children's Happiness”
The 5th Conference of Iraqi Women’s League (IWL) was held in Baghdad during the period 24-25 July 2005, under the slogan: “A Peaceful and Democratic Iraq is Guarantee for Women’s Equality and Children's Happiness”. It was attended by 98 delegates. The opening session was given the name “Martyr Ayda Yassin”, in memory of the prominent leading figure of IWL who “disappeared” after being detained in 1980 by security forces of Saddam’s dictatorial regime.
The Conference endorsed a general report that dealt with major developments during the past decades and their impact on Iraqi society and the position of Iraqi women.
The report pointed out that the social and economic conditions in the country had deteriorated enormously as a result of the total and all-encompassing crisis of dictatorship during its reign of repression, as well as its internal and external wars. Iraqi women were in the forefront of victims of dictatorship, burdened with the consequences of catastrophic political decisions. They had to shoulder full responsibility for their families as a result of the loss of sons or husbands, whether in terror campaigns of physical liquidation or during the three wars waged by the ousted regime. Women had also the job of caring for war victims who were left disabled. They also became targets for political detention, humiliation, rape and various kinds of torture in prisons, and often ending up in mass graves.
As a result of poor economic conditions and rampant poverty, women were forced to take up difficult and dangerous jobs, under extremely complex conditions. They came to face directly the manifestation of social corruption, as well as systematic corruption practised by the regime’s leading figures and stooges. All these factors led to the fragmentation of families. The regime encouraged the revival of outdated customs and traditions that humiliate women and degrade their dignity. ,This in turn was used as a justification for the oppression and injustice against women, within family relations or in marriage, both as mothers and divorced women. Legislations and laws were enacted that debased the human dignity of women and reinforced their women’s position as an underclass.
The report drew attention to the “Faith Campaign” personally launched by the dictator Saddam Hussein, that deprived women of the rights that they had won over previous decades with their own struggle and supported by democratic and progressive forces in Iraqi society. The dictatorship’s policy during its final years meant that women were trapped at home, isolated from fields of work and general activity.
The report added that the above-mentioned conditions, that were described only briefly, did not end with the shameful downfall of dictatorship in April 2003. Our Iraqi people and social forces aspiring for social change, including the Iraqi Women’s League (IWL), are therefore determined to fight to tackle the legacy of dictatorship. Accordingly, the IWL strives to lay the proper foundations for a civilized society, based on democracy in economic, social and cultural fields. This vision shapes its understanding of social change, progress, women’s rights and their fundamental rights.
The report dealt with the position of Iraqi women after the war and the fall of dictatorship, with new political and social manifestations emerging with subsequent effects on all Iraqis, especially Iraqi women. Iraq now witnesses a new situation:, getting rid of dictatorship but falling under occupation. Refusal by the occupying forces to hand back political power and national sovereignty, as well as the responsibility for security, to the Iraqis, and the destruction of principal structures of the Iraqi state, has led to the deterioration of the security situation. Gangs of organised criminals, along with extremist reactionary forces and remnants of the dictatorial regime, are waging bloody terror against the Iraqi people under the pretext of resisting the occupation. Iraqi women have become an easier target for these gangs. In addition to arbitrary car bombings and explosions, women have been kidnapped, held as hostages. In addition, women have suffered from murder, barbaric slaughtering and rape.
Meanwhile, the forces of political Islam in the southern and central areas of the country have exploited the social atmosphere resulting from decades of dictatorship’s rule, and its so-called “Faith Campaign”, to put forward their political alternative, with practical measures to implement their concept for the “Islamization of society”. This is achieved through imposing constraints on public and personal freedoms of individuals, especially with regard to women’s personal and civil freedoms. In this context, a psychological atmosphere has been promoted to impose changes on Iraqi women in a coercive manner, , for example imposing the wearing of Hijab in some areas. The attempt to abolish the Personal Status Law (in late 2003) signalled the intention to reverse women’s civil status. It has to be pointed out that the existing Personal Status Law was actually based on various denominations of Islamic law, and the alternative meant a return to sectarian jurisprudence in the field of personal status.
