On International Women’s Day, the Information Center for
Research and Development held a discussion seminar on the impact of laws on the
social, economic and political reality of Iraqi women. The seminar, “Iraqi
Law and its Impact on the Reality of Women,” was held at the Teachers
Syndicate Hall in Nasiriyah. Participants included legal experts along with civil
society and women’s rights activists.
The seminar included discussions around the reality of Iraqi
women and the impact laws, adopted by the Iraqi Parliament and based on articles
of the Iraqi Constitution, have on the social, economic and political conditions
faced by women. The discussions showed that the Iraqi woman continues to face great
problems in achieving their rights despite the existence of constitutional
articles and laws that claim to enable them to do so. Due to the absence of
social awareness, coupled with particular customs and traditions, women face particular
patterns of living that often do not guarantee full freedom and equality.
The seminar produced a number of recommendations, the most
important of which were:
1. Advocate for the enactment of social solidarity laws;
2. Advocate for legislation supporting women without a
breadwinner;
3. Enact legislation that combats domestic violence;
4. Promote the participation of more women in the Iraqi labor
force;
5. Develop advanced programs to fight illiteracy among women, estimated at 24% among Iraqi women;
6. Expand the circle of women covered by the Social Welfare
Fund.
Increasing the political participation of women also requires reconsidering the
issue of women’s quotas in elections, which some participants suggested can in
practice actually limit women’s political participation in the parliament and
provincial councils.
At the end of the seminar, participants agreed on the need
to form a lobbying effort among composed of jurists and civil society activists
who work to address women’s issues and put pressure on the Iraqi government to
improve women’s lived conditions.
This seminar was part of a larger project entitled
“Youth of Mesopotamia for Democratic Governance and Peaceful Coexistence,”
which is implemented by the Information Center for Research and Development
within the Iraqi Social Forum, the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative,
and the Italian Organization, Un Ponte Per…, and supported by the European
Union.
The Falluja Social Cohesion
Council held a workshop with the Economic and Social Rights masar (path) within
the Iraqi Social Forum to discuss the challenges facing municipal and education
workers on 22 June 2019.
The meeting began by introducing the path of Economic and Social Rights and reviewing the most important activities that it has carried out with unions and trade unions. The discussion then moved to other issues concerning the great number of private schools in the governorate, in addition to the high prices they demand and their competition with public schools, which will weaken the educational system and results in a lack of services in public schools. Then, they discussed ways to consolidate decent work strategies and reduce the fragility of the labor market in Falluja, while presenting the problems of municipal workers and the challenges facing them at work.
Members agreed to tackle the subject of municipal workers and their poor daily wages, despite their commitment to long daily working hours. In spite of these poor wages, they are not received on time, and this makes the workers suffer under difficult living conditions. This creates fear among employers of an angry reaction from the workers if they continue to be treated in such a neglected way. The council will work on implementing a round table discussion with the parties and those involved in this issue in order to reach effective solutions at the end of July.
The Fallujah Social Cohesion Council is just one of the social cohesion councils operating in 4 governorates in Iraq (Sulaymaniyah, Baghdad, Falluja, and Maysan). It works in cooperation with the Information Center for Research and Development and Tammuz Organization within the framework of the Iraqi Social Forum, the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative and Un Ponte Per.. the Italian Organization, and it is supported by the EU Project, “Mesopotamian Youth for Democratic Governance, Social Cohesion, and Reconciliation in Iraq.”
On September 4-5, the Peace Forum in Fallujah, in cooperation with the Kahramana masar (path) of the Iraqi Social Forum (ISF), held a training on the management of advocacy campaigns. 12 activists from Fallujah and a number of members of the masar attended.
On the first day, participants discussed how to manage campaigns effectively, with emphasis on utilizing the ‘SMART’ technique, a method which specifies that every campaign should have a goal that is clear, specific, achievable, and measurable, to be reached within a established time frame. The content of the campaigns they explored related to violence and discrimination against women, and participants worked in small groups on a specific issues relating to data given in the training.
The second day included a discussion of two UN regulations: CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (adopted at the UN General Assembly in 1979), and Security Council Resolution 1325 on women and their role in peacemaking and security.
One of the most
important outputs of this workshop was the expansion of the work of the women’s
masar in
Fallujah, as this is one
of the most recent masarat introduced in the ISF.
