KRG's discrimination highlighted in US reports

Reports 12:57 PM - 2023-03-26

US State Department and KRG logos.

International organizations have repeatedly warned the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) about the human rights violations, restrictions on press freedom, rising corruption, and decline in democracy in the Kurdistan Region. Despite their warnings, the KRG has allowed the situation to get worse rather than taking action.

The US State Department's fire and the government's Newroz fire 

The US State Department ignited the KRG's phony gesture of support for democracy, human rights, and freedoms while the KRG Prime Minister was preoccupied with lighting the Newroz fire and inviting ambassadors and consuls of other countries.

After the US report, a second piece on the violations and pervasive corruption in the Kurdistan Region under the control of the ninth KRG cabinet was published in the American Foreign Policy (FP) Magazine.

Kurdistan Region experiences obscurity

FP begins with mentioning Chamchamal as an example, which is located Midway between Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region, lies near significant reserves of natural gas. However, locals hardly benefit from the lucrative resource buried beneath their homes. Most get by on a few hundred dollars a month, and unemployment is widespread—particularly among young people.

"Twenty years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan is often held up as an island of democratic promise and economic development in an otherwise illiberal Middle East... But today, things look bleak," FP wrote.

The article went on to say that, "If the Iraq War and its aftermath have taught us anything, it is that Western relations with the region should reflect the interests of its people rather than those of its political leaders."

Hold the KRG accountable for corruption

FP's article also said: "Democracy, unity, and self-determination are deeply held ambitions of the Kurdish people—and three decades of intense foreign support have so far not helped them fully achieve these goals. As Iraqi Kurdistan faces a crisis of democratic legitimacy, the West must use its considerable leverage and capabilities to hold Iraqi Kurdish leaders accountable for corruption and human rights abuses rather than reinforcing them through unyielding military and political support."

Officials have not been openly held accountable!

According to the FP's report, having two zones and the discrimination between cities by the KRG  is dangerous and that the distinction is often overlooked by Western diplomats and visitors who meet regularly with party officials, business leaders, and young people educated at private universities.

Adding: "The Kurdistan Region’s democratic deficit and economic dysfunction are a result of its self-interested political leadership."

The government's discrimination in the US reports

Another topic on the discrimination made by the KRG between the cities of the Kurdistan Region, the FP report pointed to when authorities in Sulaymaniyah had difficulty in paying public sector salaries  last year, leaving angry government employees lining up outside distribution centers for cash. Several pensioners died waiting in line to collect benefit payments.

It also highlighted the statement of the U.S. consul general in Erbil in February, when he warned of “backsliding in the areas of human rights, gender-based violence, the rule of law, equal treatment for women, [and] equal opportunities for members of Kurdistan’s minority community.” The result is profound political disillusionment among Iraqi Kurds.

The decline of democracy in the Kurdistan Region

According to the report, the Kurdistan Region’s democratic deficit and economic dysfunction are a result of its self-interested political leadership. These leaders are enabled by Western officials, who routinely hail their “special and strong” relationship with Erbil but rarely and only mildly publicly rebuke their partners’ abuses and poor governance. These sorts of statements conflate the interests of the region’s political leadership and those of the Iraqi Kurdish people, to the latter’s detriment.

Another part of the report says that the United States and its Western partners have tremendous leverage over the KRG but seem unwilling to use it. For instance, they have put a great deal of weight behind Peshmerga reform—which the ruling parties support rhetorically but resist in practice because partisan security forces are key to their patronage networks. Washington supplies funds to pay some Peshmerga stipends and could make these conditional on reform to break the logjam. Some prominent Kurdish leaders and their business associates also have significant assets in Western countries that could be targeted to deter corruption.

The Kurdistan Region's stability is not guaranteed 

"A lower-cost approach would be for Western diplomats to vocally and publicly call out abuses within Iraqi Kurdistan as soon as they occur—and show solidarity with front-line rights defenders such as women’s rights activists and jailed journalists... Although Iraqi Kurdistan has been relatively more stable than other parts of Iraq since 2003, that stability is not guaranteed," FP's report said.

"Without such a change in approach, “more division and fragmentation” and “the further decline of political freedoms, democratic values, and violation of human rights principles” in Iraqi Kurdistan would be a grave injustice for the Iraqi Kurdish people, who have made many sacrifices in the past 20 years in the fight against dictatorship and extremism in Iraq," it added.



PUKMEDIA - Foreign Policy