The enemies of our country have committed another evil and criminal act in Samarra north of Baghdad against one of the world’s most sacred sites for Muslims. A gang of extremist bombers attacked the holiest shrines, the burial place of Imams Ali Al-Hadi and Hassan Al-Askari and destroyed its magnificent golden dome. The perpetrators of this vile act had one motive. They are targeting Iraq’s national unity and its sovereign integrity. They are seeking to ignite civil war. They want to destroy Iraq and its people. They must not be allowed to succeed in this nihilistic scheme.
The Iraqi Workers Federation (IWF) while strongly condemns this criminal act and calls on our people to stand hand in hand to stop the enemies of Iraq of achieving their aim of creating sectarian strife. We must work together in a determined manner to eliminate extremism and march to build a democratic, federal and fully sovereign Iraq.
IWF
23 February 2005
The Iraqi Communist Party Condemns the Criminal Attack on Shrine in Samaraa
In yet another evil and criminal attempt by the enemies of Iraq; the enemies of national unity, a gang of criminals carried out a bomb attack on the shrines of Imams Ali Al-Hadi and Hassan Al-Askari, in Samaraa. The aim is to ignite the flames of sectarian sedition among the Iraqi people and destroy their national unity that we all strive to preserve. The loss of this unity would mean the loss of Iraq, as a land, a people and a civilization.
While expressing strongest condemnation of this criminal act, we call upon all our people, of all religious sects and nationalities, to remain resilient and show a high sense of responsibility, and shun vengeful tendencies. The criminals must not be allowed to achieve their aim of destroying Iraq and shedding more blood. Every effort must be made to preserve our national unity, so that we can eliminate terrorism and terrorists, and continue our march to build a democratic and prosperous Iraq.
We also call upon the government to shoulder its full responsibility by pursuing the criminals, apprehending and putting them to trial to receive just punishment, as well as ensuring security.
Let us all unite and stand firmly together against the terrorists and murderers, and those behind them, and all those who strive to destroy our national unity. Let us work with full determination and perseverance to foil this hellish scheme, that has failed up to now, and must continue to fail. We must double our efforts to preserve and consolidate Iraqi national unity, build a tolerant peaceful Iraq that enjoys peace, harmony and democracy.
22 February 2006
Solidarity Day with NGOs to Abolish Decree 8750
The "Co-ordinating Committee for the NGOs Conference" has considered the 6th of February a day of solidarity for abolishing the government Decree 8750, issued on 8 August 2005. The Committee, that includes the Iraqi Council for Peace and Solidarity and the Unions and Associations Co-ordinating Committee, held meetings yesterday at the headquarters of both the Engineers Association and the Peace Council. Banners were also raised at the buildings of all unions and vocational organisations. The "Co-ordinating Committee for the NGOs Conference" had issued an Urgent Appeal, addressed to the President, the government, the parliament and the leaders of political parties. It was distributed to the local, Arab and international media.
The following is the text of this Urgent Appeal:
NO to Government Interference in the Affairs of NGOs
The right of civil peaceful association and participation in setting up voluntary and non-profitable non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is one of the principles of human rights that have been internationally endorsed and stipulated by the UN Charter, as well as being endorsed by Iraq. It is one of the most important principles for building a free democratic society, where these organisations constitute a counter weight and lobbies parallel to the government and acting as a "fifth power".
The work of these organisations is therefore a fundamental right that should not be constrained by laws and regulations of a totalitarian nature or by government decrees that deprive them of an adequate measure of independence. This independence distinguishes these organisations from those associated with the government. The relationship with NGOs should be one of a monitoring nature, with a special independent law regulating their existence and relations with the government and other bodies. They constitute a legal, independent and distinct subject of rights and duties, so that they can exercise their powers in an independent manner without any governmental or party interference. If disagreements or disputes arise, they should be resolved only through the judicial system.
Despite the existence of vocational organisations that had their own inner norms and regulations, a large number of civil initiatives were launched after the regime's fall in Iraq, the disappearance of personality cult, and the demise of monitoring and domination previously exercised by the Bath party's Vocational Bureau. Those civil initiatives were aimed at grouping citizens concerned with human rights, civil society affairs and charity work. The proliferation of such organisations may have been at the expense of quality, but they can develop, with time, into specialized fields of work. The CPA attempted to regulate the work of these organisations through its Order No. 45 in 2004, amended later through Order No. 61. In accordance with Order No.100, the Ministry of Planning was then authorised to regulate the work of NGOs. This authority was transferred to the Council of Minister's Office, and finally to the Ministry of Civil Society.