The Peace Forum in Fallujah works in cooperation with the Information Center for Research and Development, the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative and the Italian organization, Un Ponte Per…, all within the space of the Iraqi Social Forum, and with further support from the Swiss Foundation, FAI.
The
cultural heritage of any country is a powerful force, one that operates at many
levels. Economically, it may help to revitalize tourism and create employment.
But there are other, deeper levels on which cultural heritage has an effect,
for instance, social and moral ones. This is because the cultural heritage of a
country provides a sense of shared belonging to the varied individuals within it, giving diverse
communities a sense of their common history and an understanding of the
interests and values of past generations.
Thus, developing an understanding of the rich cultural heritage of a place can open the minds of its people, especially those who might be less likely to accept those from different groups with disparate practices and beliefs. Cultural heritage can illuminate the deep common roots which hold societies together despite more superficial differences. Heritage of any kind, as French sociologist Jacques Berque put it, represents “the past that talks to the present about the future.” In this way, cultural heritage might be seen as a link which connects past generations to the present and extends even to the future — if it is interrupted, if there is a break in this collective memory, the continued growth and integration of a diverse yet united people is challenged.
Given the importance of cultural heritage in fostering unity and harmony, 22 young men and women from different regions of Dhi Qar governorate came together from 20-21 September for a training that sought to preserve their own cultural heritage. The training itself came within the framework of a larger project of the URIM Initiative, a civil initiative to protect the ancient city of Ur.
Yahia
Karim opened the training by introducing the program and outlining its proposed
outcomes. He explained that the training aimed to come up with specific
campaigns related to the preservation of heritage in the province of Dhi Qar
and, more importantly, to find a group of dedicated young people who would be
able to volunteer to implement these campaigns, both
those that came out of the training as well as new campaigns and activities in
the future.
The
training worked along two main axes:
The first axis explored how to establish advocacy campaigns relating to heritage and archeology. Naseer Baqer explained key aspects of advocacy campaigns, their mechanisms and basic components. He went over the reasons why it is important to identify an appropriate target audience, to define the problem to be analyzed and solved, and to set clear and achievable goals. During this part of the training, participants came up with their own campaign ideas to preserve of the cultural heritage in Dhi Qar governorate.
The second axis of the training encouraged girls and women to participate in the activities and campaigns identified by the group. Sarah AlRamadany talked about the long history of discrimination against women in particular countries, and how some have nevertheless been able to achieve gender equality. Then the trainees discussed what would happen if gender roles were reversed: if men imagined they were women, for instance, what privileges did they think they’d get? Women considered what kind of preferential treatment and advantages they would receive as men. And both men and women explored the disadvantages for everyone given any discriminatory system. The purpose of the discussion was to encourage both men and women to imagine the daily pressures and problems in work and life for both sexes in an effort to increase understanding and empathy between them.
Participants also discussed the most difficult challenges faced by women working in offices and in the field, especially within the city of Dhi Qar. Together they tried to figure out how to overcome these persistent problems and how to provide a safe and appropriate work environment for women.
Next,
the trainees were divided into three groups, each one proposed a campaign to
work on and implement in the coming period.
They were as follows:
1
– The first group discussed the lack of sufficient financial allocations for
the city of Ur. Their campaign sought to pressure decision-makers to amend the
Financial Management Law and to transfer the revenues gained from entrance
tickets for the city of Ur to Ur itself instead of the ministry.
2 – The second group examined the decline of certain local industries, which form a crucial part of the province’s cultural heritage. The group focused on the wicker industry in particular and proposed a 3-month campaign which would offer workshops to teach skills, the raw materials required to manufacture wicker products, and finally, a suitable place to sell them. The workshops would enlarge the labor sector in Dhi Qar governorate while reviving this heritage industry.
3
– The third group looked at the problem of neglect of archaeological sites in
Dhi Qar, especially the royal cemetery. The proposed campaign focused solely on
cleaning the royal cemetery, which is the richest archaeological site in Iraq
due to the number of valuable artifacts it contains. Although the
cemetery is closed to tourists, it has not been cleaned for nearly ten years!
At
the end of the training, participants decided that the campaign to clean the
royal cemetery should be their first priority because of the urgency of the
problem and the fact that its solution is most immediately accessible.
