The U.S. State Department annually
releases a report on human rights violations of various countries.
Its recent report on Iraq, the Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices, released March 8, talks about arbitrary arrests and human
rights abuses by Iraqis in general, including Kurdistan Regional
Government authorities.
Even at a glance, it will not take much to realize that the report
has no legally verifiable basis because many of the incidents are
cited based upon hearsay or press reports — easily seen by the use
of such language as "reportedly" in descriptions of incidents of
abuse. It is not based upon a thorough investigation to determine
how these violations occurred and who was behind them.
The report doesn't even demonstrate a valid understanding of the
ethnic formations. For instance, the report talks about Kakayees,
Shabaks and Yezidis as non-Kurdish minorities living in Kurdistan.
They are not minorities. They are indigenous Kurds. Yezidis even
pray in Kurdish, unlike the majority Muslim Kurds. It's a bit like
saying Episcopalians and Jews in the U.S. are not Americans.
Furthermore, the report also talks about religious minorities being
abused in Kurdistan and specifically mentions Christians. On Nov.
14, 2005, when Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional
Government, visited Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, the pope expressed
his gratitude to Mr. Barzani for creating a multicultural
environment where Christians could practice their faith freely.
Saddam Hussein's government bombed Christian churches; the KRG has
provided funds to rebuild those churches, according to Bishop Raban,
the Chaldean bishop over the Ainkawa and Dohuk regions of Kurdistan.
The report talks about the Kurdish peshmergas cooperating with Iraqi
security forces in taking Arabs to undisclosed detention centers.
What the report does not specify is that many of those Arabs were
identified members of terrorist groups; these were the same
terrorists who in the past had been captured and turned over to
Iraqi authorities in Kirkuk and Mosul and who, inexplicably, had
been released after only a short time.
They returned to fight again and shed innocent blood. In addition,
if this alleged cooperation with Iraqi security forces has taken
place, it could not have taken place without the knowledge or
complicity of American officials, because, legally, Americans are in
charge of those security forces.
The report also describes ethnic minorities being harassed in
Kurdistan. When one compares the current situation of the minorities
with their treatment in Saddam's era, the difference is between day
and night. The minorities exercise their culture; their children
study in their ethnic languages — these are social changes that
never would have happened under Saddam, who, rather, imposed the
Arabic language upon all.
With regard to other parts of Iraq, the situation is chaotic; there
is no way you can have law and order, which preserve and promote
human rights. These are the actions of isolated terrorist groups,
not the policy of the government.
Although there have been reports about human rights abuses by the
Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Defense, such actions, if
they indeed did happen, are the result of rogue elements in those
ministries and not a concerted policy of the government.
Furthermore, the report would have been more balanced had it also
mentioned the human rights violations committed by some of the U.S.
and coalition forces.
Personal observation from extended trips there and news reports from
Kurdistan instead verify that what exist there are relative calm,
prosperity and a tolerant multicultural society. We would recommend
that future reports show more rigor in reporting facts, not hearsay,
and more balance by fully disclosing abuses by all parties operating
in Iraq.
Even better, some concrete recommendation on how human rights could
be protected and a culture of tolerance encouraged would have been
more helpful to these infant governments.
KIRMANJ GUNDI
Associate professor,
educational administration
and leadership
Tennessee State University
Nashville
CLARE BRATTEN
Assistant professor,
electronic media communication
Middle Tennessee State University
Nashville
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