Iraqi women have managed to participate in political life during the past two years, though in a limited way. A number of women participated in the Governing Council, the Interim and Transitional Governments, and the National Assembly. The Iraqi State’s Administrative Law (the interim constitution) stipulated that the percentage of women in the elected National Assembly must be no less than 25%. Democratic women’s organisations played an active role in defeating Decree 137, issued by the Governing Council (in late 2003), that was effectively aimed at abolishing the Personal Status Law. An Iraqi Women Network was also set up, encompassing more than 50 women organisations.
During the past two years, the Iraqi Women’s League (IWL) participated in a host of activities concerned with women’s rights. IWL activists led the first women’s demonstration in Baghdad after the fall of dictatorship. The League initially faced the task of rebuilding its organisations in most Iraqi cities under the above-mentioned complex conditions. But this task faced a lot of obstacles as a result of the prevailing security and political conditions, thus hindering its fulfilment to the level desired by IWL. Further consideration of the current situation and work is needed, developing plans to utilize the potential of IWL.
The essence of IWL’s work, throughout its long history of struggle over more than half a century, lies in connecting between its fight for the freedom and sovereignty of the homeland and the struggle for women rights and children’s happiness. This is based on its awareness that women’s liberation can only be achieved with the liberation of the society. It is not an organisation that exists outside the context of the Iraqi society’s history and its political, social and economic contradictions. IWL also believes that the liberation of women is not an elitist type of work, or one that is part of charitable or humanitarian activity. IWL’s work and struggle is aimed for women’s rights and freedoms that are achieved as part and parcel of the struggle for social change, progress and democracy.
The report also presented IWL’s understanding of civil society organisations, as a means for public benefit rather than personal benefit or for the purpose of hegemony by political parties that are in power or outside it. Struggle must be waged against the latter tendencies, and against anything that leads to marginalizing IWL’s role and conception of civil society organisations.
Civil society is not an alternative to struggle for social change and progress; rather it is one of its manifestations. Overlooking this fact, or not acting in accordance with it, in spite of being real advocates of civil society as part of our developmental and enlightened project, will harm the future of civil society and nullify its real functions. This is why IWL’s work in the field of civil society organisations needs to be connected with our struggle to deepen and consolidate democracy.
Work Among Women Masses
The experience of IWL’s work throughout its long history has highlighted the fact that it becomes an effective mass force in society, and achieves gains for Iraqi women, when it is engaged in daily mass work, actively involved in residential areas and women’s gatherings, raising daily demands, helping to tackle social problems in urban areas, promoting health awareness, opening centres for eradicating illiteracy, and through raising the level of awareness of women in the countryside.
IWL activists had never been tied down to office work … IWL will not emulate some women fronts and organisations that want to gain a foothold through spending money or grants among women with the aim of buying off people. The secret of IWL’s success lies in developing close, strong and steady relations with the mass of women.
The need for the existence of IWL lies in undertaking this leading role, fearless of giving sacrifice, as it had often done throughout its history. Furthermore, unless the forces of political Islam can be countered by mass democratic struggle, any constitutional and political gains that have been made may be stripped of their democratic content.
The report drew attention to the concept of women’s rights on national and international levels, and the need to defend these rights. IWL will follow developments in women’s movements internationally, interact with them, and participate in formulating the principal guidelines concerning women rights on international level. Undertaking this task successfully requires an in-depth study of our society, drawing programs on the basis of existing facts, and relying on figures and statistics.
The report stressed the need for rejuvenating IWL’s methods of work, by discarding spontaneity, and acting in a spirit of solidarity as women fighting for a cause. This requires conveying accumulated experience, and helping young cadres to assume their role in IWL’s leadership, with the consent and support of women masses. It is essential to emphasize the issue of expanding democracy in daily work, involving as many members as possible in decision making, displaying transparency and a critical spirit, and empowering IWL organisations in the provinces and towns.
