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The 20th Anniversary of the Parliament of
Kurdistan: An Open Letter from the FCSO
21.5.2012
Federation of Civil Society Organizations
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ekurd.net |
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May 21, 2012
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — The 20th Anniversary
of the Parliament of Kurdistan.
An Open Letter from the
Federation of Civil Society Organizations
The restrictions on the freedom of speech is a
reversal of the democratic process and the genuine
role of the parliament.
Dear Members of the Parliament:
The limitation of the freedom of expression and
speech is a violation of human right principles,
democracy and the provisions of the Iraqi
constitutions. It is, further, a violation of the
laws and provision put forward by the Parliament of
Kurdistan during the past 20 years. Restrictions on
the freedom of speech and limitations of the freedom
of expression is a significant threat to social
stability and progress in Kurdistan region and it is
a worrying sign about the future prospects of
democratic development in the future.
Following the toppling of dictatorship in 2003 with
the help of the friends of Kurdistan and Iraq, many
opportunities emerged for the consolidation of basic
social and political rights including political
freedoms, fair elections, media freedom,
demonstration right and political and civil society
assembly and organization rights. We, in the civil
society, were a strong partner to promote, protect
and fulfill many of the basic human rights of the
people in Kurdistan and Iraq. We are proud that a
host of laws and legislations were passed that are,
to an extent, positive and helpful for the
fulfillment of the above-mentioned goals. Laws such
as the ‘Civil Society Organizations Law’,
‘Journalism Law’, and ‘Domestic Violence Law’ were
among those that we helped to pass and are assisting
the consolidation of the progress toward democracy.
Other laws, however, can be seen as among the worst
in the region in terms of providing the legal bases
for human right violations; such as ‘demonstration
regulation law’ and ‘the security council law in the
Kurdistan region’.
As we indicated, we are proud to be a catalyst agent
in passing the first group of laws. But we are
equally frustrated and would like to voice our
concern and criticism toward the second group of
laws and legislations. We were particularly
frustrated and angry with those members of
parliament who voted for those laws and legislations
and went further to organize demonstrations and
civic activity to expose the detrimental nature of
the laws that were passed with their votes.
Dear Members of the Parliament:
With regard to the freedom of expression and speech,
you are aware that there was no specific law to
protect the rights of the people to access
information. This was negatively impacting the
ability of journalists and other activists to get
public information. It was further resulting in
enhancing violations against journalists to the
extent of exposing them to torture, physical and
mental assaults and abuses. We, in the federation,
voiced our concerns on many occasions against those
violations. It is worrying that currently there are
increasing attempts to further limit the freedoms
and rights enshrined in the international and local
laws and declarations. It is particularly worrying
that these attempts are advanced under the excuses
of protecting sacred religious provisions.
Dears
We acknowledge that the religious rights of all
Iraqis are protected in the Iraqi constitution that
views Islam as a major source of legislations and
laws in the country. This principle is applied to
all laws including the Journalism law and other laws
and legislations regulating the lives of Iraqi all
over the country and in Kurdistan. Therefore, the
use of religious excuses to further limit the
freedoms of speech and expression in the region is
not justified. This attempt can surely result in
disturbing the social order and reverse the progress
toward democracy and respects for human rights in
the region. That is the case because of the fact
that this new wave of attempts to impose limitations
on the freedom of expression is coming after a
fabricated story. The publication of an article in
Chrpa magazine
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/5/state6218.htm
, which appears as a carefully planned plot, and the
turmoil that it resulted in, doesn’t justify the
passage of legislations that can further undermine
freedoms of speech and expression in the region.
Dear Members of the Parliament:
The problems facing the Kurdistan region will not be
solved by issuing even more laws and legislations
that violate basic human rights and freedoms. The
problems in Kurdistan are due to the lack of respect
for the rule of law. The very laws that you work on
passing are not implemented and are violated on
daily bases due to the absence of independent
institutions to apply them. It is encouraging that a
number of the members of your parliament agreed to
this characterization recently.
The curses of the fragmentation of the government
between two KDP and PUK administrations, the failure
to abide by the rule of law and corruption are what
need to be solved in this region. The only hope for
the people of the region is the ability of a free
and independent media to expose those violations and
problems. It was those courageous media outlets and
few journalists who took on the difficult task of
fighting darkness and injustice and in the process
were exposed to torture, threats and genuine trauma.
Therefore we strongly voice our discontent toward
this draft bill that is presented to you which aims
at an even further limitation of human rights and
legalization of the violations against freedoms in
the region.
We hope that this letter would prove as an awakening
call to all of you about the risks involved in
passing such a law by the Parliament. The mere fact
that the bill is not announced and is not presented
to the public for discussion raises concerns about
it intensions. We also support all of the campaigns
and attempts that are aiming at preventing this bill
from being ratified as law and join all of the
anxious voices that are concerned about the freedoms
of expression and speech in the region.
We would like to remind you that limitations and
restrictions of human rights were not the solution
for any issue or problem. The privilege of
difference in opinion and freedoms of expressing
those opinions offered humanity the opportunity to
advance and prosper throughout history. Therefore,
we call on the Parliament not to function as a tool
for limiting freedoms of expression and human rights
in the region. This is risky since freedom is the
basic building block of democracy. If the Parliament
of Kurdistan doesn’t comprehend this basic
principle, it is no different from the dysfunctional
parliaments imposed on the people during the era of
Saddam’s regime and other parliaments throughout the
Middle East including Iran, Saudi Arabic, Egypt and
Kuwait. If that is the case then there are nothing
is there in the parliamentary experience in the new
Iraq and Kurdistan to be proud of.
The Federation of Civil Society Organizations
Sulaimaniyah May 19, 2012
PS. This letter was published in many Kurdish
homepages and news agency's on 19th of May2012.
Copyright
© 2012 ekurd.net
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