The URIM initiative, of which this training was only one part, is a civil initiative aimed at establishing a sustainable protection plan for the Ur archaeological site and implementing UNESCO requirements to keep Ur on the World Heritage List. The initiative has several important goals, including building a reception center for visitors and establishing its own masar (path) which would bring together different communities, local authorities and institutions for integrated and effective collaboration to achieve key preservation goals. The URIM initiative already has support from the Iraqi government, local and international organizations, archaeologists and specialized engineers. The training was carried out by the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative and the Italian NGO, Un Ponte Per… in cooperation with the Mashahofna Cultural Center, the ‘I Love Dhi Qar’ Social Forum, and the Iraqi Social Forum. It receives further support from the French Foundation CCFD’s project entitled: “Young men and women are the main actors in the preservation Iraq’s heritage.”
The Council of the Tribes Against Terrorism, in cooperation with the Peace Forum in Fallujah, recently held a productive discussion session entitled ‘City of Fallujah, The Land of Peace, Resisting Terrorism and Standing Against Violent Extremism’. The workshop was attended by a group of tribes and activists and took place in Fallujah on 12 October in the Fallujah’s Royal Hall.
The session was divided in two parts: the first considered
extremism expressed through the lens of religion, how religious verses and sayings of the Prophet have been exploited and distorted so as to
endorse the desires of extremists and deceive youth and children about the true
meaning of religious texts.
The second part of the workshop dealt with the role tribes play in the fight against
extremism. This second session came up with a set of recommendations,
summarized here:
Work to eliminate social differences between the various segments of society, including clans, clerics and intellectuals;
Hold symposia and frequent meetings among different segments of the community to bring out overlapping and shared views and concerns;
Address the ignorance and intellectual confusion that has been negatively exploited by extremist terrorist groups;
Fight the causes of poverty by supporting organizations which might be able to create jobs and encourage investment in the private sector;
Focus on the importance of social networking sites and urge young people to make optimal use of them to communicate and spread positive views and news of opportunities they might benefit from;
Hold more seminars like this one in rural areas thus expanding the scope of this kind of work;
Form a committee to monitor suspicions raised by extremist groups, become familiar with the kinds of language and jargon they use so that the public can be educated about the ways they might be deceived by extremists’ rhetoric and strategies;
Urge government agencies and civil society organizations to support intellectuals who are knowledgeable about how and why violent extremism is cultivated and spread;
Support women by taking all necessary steps to enlarge the opportunities open to them while strengthening their role in building and maintaining a healthy and harmonious society.
The Peacebuilding masar (path) of the Peace Forum in
Fallujah, part of the Iraqi Social Forum, in cooperation with the Iraqi Civil
Society Solidarity Initiative and the Italian organization, Un Ponte Per…, continue
their joint campaign to combat extremism and the spread of extremist ideology
in all its forms. Together these groups will intensify their work by holding
more seminars of this kind in villages and rural areas in order to raise
awareness about the various forms extremism can take and effective ways to work
to spread peace.
The emerging COVID-!9 crisis in Anbar province: impacts and responses
The announcement by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020 classifying the emerging Coronavirus/Covid 19 crisis as a global pandemic marked an unprecedented challenge to humanity, requiring increased efforts and at every level to confront the threat of the virus and limit its spread. This is especially urgent in countries with weaker health systems, and which face political, economic and social challenges. In an effort to monitor and report the number of infections and deaths since the arrival of the virus in Iraq, the Iraqi government has finally rushed to form a committee in charge of this: the Diwaniy Commission 55 for the year 2020, The Iraqi government was late in taking this important step, it did not take action before the the virus came to Iraq, and kept its borders and airports open for too much time. Fearing that it would disrupt work and production, the government has yet to address the economic and social repercussions that a large segment of Iraqi society will face. A comprehensive curfew was imposed from 17 March to 18 April, and more decisions impacting the lives of Iraqis will continue to be implemented as a way to reduce infection and bring down death rates.
After the outbreak of the virus in a number of governorates, the local government in Anbar Governorate rushed to form a special crisis cell to work in coordination with the Diwaniy Commission Committee 55, but this deals solely with health and neglects the need to form another emergency cell, one which can navigate the economic and social impact of the virus. This is especially important given that not much time has passed since the liberation of the province from the control of Daesh. The occupation by Daesh caused the destruction of infrastructure and pushed many sectors of the economy into crisis, the poverty rate increased to 17%, and there was a virtual army of unemployed people. There continues to be a dire humanitarian situation in the area, with thousands of people displaced and living in camps outside the cities. There is need for relief on all these fronts in the camps — health, economic, social — and it is urgent and ongoing if people are to be ensured of their safety and spared from hunger and disease.