A spirit of initiative, collective work and approaching the masses on the basis of properly considered programmes, can help to achieve a qualitative change in IWL’s work.
Immediate Tasks
The report concluded by calling for the need to act as follows:
- Providing security and peace in our homeland should be one of the principal tasks for IWL.
- Struggle to end the occupation and achieve full restoration of national sovereignty, and to eliminate the legacy of dictatorship, especially in the fields that concern women’s rights and their fundamental freedoms.
- Empowering women and ensuring their full participation, equally, in all aspects of society’s life, including participation in the decision making process and holding positions in government, are fundamental issues for achieving equality, development and peace. Possible alliances must therefore be developed to achieve this objective, and to increase the present minimum 25% quota for women participation in the National Assembly to 40%. It also requires ensuring active participation of women in drafting the constitution, and that includes Iraq’s endorsement of all international covenants and agreements that guarantee women’s rights.
- Eliminating poverty through reliance on economic growth, social development, environment protection and providing social security require the involvement of women in economic and social development, achieving equal opportunities, and equal and full participation of women and men. All forms of pressure must therefore be exercised on the authorities, now and in future, so that this orientation is implemented in government policies. It must not be considered a minor demand.
- The battle of democratic freedoms, the battle of enlightenment, rationalism and the culture of tolerance and accepting the ‘Other’, and strengthening dialogue, is a principal battle for IWL. This is so because women’s rights and their principal freedoms are very closely connected to achieving these objectives. The IWL has to work for the unity in action of the women’s movement on the basis of diversity, pluralism and respect for the cultural specificities of the constituent components of Iraqi people, through developing forms of coordination and joint action, while stressing the need for maintaining IWL’s independence in its decisions and general policies. The IWL believes that its main field of work in this respect lies among women masses, to win more gains for women and guarantee, in practice, the rights and freedom stipulated in the constitution and relevant legislations.
TUC Women's Conference: Iraqi & Kurdish Women Speak Out
Nazanin T. Ali, Head of Women in the Kurdistan Workers’ Union, was a conference guest speaker.
She brought solidarity greetings, and talked of the struggle to improve workers’ conditions and women’s rights. She described the women’s contribution to the Kurdish national liberation movement, giving examples of women activists. She also reported on years of repression by the Turkish and Iraqi states.
Over the last 15 years, there has been some self-rule in Southern Kurdistan, with the election of a Kurdish National Authority.
Kurdish parties are participating in the Iraqi elections and in the government. Iraqi Kurdistan has recently elected a President.
Nazanin explained that Kurdish women do face serious social problems. But she had a great deal of confidence in the constitution, laws, and the Kurdish nationalist movement, to deliver equality.
She was followed by Violet A Essa Qalaab, President of the Oil Gas Union in Basra, who told us that …
Before the wars, women in Iraq had better rights than in most Islamic countries, achieved by years of struggle. But Saddam Hussein deprived Iraqi women of education and equality. The economic crisis hit women hard, forcing them to make lots of sacrifices – “Iraqi women became a commodity to be bought and sold”, and qualified doctors and engineers were forced to take low-skilled, low-paid jobs.
In the post-war situation, things are not much better – there is poverty, disease, and lack of security. Women are vulnerable and in fear of random attacks; some are even lived in abandoned and derelict buildings. “The new government has forgotten the suffering of women”.
The Oil and Gas Union campaigns for a Labour Code to adhere to ILO standards. It also demands women’s access to health, education and decent pensions. It opposes privatisation, supports public ownership, and wants Iraq to be free of foreign troops.
Finally, Violet pleaded with delegates to support Iraqi workers’ fight against the anti-union Decree 8750.
As well as the women addressing the full conference, there was a fringe meeting, addressed by representatives of the Iraqi Kurdistan Journalists Union, and the Printing Union.
