Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq's Council of Representatives has failed to advance the third amendment to Law No. 20 of 2009, the Law on Compensation of Victims of War Operations, Military Mistakes, and Terrorist Operations, leaving thousands of eligible families without full legal recognition.

The Coordination Committee of Martyrs' Families has issued a 30-day ultimatum to parliament, warning of civil protests and demonstrations if the legislative process is not completed within the deadline.

Roots of the Crisis

The dispute traces to mid-2023, when some individuals were removed from the beneficiary registry of the Martyrs Foundation —the Iraqi state institution responsible for formally recognizing and administering benefits for security personnel and civilians killed in military operations, terrorist attacks, or military errors, a status the Iraqi state designates as martyrdom and which carries legally defined pension and compensation entitlements under Law No. 20 of 2009— without legal justification, according to Abu Ishaq, spokesman for the Coordination Committee of Martyrs' Families.

Those removed were members of Iraq's security forces across various formations who died in active service, Abu Ishaq said. Their removal from the foundation's database left their families without the formal state recognition that triggers pension payments and other entitlements under the law.

"Our demands began gradually, then became a formal legislative amendment aimed at reinstating the removed individuals and securing their rights," he told Shafaq News.

A Stalled Legislative Path

The third amendment to Law No. 20 of 2009 —a law that has been amended twice previously, in 2016 and 2020, and applies retroactively to events from March 20, 2003, the date of the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein's government— reached its first reading in Iraq's Council of Representatives during the fifth legislative term. It was deferred when elections for the sixth term intervened.

A temporary committee was subsequently formed to follow up on the amendment, but it was unable to complete its work due to internal disagreements and an expanding agenda. The permanent Committee on Martyrs, Victims and Political Prisoners, established after the new term began, has since been unable to convene officially because it lacks a quorum— six members are present against the seven required under the internal regulations of the Council of Representatives, Iraq's 329-seat federal legislature.

The Financial Objection

Parliamentary calls to return the amendment to the government because it carries a financial burden have drawn sharp rejection from families and from official documentation. Sahar al-Shawi, a teacher and mother of a martyr from the Ministry of Interior, told Shafaq News the amendment imposes no new financial obligations. Its core provisions are limited to extending salary payments, an arrangement already in place under a prior government decision, and reinstating the removed individuals to the Martyrs Foundation database, which she described as an administrative measure, not a budgetary one.

A formal letter from the Martyrs Foundation, dated May 25, 2025, and reviewed by Shafaq News, confirms that reinstating the removed individuals carries no financial cost and can be executed administratively upon passage of the amendment. The implementing instructions of Law No. 20 of 2009, issued in 2018 by the Ministry of Finance, establish that the administrative machinery for processing such cases already exists within state institutions, further undermining the financial objection raised by some lawmakers.

"Those who were removed are already receiving salaries from their respective ministries," al-Shawi said. "Returning them to the law gives them moral rights, not financial ones." She challenged the objection directly: "If there is a financial burden, why has the government continued paying salaries to martyrs' families until now?"

Human Cost of the Delay

The prolonged stall has had direct consequences for families who hold official martyrdom rulings but have received no monthly salary due to procedural complications. "There are families deprived of salaries despite holding all legal entitlements," al-Shawi said, adding that temporary measures such as salary extensions address the symptom without resolving the underlying legal problem.

Abbas al-Fartusi, a relative of a martyr, called on Iraq's political blocs to fulfill what he described as a national responsibility by nominating members to complete the committee's quorum. "Blocking the committee means blocking one of the most important humanitarian laws before parliament," he told Shafaq News, warning that failure to pass the law would carry serious consequences for martyrs' families across Iraq.

Parliamentary Positions

Broad consensus exists within parliament for passing the law, according to MP Nazik Ahmed, who noted that lawmakers had gathered signatures at the start of the current term to form the Committee on Martyrs, Victims and Political Prisoners, though the effort had not yet produced results. "We will work to convey the demands of martyrs' families to the parliamentary presidency and accelerate the procedures," she said.

Support for the amendment is not limited to Arab Iraqi blocs. MP Sarwa Mohammed confirmed that Kurdistan Region political blocs —representing Iraq's Kurdish component, which holds a constitutionally recognized autonomous region in the north of the country— would back any legislation serving martyrs' families. "The martyrs sacrificed for Iraq, and everyone must support the rights of their families," she said.

In a video recording posted on his Facebook page, MP Hussein al-Battat, a member of the Committee on Martyrs, Victims and Political Prisoners, said the law may need to be resubmitted to the government for its opinion following certain procedural amendments. He nonetheless confirmed the law commands significant attention within the committee and is among the carried-over legislation that must be resolved in the current term.

Ultimatum

The Coordination Committee of Martyrs' Families attributed the prolonged delay to an absence of political will, describing the stall as unjustified given the humanitarian nature of the file. Its statement said the delay reflects the absence of political will to address a file of acute humanitarian sensitivity.

The committee's 30-day deadline runs from the date the statement was issued. Should parliament fail to act within that window, the committee has stated it will escalate to organized civil demonstrations.