 Good morning. Good afternoon and good evening, depending on where you're viewing this live stream My name is Mike Yaffe and I'm the vice president of the Middle East North Africa Center here at US Institute of Peace And I have the pleasure of welcoming you to today's discussion on the current situation and future of Iraq's minorities communities We are pleased to be able to live stream today's event in both English and Arabic We would also like to express our deep gratitude to the State Department's Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor for the continued partnership and support of USA US IP's efforts in the regions and with that I would like to introduce you and welcome you to Three panelists who will be speaking today Our first panelist would be a deed Yusuf who is representing the Alliance of Iraqi minorities and is joining us today from Iraq Nagina saw us as represents the State Department's Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor and who will be joining us today from Washington And as I said, we're grateful to the long partnerships that we've had with the Alliance and with DRL and supporting minority communities in Iraq And I also like to give a warm welcome to my colleague from US IP Osama Garazi, who is now joining us from Lebanon US IP has been engaged in Iraq under or uninterrupted since 2003 The Institute continues to work with partners to forge agreements between local communities and reduce communal tensions Prevent violence and support the safe and voluntary return for displaced Iraqis The Institute's reconciliation agreements into create a wajah and to laugh and to laff are a few of the examples of the joint successes that we have achieved with our Iraqi partners We are especially focused on supporting religious and ethnic minority communities as they recover from the devastation left behind by ISIS At US IP supporting Iraqi communities, Christian, Yazidis, Shabbat, and others has been a priority for over a decade And particularly the last six years as they recover from the genocide and devastation left behind by ISIS Today, we're working in Nineveh, Ambar, and Basra provinces in the province in the south to support communities affected by violence and to seek and heal and facilitate the safe and voluntary return home with hundreds of thousands who have been displaced While we also seek to advance security and the rule of law We also produce an important tool the US Institute of peace conflict and stabilization conflict and stabilization monitoring framework Through which we are able to continue to collect data directly from everyday Iraqis living in conflict afflicted Communities in Nineveh province in areas such as Hamid-e-Dinia Sinjar and Tlaffar to inform policymakers and programs promote social cohesion and might and mitigate violent conflict We know that more work lies ahead in Iraq with camp disclosures with camp closures occurring in recent months across Iraq Ensuring the safety and sustainability of the return and reintegration of displaced persons Including ethnic and religious minorities Is more than ever crucial Iraq is also preparing for critical national elections in October As it deals with intersecting economic political and public health challenges the consequence consequences which Are falling heavily on the country minority and non-countries minorities These are among the central issues we'll be exploring today And I very much look forward to a thoughtful productive and constructive conversation with the panelists And with that allow me to turn things over to our director of middle east programs sarhan hamasahid who will introduce and moderate today's conversation with the panelists Thank you and over to you sarhan Thank you mike for your remarks and your thoughtful insights. Good morning. Good afternoon depending on where you are My name is sarhan hamasahid. I'm director of middle east programs here at usip It's an honor for me to moderate the discussion with our distinguished panelists today We invite our audience to take part in this event by asking questions through the Questions and answers box under the live stream on the usip event page And also on the live stream on facebook You can also engage with us and each other on twitter with the hashtag Iraq CSMF my colleagues Will collect and send your questions to me and I'll do my best to answer as many of them as possible For our discussion. We have three excellent speakers. Um, and I'll say a little bit more About them adad mr adad yusuf is the chairman of the board of directors of the alliance of iraqi minorities He's a long-standing civil society leader advocating on behalf of iraqi minorities Advancing minorities and human rights and working on elections Adad is joining us from iraq as mike said and he will speak in arabic. So our english Speakers will hear what he has to say through the interpreters We also have miss niggina sows Who's a team lead in the office of global programs at the bureau of democracy human rights and labor Commonly known as drl and the u.s. State department She oversees the development and funding of human rights democracy and labor programs in the middle east and north africa region Ensuring the programs implemented in partnership with civil society actors Advance the state department's policy goals Prior to her government service. She worked and lived in the middle east to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms Niggina has extensive iraq knowledge and experience I'm really glad that she agreed to join us today in her first public engagement Hopefully the beginning of many to come And we're also joined by Mr usama gharizi usip