Additionally, I and a few other delegates asked questions of the Women’s Committee in order to get more information about the TUC Iraq Committee and solidarity campaigning.
Pauline Bradley, of Iraq Union Solidairty, was at TUC Women’s Conference, representing Haringey Trades Union Council. Here is the excerpt from her report about the Iraqi and Kurdish women …
For the last year, the TUC, IWF and others have been organising for the delegation to come to the UK. Due to the fears of the immigration service, the women could only come for a week; so it was a jam packed week for Nazanin T Ali of the Kurdistan Workers Union, Huda S.Rafiq from the Iraqi Kurdistan Journalists Union, Violet E Essa Qalaab, President of the Oil and Gas Union Basrah, and Hasnaa A Abdulsatar from the Printing Union.
Nazanin T Ali talked of how her husband and family had been killed under Saddam Hussein, and how this has happened to many Kurdish women. She and Huda S. Rafiq talked of honour killings in Kurdish areas, how these cultural traditions are engrained and how women’s bodies are often seen floating in rivers; even though the Kurdish parliament has banned honour killing. Girls are generally just educated to primary level, and due to the lack of money and security, families send their children to work when they’re young.
Violet talked of how oil must be kept in the public sector but how the equipment is outdated and how new technology is needed, which is in the west. Her union works with global unions like ICEM, they still need training in trade unionism, health and safety, negotiation skills etc. They’re all campaigning for a labour code to over turn Saddam Hussein’s labour code, which is still law. They asked for our support in getting rid of decree 8750, which was issued in August and could severely quash the Iraqi trade unions.
They spoke in the main conference and in a fringe meeting. Some attendees wanted to focus on the media fuelled conflict between Sunni’s and Shia’s. The Iraqi women talked of how they don’t see themselves in these categories, how they regret the bombing of mosques and how those who carry out such atrocities are “the enemies of Iraq.”
She brought solidarity greetings, and talked of the struggle to improve workers’ conditions and women’s rights. She described the women’s contribution to the Kurdish national liberation movement, giving examples of women activists. She also reported on years of repression by the Turkish and Iraqi states.
Over the last 15 years, there has been some self-rule in Southern Kurdistan, with the election of a Kurdish National Authority.
Kurdish parties are participating in the Iraqi elections and in the government. Iraqi Kurdistan has recently elected a President.
Nazanin explained that Kurdish women do face serious social problems. But she had a great deal of confidence in the constitution, laws, and the Kurdish nationalist movement, to deliver equality.
She was followed by Violet A Essa Qalaab, President of the Oil Gas Union in Basra, who told us that …
Before the wars, women in Iraq had better rights than in most Islamic countries, achieved by years of struggle. But Saddam Hussein deprived Iraqi women of education and equality. The economic crisis hit women hard, forcing them to make lots of sacrifices – “Iraqi women became a commodity to be bought and sold”, and qualified doctors and engineers were forced to take low-skilled, low-paid jobs.
In the post-war situation, things are not much better – there is poverty, disease, and lack of security. Women are vulnerable and in fear of random attacks; some are even lived in abandoned and derelict buildings. “The new government has forgotten the suffering of women”.
The Oil and Gas Union campaigns for a Labour Code to adhere to ILO standards. It also demands women’s access to health, education and decent pensions. It opposes privatisation, supports public ownership, and wants Iraq to be free of foreign troops.
Finally, Violet pleaded with delegates to support Iraqi workers’ fight against the anti-union Decree 8750.
As well as the women addressing the full conference, there was a fringe meeting, addressed by representatives of the Iraqi Kurdistan Journalists Union, and the Printing Union.
Additionally, I and a few other delegates asked questions of the Women’s Committee in order to get more information about the TUC Iraq Committee and solidarity campaigning.