The images of social solidarity which emerged in the governorate, in particular, the visions put forth by civil society movements and peace forums in Anbar inspire all of us and highlight our own responsibility to contribute all we can to reduce suffering brought by the current crisis. The efforts made by civil society organizations and volunteer teams working in relief-based fields are helping to address many of the problems people face by launching campaigns to collect donations and provide affected families with food, and raising awareness about the need to follow new regulations and procedures. The example of Anbar province reveals the speed in which civil society responded to the immediate and urgent needs within the governorate, needs that the government overlooked. While the success of civil society has been truly remarkable, its capacity to keep up this rate of relief work is unsustainable in the face of a crisis of this magnitude.
The health infrastructure in the governorate is not equipped to deal with the current crisis; previous wars have directly contributed to the suspension of many projects and the health sector has been hit particularly hard. Past wars have put some hospitals out of service which was a heavy burden for people, especially those living far from areas in the governorate where hospitals remained open. Simply put, the governorate does not have enough hospitals, and those it does have are not adequately funded and supplied. There is also a lack of health personnel available to work. This is an enormous worry, especially given the absence of any plans or mechanisms in place to address the problems.
If we turn to look at the state of education, like many other countries worldwide, the Iraqi government has disrupted study in educational institutions, and committed students e-learning. Schools and universities were left responsible for choosing the appropriate way to communicate with students but in this, the government missed the critical fact that internet service is weak and expensive. This makes the continuation of study nearly impossible for some students and faculty. Those who are unable to afford the high cost of internet at home will be deprived their right to education. The relevant authorities in the governorate are not doing enough to address these issues.
Even given existing problems, the situation the province faces might still be considered better than the rest of the Iraqi provinces, especially because of the precautionary measures taken by the crisis cell and the commitment of citizens — despite insufficient resources and support — to work together to prevent the arrival of the virus and to limit its spread. On the other hand, there continue to be many and varied problems that require a serious and united response, including taking the following steps:
Forming a special emergency committee to address the economic and social repercussions and ensuring civil society a key role in it.
Launching a government relief campaign with the contribution of civil society to support the affected groups and ensuring their access to all cities of the governorate.
Allocating an amount of 200 thousand dinars per month for a period of 3 months for unemployed workers and people with special needs.
Relieving the displaced, providing them with urgent health care and ensuring their voluntary return to the areas from which they were displaced.
Supporting farmers with seeds, fertilizer and kerosene to meet the needs of the governorate.
Launching more ration cards materials, increasing the provisions available and improving their nutritional value.
Controlling prices, especially food, gas and oil.
Ensuring the right to education work by finding alternatives that are appropriate to the state of the province and ensuring that all students are covered for the costs of their courses of study.
Providing healthcare staff and ensuring that they are equipped with materials designed according to international standards to confront the virus.
Providing hospitals, especially in remote areas and away from the governorate center, with equipment and medical supplies and increasing numbers of health staff.
In conclusion, we affirm the importance of citizens’ commitment to abide by the rules of the quarantine, and to raise awareness about the importance of staying at home to avoid the danger of spreading the virus, allowing as many as possible to come out of the crisis unharmed, with law enforcement upholding the rights and freedoms of citizens.
Greetings and our deep thanks to the health and security staff and to all who contribute to our protection.
The Shaqofian Organization for Development and Culture held a virtual seminar entitled ‘Reality in the City of Hit in the Shadow of the Coronavirus Pandemic’ on 20 May 2020. The seminar featured expert speakers who talked about the state of public health in Hit, the work of the crisis cell tasked to deal with the virus and its effects within the city, both positive and negative, and the economic and social repercussions of the curfew.
Dr. Fouad Al-Hiti, a specialist in internal medicine at Hit General Hospital, spoke about how the virus impacted the health of residents and the health infrastructure in Hit after the outbreak of Coronavirus in Iraq. The healthcare system in the country might be unable to prevent a virus of this intensity in the future; the matter depends on citizens’ awareness and their commitment to preventive measures. He also stressed that Hit, despite its weak healthcare system, which was devastated as a result of the war against ISIS, has nevertheless to this day been able to prevent the virus from spreading in the city. This is due to the success of the mechanisms adopted by the Health Directorate of Hit, such as awareness-raising campaigns and sterilization campaigns, as well as the large efforts that are still being made by the medical staff in providing health services for the residents of the city.