Decree No. 8750, issued by the Council of Ministers on 8 August 2005, gave the Ministry of Civil Society and to a Government Committee made up of a number of ministries, extensive powers to interfere in the affairs of NGOs. It went as far as freezing the assets of NGOs and annulling the work of some of them using flimsy pretexts. Finally came the decision taken by the Minister of Justice to dissolve the council of the Lawyers Syndicate without any judicial decision or legal basis. It was simply blunt government interference in the affairs of these organisations.
We, the undersigned, representatives of vocational organisations and NGOs, expressing the free will and desire of hundreds of thousands of members of these organisations, while declaring our total rejection of this government interference that contradicts the most basic democratic and legal concepts, as well as contradicting what has been endorsed by the permanent constitution, call for speedy action to annul these unjust decrees and decisions which are reminiscent of the practices of the dictatorial regime, aimed at interfering and controlling these organisations. Such a policy is not consistent with the pledges made by the political parties and forces, and with the future of the new Iraq.
Signed by:
1- Teachers Union 2- Doctors Union 3- Lawyers Syndicate 4- Iraqi Industries Federation 5- Pharmacists Union 6- Agricultural Engineers Union 7- Iraqi Democratic Youth Federation 8- National Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Iraq 9- Union of Technical Engineering Professions 10- Iraqi Workers Federation 11- Iraqi Writers Federation 12- Brotherhood and Peace Movement 13- Veterinary Doctors Union 14- Dentists Union 15- Geologists Union 16- Iraqi Women's League 17- General Co-operative Union 18- Independent Woman Voice Organisation 19- Central Council of Baghdad Sheikhs and Tribes 20- Iraqi Journalists Union 21- Economists Association 22- Association of Health Profession Employees 23- Iraqi Artists Union 24- Iraqi Engineers Association 25- Union of Iraqi Importers and Exporters 26- Iraqi Society for Supporting Families of Martyrs and Disappeared 27- Democratic Human Rights Organisation 28- Women Committee of Iraq's Teachers 29- Rafidain Women Alliance 30- Arab Forum for Human Development 31- New Iraq Society for Humanitarian Aid 32- General Federation of Peasants Associations 33- League of Al-Sadr City Tribes 34- Arab-Kurdish Friendship Society 35- Union of Engineering Professions 36- Iraqi Foundation
Iraqi CP Leader Receives Delegation of Unions and Associations
Hamid Majid Mousa, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party, received a delegation of the Unions Co-ordinating Committee on 7 February 2006.
The delegation, which represented 39 federations, unions and associations, explained the implications of Decree No. 8750, issued by the Council of Ministers, and its negative impact on the work of unions and NGOs. This decree has been deplored as interference by the government in the affairs of non-governmental organisations whose leading bodies draw legitimacy from their general assemblies. Comrade Mousa expressed his solidarity and understanding for this position, stressing the need to raise this issue in the new Parliament and call for abolishing Decree 8750.
This visit is part of a campaign by the Unions Co-ordinating Committee aimed at winning the support of leading political and parliamentary bodies and mobilizing the public opinion in order to halt government interference in the affairs of unions and NGOs.
The British TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee has published its second bi-monthly report outlining its work with Iraqi trade unions. A PDF version is available for download here.
More attacks on Iraqi unions
The General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) formed out of three Iraqi union confederations last autumn (see issue one) has formally complained to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Director General about further attacks on the independence of the trade union movement by the Iraqi Government.
Following on from Decree 8750, the Iraqi government has now taken steps to interfere in the running of the Engineers' Union, by imposing a new leadership and appointing a group of government supporters to oversee new elections in the union. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), to which the TUC belongs, has supported the complaint.
The TUC Executive Committee in February will be considering a plan of action including:
* a formal protest by the TUC General Secretary to the Iraqi Ambassador to London;
* pressure from Parliamentarians such as an Early Day Motion; and
* a letter-writing campaign for trade union members, to put pressure on the Iraqi government.