Pauline Bradley, of Iraq Union Solidairty, was at TUC Women’s Conference, representing Haringey Trades Union Council. Here is the excerpt from her report about the Iraqi and Kurdish women …
For the last year, the TUC, IWF and others have been organising for the delegation to come to the UK. Due to the fears of the immigration service, the women could only come for a week; so it was a jam packed week for Nazanin T Ali of the Kurdistan Workers Union, Huda S.Rafiq from the Iraqi Kurdistan Journalists Union, Violet E Essa Qalaab, President of the Oil and Gas Union Basrah, and Hasnaa A Abdulsatar from the Printing Union.
Nazanin T Ali talked of how her husband and family had been killed under Saddam Hussein, and how this has happened to many Kurdish women. She and Huda S. Rafiq talked of honour killings in Kurdish areas, how these cultural traditions are engrained and how women’s bodies are often seen floating in rivers; even though the Kurdish parliament has banned honour killing. Girls are generally just educated to primary level, and due to the lack of money and security, families send their children to work when they’re young.
Violet talked of how oil must be kept in the public sector but how the equipment is outdated and how new technology is needed, which is in the west. Her union works with global unions like ICEM, they still need training in trade unionism, health and safety, negotiation skills etc. They’re all campaigning for a labour code to over turn Saddam Hussein’s labour code, which is still law. They asked for our support in getting rid of decree 8750, which was issued in August and could severely quash the Iraqi trade unions.
They spoke in the main conference and in a fringe meeting. Some attendees wanted to focus on the media fuelled conflict between Sunni’s and Shia’s. The Iraqi women talked of how they don’t see themselves in these categories, how they regret the bombing of mosques and how those who carry out such atrocities are “the enemies of Iraq.”
A Delegation of Federation of Worker Councils and Unions in Iraq Attends Amman Conference Regarding the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Policy
In the name of “the Future of reconstructing Iraq and the role of IMF” a conference was held in January 15-16, 2006 in Amman, Jordan and attended by a number of Iraqi trade unions.
This conference was organized by Solidarity Centre and the International Federation of Free Trade Unions, among the attendances:
Cama Lam: in charge of Asia office of International Federation of Free Trade Unions
Nitham Kahoosh: Coordinator of Amman office of International Federation of Free Trade Unions
Peter Pacfise: International Federation of Free Trade Unions office manager in Washington
Ralf Arial: coordinator of Iraqi workers project
Rick Hall: Solidarity Centre (Iraq project manager)
Mohammed Kathem, Shera Algata, and Shawna Bader (Iraq project supervisors)
The meeting subject “reconstructing and developing Iraq: to meet the Iraqi workers demands” this subject was discussed for two days. Despite the differences in views among the Iraqi unions, the general stand was to reject the privatization and IMF conditions.
Joint statement was issued and went public in both English and Arabic languages signed by four Iraqi unions. For the first time ever the unions agreed upon forming a permanent committee to coordinate work among the unions.
Federation of worker councils and unions in Iraq
January 28, 2006
This conference was organized by Solidarity Centre and the International Federation of Free Trade Unions, among the attendances:
Cama Lam: in charge of Asia office of International Federation of Free Trade Unions
Nitham Kahoosh: Coordinator of Amman office of International Federation of Free Trade Unions
Peter Pacfise: International Federation of Free Trade Unions office manager in Washington
Ralf Arial: coordinator of Iraqi workers project
Rick Hall: Solidarity Centre (Iraq project manager)
Mohammed Kathem, Shera Algata, and Shawna Bader (Iraq project supervisors)
The meeting subject “reconstructing and developing Iraq: to meet the Iraqi workers demands” this subject was discussed for two days. Despite the differences in views among the Iraqi unions, the general stand was to reject the privatization and IMF conditions.
Joint statement was issued and went public in both English and Arabic languages signed by four Iraqi unions. For the first time ever the unions agreed upon forming a permanent committee to coordinate work among the unions.
Federation of worker councils and unions in Iraq
January 28, 2006
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