The Iraqi Institute

The Iraq Foundation

Human Rights Defenders Network

Newsletter – Issue 1

Baghdad, 25 April, 2007

1. Introduction

This is the second issue of our electronic newsletter issued for our people and our country under difficult circumstances. Despite these circumstances, our network held a meeting in Sulimaniya in Kurdistan, Iraq, from March 26 – 27. The meeting focusedoninstitutionalizing the Defenders Network and the opportunities for its development; the network’s bylaws, which were approved by the Defenders Network members; the international standards of writing reports on the human rights situation; the importance of networking among organizations involved in the field of human rights, whether among members of the Defenders Network or among the Iraqi civil society movement; as well as the goals, objectives, and intended outcomes of this networking.

At the end of March 2007, the Defenders Network issued its first newsletter after corresponding with many relevant organizations, members of the Iraqi parliament, and activists in the human rights field. This is the second issue of our newsletter, issued to shed light on the Iraqi human rights situation in most cities of Iraq. Most of the network’s founding organizations continued to work together, believing in the importance of the task resting on their shoulders. These organizations include:

Ministry of Human Rights (in an advisor capacity)
Iraq Foundation (Coordinator of the Defenders Network)
Iraqi Committee for Human Rights – Kut
The Society of Education for All – Baghdad
The Kurdish Center for Youth – Baghdad
The Human Rights in Iraq Organization – Samawa
Human Rights Organization – Balad
The Future Of Children Organization – Diyala
al Haq (the truth) for Democracy and Rights Education – Kirkuk
Iraqi Fardos Society – Basra
Al Safa Society for Development and Friendship – Anbar
Islamic Organization for Human Rights – Mosul
Human Rights Watch – Najaf
Larsa Center for Legal Studies, Programming, and Human Rights – Baghdad

2. Suleimaniya Meeting, 26 – 27/3/2007

A meeting of the network was held in the city of Suleimaniya from 26 – 27 March, during which the outcomes of the Defenders Network meeting that was held in Amman, Jordan, on 13 – 17 December 2006 were discussed. The achievements of the network, which followed the Amman meeting, were presented. Additionally, the meeting addressed the current status of the Defenders Network, ways to strengthen it, and the challenges interfering with the work of the Defenders Network. The meeting also discussed the Defenders Network’s performance after the Amman meeting, and everyone agreed to work harder to overcome the negative factors affecting the Defenders Network’s activity. The network’s bylaws were then authorized, and the meeting held training sessions on international standards of writing reports and networking (its goals and outcomes). A short piece on the meeting follows:

On 26 March 2007, the founding organizations of the network met in Sulimaniya in Kurdistan, Iraq. The organizations include:

Iraqi Committee for Human Rights – Kut
The Society of Education for All– Baghdad
The Kurdish Youth Center – Baghdad
The Future of Children Organization– Diyala
Human Rights Organization – Samawa
al Haq for Democracy and Rights Education– Kirkuk
Iraqi Fardos Society– Basra
Al Safa Society for Development and Friendship– Anbar
Human Rights Watch – Najaf
Islamic Organization for Human Rights – Mosul
Human Rights Organization – Balad, Salah al din

A representative from the Ministry of Human Rights and Iraq Foundation staff also attended the meeting.

Discussionsfocused on the meeting’s objective, The needs of theupcoming period, and whether the essence of the network’s activity is to expose the human rights situation in Iraq—not only cases of violation that occur, but rather the human rights situation in Iraq in its entirety and the studies and field surveys that support the activity of the Defenders Network.

Participants discussed the activities of their organizations and their contributions to the Defenders Network’s activities, as well as their visions for the network’s future.

Some participants pointed to the challenges that faced the Defenders Network during the first phase, highlighting areas of strength and weakness in performance, ways in which the network could bestrengthened, and waysto overcome shortcomings.

The participants agreed on the minimum standards that must be met in the Defenders Network reports in terms of evidence, figures, locations, and omitting victims’ names in the reports while retaining these names at the organizations themselves.

The final draft of the Defenders Network Bylaws was authorized after a presentation and discussion of a set of drafts submitted by a number of network members. Participants proceeded to prepare a set of general principles, making up the working system of the Defenders Network.

A Discussion followed on the Defenders Network’s relationship to international organizations with respect to mobilization on the national and international level, as well as the relationship with the government, decision makers, civil society organizations, the media, and the Higher Judiciary Council. International agreements were presented along with the decisions for implementation.

