Shafaq News / The number of forcibly disappeared persons in Iraq remains significant and their file is yet unsolved. Although the Iraqi Parliament adopted a resolution that stipulates considering the forcibly disappeared as "martyrs" and allocating a monthly salary to their families, the decision has not been implemented until now, as confirmed by officials and social researchers in Al-Anbar, which has nearly 3,000 forcibly disappeared people, the majority of whom were lost during the liberation of the governorate.

The forcibly disappeared’s relatives in Al-Anbar suffer from difficult living conditions, which have led many women and children to work to provide for their families, amid a complete absence of government support.

Saad Ghazi, director of the Saqlawiya sub-district of al-Fallujah district, stated, “The number of the forcibly disappeared’s children in Saqlawiya alone is 745, as the number of people who were lost during the military operations in the governorate to liberate it from ISIS is nearly 3,000."

"The forcibly disappeared’s families in Saqlawiya are in a deplorable situation, as they live on aid from some charitable organizations, after the government turned its back on them," Ghazi said, adding that only 183 people related to the forcibly disappeared have managed to get jobs in the Ministry of Electricity, while the rest are still unemployed.

"Entering any school in the sub-district, we recognize the forcibly disappeared’s children from their worn-out clothes," he continued, "Also, the majority of the forcibly disappeared’s women have had to work in farming and cooking to secure a meal, and they have no other means of subsistence other than these.”

Ghazi confirmed that no official action has been taken regarding the law enacted by the Council of Representatives in the previous session on considering the disappeared among the martyrs, and the allocation of salaries to their families, calling on the government to resolve this file.

"The Martyrs and Wounded Foundation facilitates fraud transactions, while legal and fundamental transactions are carried out within the legal procedures, which hinders the completion of the file," he added.

Budget deficit

As for the reasons for not implementing the decision to compensate the forcibly disappeared’s families, former MP, Nahla Al-Rawi, stressed, “None of the transactions of the forcibly disappeared’s families have been completed since the adoption of this law, and so far, none of them have been handed over their financial entitlement, and the reason is the budget deficit".

Al-Rawi told Shafaq News agency that there was no other reason but the budget deficit, “They went missing due to ISIS and militias. Furthermore, many of the forcibly disappeared were government employees, i.e. it can not be said that they are unknown and their dues can not be paid."

"It is not unusual not to activate this law. There are many martyrs whose dues have not been paid since 2006-2007,” she continued, "There are martyrs who have been allocated their dues, but their families have not been able to collect them without patronage. Some give the martyrs’ families their allocation on terms of having half of it, and those families agree to do so in advance."

Al-Rawi appealed to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to solve this file, adding that the forcibly disappeared's families live in a dire deplorable situation and that it should not be like this if there is a government interested in this matter. He hoped that the law will be activated on the ground.

For his part, the social researcher, Salam Al-Mohammadi, said, "Everyone knows that the Council of Representatives in the last session acknowledged that the forcibly disappeared persons during the liberation operations should be counted as martyrs, i.e. their families get privileges similar to the families of martyrs’, provided that they produce a document acknowledging that their son was martyred or died.”

" The condition imposed in the resolution was met by some of the forcibly disappeared's families due to their urgent need for the monthly salary allotted to them, but the majority refused to accept it because they still believe their sons are alive, especially after learning that some of the disappeared may be held in secret prisons," al-Mohammadi continued.

"There are those who took advantage of the forcibly disappeared's families’ misery and pain during the 2018 and 2021 elections, yet they are still waiting for the government to make decisive decisions to solve their problems," he said.

"There are a lot who were forcibly disappeared when their wives were pregnant and now their children do not have any legal documents or identification cards, which causes them security problems, and some of them have not been able to register in schools and kindergartens for the same reason," al-Mohammadi concluded.