KRG: Kurdistan is a safe sanctuary for individual and collective freedoms

Shafaq News / The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said today that it will invite LGBTQ+ non-governmental organizations to discuss the latest amendments it had made to legal texts concerning the community in Iraq.

The KRG Office of the Coordinator for International Advocacy (OCIA) issued a statement in which it responded to a report by

 Human Rights Watch.

The statement said, "On March 23, 2022, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report that underscores their findings concerning the situation of LGBT community in Iraq. The KRG Office of the Coordinator for International Advocacy (OCIA) provided the inputs of the regional government in advance based on a prior request-for-information from the above-mentioned organization. The KRG responses are added as an annex to the report."

"The Kurdistan Region continues to be a safe sanctuary for the practice of individual and collective freedoms, which are always respected without discriminations. To reinforce and safeguard basic principles and the rule of law, the government and civil society should work together."

It added, "There are a variety of irregular situations for which the present legal regulations do not provide precise remedies. One of them is LGBT rights and their legal boundaries. However, the courts, which are independent from the government, base their inferences upon interpretations of the texts that approach these issues tacitly, albeit with necessary and compelling reasoning."

"Kurdistan Region strives to protect and promote individual rights and freedoms. It is the legitimate right of the citizens of Kurdistan Region to exercise their freedoms without constraints. A thriving civil society is the cornerstone of preserving individual freedoms and group identities."

However, the statement indicated, "The laws and regulations in place are putting limitations to the extent of proportionally restricting the practice of the same-sex sexual orientation to the vicinity of individuals without publicizing it; maybe the restrictions go beyond this limitation in some circumstances."

"Some NGOs have violated the Law of the Directorate of NGOs in the Kurdistan Region No.1 of (2011) in many aspects. One of the NGOs was originally founded to protect women's rights, but, they expanded their title to include homosexuals as well, changed their logo to an explicit illustration of LGBT advocacy, and failed to submit proper financial reports for the past seven years, among other reported violations. These are violations to the above-mentioned law and other applicable legislations (the legal details are underscored in KRG's response annexed to the report)."

The statement concluded, "KRG is now in the process of implementing the Regional Plan for Human Rights, which is an inclusive mechanism to address the gaps related to legislations and freedoms, and to make the adjustments accordingly in collaboration with NGOs, UN agencies, diplomatic missions, judicial and legislative authorities. The implementation of the plan is overseen by our office. We are looking forward to convening NGOs and governmental institutions to compromise ever-lasting solutions for 27 spheres of human rights; with combating domestic violence being one of the backbone human rights' fields. The NGOs which are more or less involved in protecting the LGBTQ rights will be invited to the discussions and their points will be taken into consideration. Legislative amendments require time and collective effort."