The importance of networking as a significant mobilization mechanism was raised. The Defenders Network work plan was discussed, along with the proposed meetings for following up on the network’s work. Joint activities by the Defenders Network on street childrenwere proposed.

The work of the past period was evaluated, outlining the negative and positive aspects. The Sulimaniya meeting was also evaluated, along with what would follow the first phase of the network’s work. A lecture on networking was carried out by an expert in this field, covering the purpose of networking, the framework of networking and its principles and forms, the mistakes made by the Defenders Network and its leadership, work standards of networks, and the types of alliances on the organizational level, including the pros and cons of each type.

3. Activities

Most of the Defenders Network’s organization membersparticipated in monitoring the human rights situation through preparing reports for April 2007.

The Human Rights in Iraq Organization – Samawa branch pointed out the situation at the Central Prison in Samawa by sending a team from the organization to visit the prison and meet with the director and prison staff. The report notes that there were 333 prisoners, among them adult convicts, adult detainees, and juvenile detainees, in addition to some Arab detainees and convicts. The organization’s team conducted spontaneous meetings with a number of inmates and did not notice the presence of women detainees within the prison. The prison’s building is very old and unfit to be a prison according to international and national standards, despite restoration of the building. However, on the other hand, the team noted that the local authority in the province allocated a good area outside the city center for establishing a new prison. In its evaluation of the prison and inmates, the organization relied on the standards adopted at the first United Nations Conference on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners) in 1955.

The team’s report highlighted the health situation.Despite the existence of periodic health follow-ups, the medical staff is not committed to a schedule—to say nothing of certain diseases (skin, stomach, and psychological) that there are no doctors to treat. The allotment of medicines allocated by health agencies is inadequate and not always dispensed in the required manner. The report also points out that prisoners have access to sunlight only once per week and in only in some halls. The report also notes chronic illnesses and, among those afflicted with these illness, lack of regular access to the necessary medicines. The inmates were not furnished with their own clothing, and such was also the case with beds, as prisoners did not have beds. The report then addresses prisoner rehabilitation, where the team observed a lack of social and cultural programs except for some religious forums put on by religious figures every Sunday. The team also observed the absence of the role of the social care department in this area. With regards to newspapers and media publications, they were not present to start with, and the team did not observe the presence of any psychologist or social researcher from any department. The team also noticed water scarcity. The food was generally good, but the contractor was not committed to providing the set quantities, and meat and fruit were lacking. Further, the team observed that some convicts who held baccalaureate degrees wished to complete their higher studies. Another matter observed by the team was the absence of a list displaying prisoners’ rights, disciplinary rules, and authorized methods of requesting information and submitting complaints. The report concludes by offering a number of recommendations, including the relevant authorities taking interest in following up on the prison’s situation, speeding up preparation of a new prison complying with international standards, setting up workshops within the prison (such as woodworking, blacksmithing, and sewing), taking interest in the juvenile inmates who do not know how to read and write, and universalizing these recommendations to encompass all provinces.

From the legal standpoint, the team observed that all of the detainees and prisoners were held under judicial decrees and in accordance with the text of Article 92 of the Criminal Courts Code Law.

The Iraqi Committee for Human Rights – Kut prepared a report on the status of persons suffering from mental illnesses in the city of Kut, taking as its starting point the Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons, the Declaration on the Rights of the Disabled, and the Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness. The report derived its information from the Zahra and Karama hospitals in addition to field observation. The report notes that there are no special institutions or departments at the hospitals whose function is to care for the mentally ill and to provide them with the necessary treatment. Most of the mentally ill end up on the streets, where there is no protection from the attacks to which they are subject. Since these patients lack awareness of dangerous places, especially those where security authorities or U.S. forces are present, many are killed because they are suspect. The report also points out that some female patients were subjected to sexual assault as a result of the mentioned absence of protection. The report demands the existence of special institutions whose primary function is to provide care to these patients, to train staff from the Ministry of Health to work in the mental health field, and to rehabilitate cases that can be rehabilitated.

In Basra, the Iraqi Fardos Society prepared a report on human rights. The report is divided into a number of main focus areas, including monitoring the migration of persons with scientific skills to places outside of Iraq as a result of the violence and assassinations to which they were and are subjected to. The report shows that 40 professors at the College of Law left Iraq in addition to 1600 doctors, according to a United Nations statement in its report on Iraq.