Professor Nihad Al-Ani, a member of the Crisis Cell in the city, talked about the nature of the measures taken to combat the virus and their impact on normal life in Hit. Every action has its pros and cons, and the quarantine is clearly a good protective procedure, especially given the increasing numbers of infected people in Iraq. To date, Hit has yet to report any virus-related casualties. The negative aspects of the protective strategies are represented by their failure to address the dire economic situation now faced by a wide segment of Hit’s community (and in the country in general). Members of the crisis cell now plan gradually to ease the restrictions and allow some professions to carry out their work, provided that they adhere to social distancing and other regulations. Professor Nihad Al-Ani pointed out that some reported violations of the new regulations have occurred due to a misunderstanding in which individuals assumed that the bans put in place were related to tightened security meant to limit basic rights instead of a ban to protect public health. The crisis cell is thus working to clarify this issue and coordinate with the security authorities in order to prevent future disruptions that might create excessive risks to public health. Professor Nihad Al-Ani stressed the importance of complying with the instructions set by the crisis cell in the city in order to ensure that the virus does not spread.
At the end of the seminar, Harith Al-Hiti, an activist and a writer, spoke about the economic and social repercussions of the Coronavirus pandemic in Hit, stressing the importance of an emergency crisis cell to address these repercussions. It is crucial that displaced families receive adequate care and that the humanitarian situation is directly addressed. There is a need to launch a comprehensive relief campaign at a city-wide level, coordinated by the local government and civil society, which has been impressive in its rapid response and its role in promoting social solidarity within Hit, which has endured extremely difficult conditions since the implementation of the health curfew measures.
This symposium is one of a series of digital seminars that the organization intends to implement in light of the social distancing imposed by the virus on the whole world. It was presented in partnership with the Iraq Civil Society Solidarity Initiative, CCFD, the Iraqi Social Forum, and the Peace Forum in the Hit.
The forums of Fallujah, Najaf, and Maysan, within the space of the Iraqi Social Forum, organized a dialogue session on the reality of the Iraqi Labor Laws, on Tuesday, 14th of September, 2021 via Zoom application. In which, three activists in the field of labor laws were hosted, and were 24 female and male activists and academics from across the cities of Iraq participated.
The session was facilitated by the colleague Ali Al-Aboodi from the Najaf Social Forum. He welcomed the participants in this session, then he introduced the campaign shared by all of the Iraqi Social Forums across Iraq; which aims at defining the labor law through a series of dialogue sessions, discussions, and debates between activists and trade unionists, as well as a group of workers, who are the direct beneficiaries of the law. In addition, the campaign is set to promote labor law and its positive impact, also the opportunities provided by the law that the working class can benefit from, and its sustainability in organizing itself and improving its conditions in addition to enhancing its legal awareness.
The activist in the field of economic and social rights Mustafa Qusay presented his intervention regarding the law in a legal aspect; he explained that Labor Law No. (37) for 2015, is considered one of the best laws that dealt with the situation of workers in Iraq and it is a foundation on which the conditions of workers can be improved, however, the implementation of the law is facing a number of obstacles and challenges, including those related to the subjective circumstances of the workers such as the lake of awareness of the law among workers in addition to the absence of self-organization among the workers in a clear way and this will affect them negatively on improving and raising awareness about the law and its implementation in a way that secures all the rights of the workers. He also explained that the law in spite of some of the negative indicators pointed out on the law, however, the law in all of its articles stands side by side with the rights of the workers and their benefit. The law in the end tackles the workers in private sectors and did not address the issues in the public sectors and the merged sectors, and that’s one of the most important indicators of the law. However, what is required is to enhance awareness efforts for workers in the organized and unorganized sectors of work and improve their awareness of the law in order to achieve the best possible benefit.
As for the activist Firas Samar, he explained the nature of the roles played by unions and federations towards benefiting from the Iraqi labor law by targeting and empowering workers in the private and unorganized sectors of work, in addition to improving their legal awareness to address their conditions guaranteed by law, and also that the multiplicity of unions and federations poses a challenge for the opportunities to organize workers in unions. Due to the fact that unions, in addition to their multiple roles, are a difficult party in the equation and have great responsibilities, especially those related to the fairness of work and the formation of a weak force towards achieving their demands and improving their conditions, which were clear and explicit in the law.