The actions of the Iraqi government are, sadly, similar to the steps taken by Saddam Hussein in the 1970s before he completely took over the Iraqi trade union movement and suborned it to his ends, and the TUC will register those points strongly with the Iraqi government.
The TUC will also raise the latest attacks on the Iraqi unions with the British government. Foreign Office Ministers have been very supportive of the TUC's concerns over Decree 8750, and British diplomats in Baghdad have held several meetings with Ministers to express the British government's belief that trade unions should run their own affairs.
TUC Iraq Bulletin
In 2004, Congress called on the TUC to establish an Iraq Solidarity Committee, and that Committee has decided that a bulletin for trade unionists would help raise awareness of what is going on and encourage more trade unionists to give money to the TUC Aid for Iraq Appeal and get involved in practical solidarity with Iraqi and Kurdish trade unions. This bulletin will be published bimonthly on the TUC website.
The TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee is chaired for the General Council by Sue Rogers of the NASUWT, and includes representatives of sixteen affiliated unions as well as the ICFTU and STUC.
Teachers' delegation
Seven Iraqi teacher union representatives visited Britain in November in a very successful delegation that was organised by the TUC but hosted by the six largest teacher unions (ATL, AUT, EIS, NASUWT, NATFHE and NUT). The delegation spent time with each union, as well as visiting the TUC for talks, the House of Commons to meet trade union MPs and the Department for Education and Skills. EIS took the delegation to see the Scottish Parliament, which much impressed the leader of the Kurdish Teachers Union, while other unions took the delegation to a primary school in London, and national executive meetings in Birmingham and London. The delegation were even able to be present as the AUT and NATFHE announced their merger ballot result (no one mentioned that the Iraqis, with one union in Iraq and one in Kurdistan - both covering teachers from nurseries to universities - had already got a lot further in terms of mergers!) The delegation included people from several political persuasions, two women, and representatives of every educational sector. Although mostly funded by the British teacher unions, the delegation was also partly financed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A delegation report by Abdullah Muhsin of the GFIW is available on the TUC website at www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-11305-f0.cfm
Cancel Iraq's debt
The TUC will be backing the campaign to cancel the debts that Iraq built up under Saddam Hussein. The TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee considered a report from Justin Alexander of Jubilee Iraq (modeled on the Jubilee Debt Coalition), and agreed to call on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to speed up and complete the cancellation of the UK debt, and take steps inside the International Financial Institutions (the IMF, the World Bank and so on) to get them to follow suit. The TUC believes that repaying Saddam's debts won't help the Iraqi people rebuild their country: they weren't asked if they wanted to take the debt out, and they shouldn't now have to pay back those who bankrolled Saddam.
No to oil privatization
A new report on the ways in which the Iraqi oil industry is being stolen away from the nascent independent Iraqi government has been welcomed by the TUC. Crude Designs, produced by a consortium including War on Want, sets out how, rather than sell off the whole industry, neo-liberals in the west and Iraq are developing agreements with oil companies that amount to the same thing, without the same risk to the companies! The report is at www.waronwant.org/
New ICFTU project officer
The ICFTU have appointed a new co-ordinator for their Iraq project. Based in Amman, Ralf Erbel comes from the Friedrick Ebert Stiftung, and he will be oversee projects being conducted in Iraq, including, hopefully, some supported by the TUC.
Iraqi women head for Britain
Hard on the heels of the teachers union delegation, the TUC, Unison and the Nick Burdon and Denis Blockley Fund are hosting a delegation of two Iraqi women from Basra and two Kurdish women trade unionists in early March. The delegation will take part in the TUC's annual International Women's Day celebrations on 6 March and then will travel to the TUC Women's Conference in Eastbourne where they will address the conference and take part in a fringe meeting.
TUC Aid Iraq Appeal
The TUC is raising money for Iraqi trade unionists. This has so far been used for bringing Iraqi trade union leaders to Britain and to the ICFTU World Congress in December 2004, commemorating the assassination of IFTU leader Hadi Saleh and supporting the IFJ journalists' project. Click to give money online or find out more.
Newsletter (1,000 words) issued 30 Jan 2006