From the migration of persons with scientific skills, the report moves on to the service and health situation in the Basra province. The report touches on the issue of drinking water, as experts and researchers in Basra’s health departments affirmed that the water is unfit to drink. It is salty, odorous water with an unpleasant taste, as it is drawn from the Shat Al-Arab waterway, in which heavy water, garbage, and steamship refuse is discarded, forcing families to buy mineral water (and even this has some contaminants).

With regards to the displaced families in Basra, the report explains that despite the assistance provided by the Ministry of Migration and Displacement and some humanitarian organizations, the needs of those families are still plenty. The report includes a chart showing the number of displaced families distributed across the Basra province. The report also touches on a number of the grievances citizens submitted to the legal committee at the Basra Province Council. These grievances pertained to assaults committed by the British forces, but the Iraqi courts do not review hostile action undertaken by the multinational forces based on Coalition Provisional Authority Order No. 17 of 2003, which remains in effect.

The report points out that the British government spent $258,000 to settle 106 cases of death.

With regards to administrative corruption, the report affirms that this dangerous phenomenon is still present in most public sectors. The report mentions that the Integrity Commissariat is clearly bound by the text of Article 136, paragraph B, of the Criminal Courts Code Law, which prohibits turning employees over to the judiciary except upon the minister’s approval, despite existence of a law regulating the Integrity Commissariat’s work.

From administrative corruption, the report moves on to the status of women’s rights in Basra. The report says that despite the progress the world has seen in this area, women still suffer from the dominance of tribal norms and traditions. Phenomena such as [Word?] are still present in much of Basra society, as is also the case for the phenomenon of [Word?], even though Iraq previously signed the CEDAW, which bans these practices.

On the victims of mass graves, the report shows that families of those victims are still demanding their material rights, despite the compensation that the province’s council offered these families in the amount of 50,000 dinars monthly. The government had awarded these families a compensation valued at 500,000 Iraqi dinars.

The report puts forth recommendations, including the necessity of civil society institutions, in cooperation with educational bodies, undertaking a public campaign to call attention to the danger of immigration of those with scientific skills to places outside of Iraq.

The report also points to the necessity of undertaking an educational campaign on polluted water in cooperation with Basra’s health department and environmental departments, calling for stopping water pollution and putting in place a network for purifying water in the province.

As regards to the migrant families, the report makes clear the need to conduct an educational campaign for the sake of returning these families to their regions, thereby serving the national authorities. The report also notes the necessity of abolishing Order No. 17 of 2003, thereby allowing the Iraqi courts to review cases of assault on citizens committed by the multinational forces. The report sees the need for activating the role of the Integrity Commission in combating administrative corruption and undertaking educational campaigns in this area.

As for Mosul, the Islamic Organization for Human Rights formed a work team to follow up what took place in the neighborhoods of Karama, Bakr, and Siha. The team prepared a report and assessed crimes of deliberate killingin the mentioned neighborhoods. In its recommendations, the report concludes that an Iraqi-U.S. investigatory body must be formed to investigate what occurred. It calls on the Iraqi judiciary to move quickly and immediately to expose these grave violations and on international rights organizations to send fact-finding delegations. It focuses on the possible role of the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United Nations Mission to Assist Iraq.

Near Mosul, the Right to a Culture of Human Rights Organization – Kirkuk prepared its report on a visit to the central juveniles and women’s prison in the Kirkuk province. The prisoners are grouped by age in a prison building described by the report as being dilapidated, and. The cells are 5x4 square meters, and there were between five and eight prisoners in each. As regards to food, the report regards it as good, but the lighting and cooling were inadequate. It points out that there were one to two bathing times per week and there was no hot water, though cleansing powder was available. The report notes that prisoners did not have suits and were not provided with undergarments. The team observes in its report that there are punishments inside the prison, and the team asked the prison director about them (for juveniles and women). The prison director responded: “They are old cases and will not be repeated in the future.” The team also notes that the prisoners were unawareof the regulations applied at the prison anddid not know that they could complain to the human rights organizations that visits them. The report also observes that there is no library inside the prison, and inmates are not provided with writing instruments, although there is a television. Newspapers are not distributed regularly, and the report also notes that the prison director is male even though the prison is for juveniles and women, and there are male employees moving about the women’s dorms.