Activist Falah Hassan from the Peace Forum in Mosul also explained the nature of the roles played by civil society organizations, especially those that aim at social and economic development and focus their work on the working group by building programs aimed at empowering workers and awareness programs that work to educate workers and encourage them to join unions and federations, in addition to improving the practical and organizational capabilities of unions and federations themselves towards activating their roles in a way that ensures that they attract workers and better organize them. He added that the workers’ lack of awareness of their legal rights makes organizations, unions, and federations incentivize them to activate dialogues in a way that ensures increased awareness of labor rights and the law and makes full use of it.
It is worth mentioning that the session comes as part of a series of activities and events organized by local social forums in 12 Iraqi cities within the space of the Iraqi Social Forum, with the support of the Caribou Foundation and the Solidarity Initiative with Iraqi Civil Society towards increasing awareness of the labor law.
We all remember last year when the 6th season of Iraqi Social Forum, and all the seminars and workshops and the topics that were discussed through them, with all networking and making new connections and warm solidarity links. And on that occasion, for the seventh time on a row, Iraqi civic, social movements and entities including the organizations, unions, syndicates, associations, active individuals, academics and activists are all getting ready to initiate the preparations and arrangements to launch the activities of the seventh season of Iraqi Social Forum, under the slogan of ‘Solidarity … for Another Possible Iraq”. The secretariat of Iraqi Social Forum invites the associations, organizations, networks, civil and social entities/establishments to join the season of ISF, for it is going to provide the space necessary for you to self-organize the set of sessions and seminars tackling issues and notions related to the efforts made; aiming to achieve and reach the goals and principles of social justice, civil and political rights and the state of true citizenship. The registration form for the season is now open, we anticipate your active contribution in our seventh annual activity with hundreds of Iraqis.
From the 15th of December to the 17th of December 2022, the 7th season of the Iraqi Social Forum was conducted, which will be tackled in detail below.
On the 16th of November, the ISF Secretariat set a new challenge for themselves, announcing and inviting everyone to the 7th season of the Iraqi Social Forum. This entailed a month of working days and nights, in order to accomplish this season’s slogan “Solidarity for Another Iraq is Possible”, in a collective and organized way, with the help of volunteers who chose to get involved because of their belief in the ISF. The work to be undertaken involved splitting into voluntary teams, and each team was formed based on their mission, such as logistics, media, program.
Fast forward to the 15th of December, after the collective hard work, the opening ceremony of the 7th season for the Iraqi Social Forum was conducted within the Saint Yousif Hall. It began with an opening speech by the National Committee of ISF, who assured that ISF will be carrying the values of the Iraqi civil society along the journey, just like they always have. This was followed by a beautiful entertainment show conducted by Sanjat Band.
The following day, the 16th of December, the workshops, seminars and focus groups, as well as the discussions and working groups, were conducted by a variety of unions, syndicates, N.G.Os, C.S.Os and networks, in order to work on thematic issues within the ISF paths. Some of these issues included the Environment and Water; Social and Economic Rights, Women’s Rights as well as Equality, Education and Minorities.
The program for the 16th and 17th day of the season, as can be seen below highlights how each activity is focused on a specific thematic issue.
The topics the organizations have chosen to tackle, also show the priorities that civil society is working on. For example, the second version of Dijlah Talk was conducted by Humat Dijlah Association this season, as one of the first activities on the agenda. It has hosted a variety of officials and experts to tackle drought and water policies, alongside other activities by organizations related to the environment, such as plastic risks and climate change. Another topic was transitional justice by Al Amal Association and Tammuz Organisation. The minorities’ rights and social diversity was tackled by many organizations such as AshurBanipal Cultural Association, Al-Nidhal Association and Maysan Social Forum. Social and Economic rights were also brought up by syndicates and organizations. Last but not least, freedom of expression was addressed and all of that was only during the first day!
Waking up the second morning to tackle the women’s participation in the October uprising was something that the Information Center for Research and Development decided to do, within the agenda of the 7th season of ISF. Education and Women’s Rights and Equality were addressed by many organizations like Women for Peace, Iraqi Women Network and Ramadi Peace Forum.
The season was finalized by a session on the effect of the cross-border bombing in northern Iraq, which was conducted by End Cross Border Bombing Campaign, who have summarized a report that was released by them which presented the political, economical, social and environmental effects of these attacks, alongside the activities of their delegation in Baghdad.
Finally, the season was finalized by one last activity on 21st of December, in Al-Amal Association, which collected all the recommendations and outcomes of the activities within the season of the Iraqi Social Forum, in order to set a clear path to make another Iraq possible.
