Human rights' downslide in Kurdistan Region angers the US State Department

Reports 09:26 PM - 2023-03-25

US State Department logo on the left and KRG logo on the right.

The Kurdistan Region has once again been criticized for violating human rights and restricting press and speech freedoms. The most recent report discusses violations that took place under the leadership of the ninth cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which is led by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who had previously received warnings from Human Rights Watch for such violations.
 
Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) faction in the Kurdistan Parliament says: "In the past 32 years of governance, this cabinet headed by Masrour Barzani is the worst cabinet of the KRG by all measures."

He should review his policy

"Instead of thinking about responding to the US State Department and our allies, the KRG should review its policy," Luqman Wardi, deputy head of the PUK faction in the Kurdistan Parliament, told PUKMEDIA.
 
"During the past 32 years of governance, the ninth cabinet has been the worst cabinet of the KRG by all measures, and this is why international reports and consulates continue to give warnings," Wardi said.
 
According to the latest US State Department report on the state of human rights worldwide in 2022, the Kurdistan Region and Iraq are experiencing a decline in human rights. The report discusses violations that occurred during the KRG's ninth cabinet and calls into question the integrity of the judicial authority.

Kurdistan Region's prisons are overcrowded by 157% 

The State Department reports ill-treatment of demonstrators and prisoners, human rights violations by Asayish security forces, and the poor conditions of prisoners in six correctional centers, three of which are for women and juveniles.
 
The report also highlights that "the centers designated for women and juveniles hold both pretrial detainees and prisoners, and male pretrial detainees are kept in the police station detention sections throughout the Kurdistan Region."
 
Further, the report added, "The total number of detainees incarcerated exceeded the designated capacity of each facility by 157%. In some detention centers and police-run jails, KRG authorities occasionally held juveniles in the same cells as adults."

Senior government officials interfere in sensitive political cases

Relying on the Independent Human Rights Commission in the Kurdistan Region, the report speaks about the Kurdistan Region's correctional facilities which have long had issues with overcrowding, insufficient water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities, use of violence during preliminary detention, and outdated infrastructure at women's and juvenile centers. Because of a lack of medical personnel, not all convicts could receive adequate medical services.
 
The US State Department has criticized the interference in the KRG judiciary, saying senior officials have interfered in a sensitive political case.
 
"The KRG and the federal government claimed to have taken action in response to complaints of mistreatment in government-run facilities, but it is unclear to what extent this was the case," according to the report.

Most of the harassment cases against journalists are in Erbil and Baghdad

The US State Department once again strongly criticized the KRG for the state of journalism and freedom of expression, saying that the Asayish forces in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah arrested demonstrators and journalists, pointing out that the Press Freedom Advocacy Association (PFAA) recorded 280 cases of abuses of journalists nationwide between May 2021 and May 2022, with the majority of cases in Baghdad and Erbil.
 
According to the report, the KRG and the federal government occasionally interfered with media activities through oversight and censorship, which in some cases led to the closure of media outlets, limitations on reporting, refusal of access to public information, and disruptions in internet service.

Bashdar Hassan: Justifying will not help the government

In response to the report, the Office of the Coordinator of International Advocacy of the Kurdistan Region (OCIA) said: "In the Kurdistan region, there is a high degree of freedom of expression and the press."
 
Meanwhile, the US State Department has criticized the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for violating human rights and freedoms and restricting press freedom.
 
"It is important to note that the intelligence service in the Kurdistan Region is overseen by the Security Council (KRSC), an established governmental institution responsible for distributing specific obligations to provinces based on decentralization of governance while consolidating unified security policies," the OCIA said. The same applies to other law enforcement units."
 
Bashdar Hassan, the leader of the legal team representing the Badinan detainees, stated: "Rather than pleading and justifying the authority, the government and the international advocacy coordinator should put their hand on the wound and try to heal it." 'Justifying the government's actions will not result in anything good."
 
"We support the content of the report, which is 100% about the reality of the Kurdistan Region because unfortunately, human rights violations in the Kurdistan Region are at their worst and the violations are increasing by the day," Hassan added.



PUKMEDIA