senior program advisor for iraq usama served as usip's regional program manager Prior to his current role and he was focused on iraq and syria from july 2015 To october 2018 and he has an extensive hands-on experience designing managing and leading Learning efforts around reconciliation and dialogue processes in iraq and syria in the post isis Period he has also spearheaded the development of usip's conflict and stabilization monitoring framework For you know a province the findings of which we will discuss today So as mike noted usip has worked with ethnic and religious minorities under different projects for over a decade now Our work with them has been uninterrupted a main component of our work overall as well as with iraq's minorities Is connecting our local work with data and analysis to inform policy in washington iraq and the international community and we hope that today's conversation is one of those opportunities The conflict Conflict and stabilization monitoring framework or csmf as we often call it Is one of several ways we learn about the issues on the ground and share it We often hear from governments political religious and civil society leaders all important stakeholders With the csmf we hear directly from the conflict affected communities and minorities in ninova province to understand Their assessment of what's happening in their areas We're having this conversation as we mark the anniversary of the tragic advances of isis in june of 2014 Three and a half years after the military defeat of isis in iraq three months after the historic visit of the pope to iraq And also as the country prepares for important national elections just short of four months from now We'll first hear from usama Some key findings from the data then hear from adad as a civil society leader Then we hear from negina about some of the u.s. Government efforts through drl And her own analysis as an expert on iraq issues so First usama Can you please tell our audience briefly? What is the conflict stable conflict and stabilization monitoring framework? Yeah, thanks so much. The conflict stabilization monitoring framework was established by usip but in 2016 With support from drl And it was really meant to fill a gap But we noticed there to be a gap in in research efforts in at the time There was a lot of qualitative data coming in a lot of rapid assessments rapid research qualitative research being done But when we took a step back to understand Our things getting better in the conflict environment There weren't efforts to to there weren't systemic longitudinal efforts to To do so to give us a better understanding if the conflict environment is getting better or if it's getting worse and why So we went ahead and designed The conflict and stabilization monitoring framework utilizing usip's Measuring progress in conflict environments framework um adapting it to iraq and it's a framework consisting of now over 90 indicators looking at themes around rule of law governance livelihoods reconciliation And the value added of this framework is that it is community perceptions So these are community how communities actually Feel about these issues And the various indicators tied to them Thank you saman. It's important to note that really it's providing rich information about areas of governance security social Uh cohesion reconciliation the well-being of the people. So it's really really rich. So Let's dive in uh three years Three three and a half years after the military defeat of ices in iraq What does the csmf data tell us about security from the perspective of the people? And um, yeah, and if you can also When as we give our answers if you can speak to How women in particular view these issues if there is different that would be great Yeah, thanks sarong So from this is we've done four rounds of data collection and the confidence stabilization monitoring framework And from round one, which was conducted over three years ago to round four Which was last uh conducted in october of november of last year There's been a positive trends with regard to security So that is the majority of residents in the districts that we're looking at and there are three districts in particular that are covered by the framework Hamdani district the lafa district in sindar district in all three districts The majority of residents have felt safer over the course of the last three years Where the the latest round four findings show that communities the majority of communities in each district feel safe feel secure But that's not to say that they still don't have concerns about security And these concerns can be broken down into four groups So first, uh, there are concerns about the security arrangement or configuration In the three districts looked at by some communities For example in sindar half of the azidis in the district would like to change the existing security configuration In order for them to feel safer This is true of the the critters community in um in the lafa as well And so in sindar our district dates to the highly complex security environment in the district That sees that have a multiplicity of security actors and we're all familiar with the The the highly fluid security environment in sindar Indeed as noted by the the conflict and stabilization monitoring framework sindar residents more so than other residents in the other districts Are extremely concerned that clashes between the different security actors in the district will occur So this again points to the security configuration or the lack of a structured security configuration in sindar second And it's related to the first, uh Is that there are concerns about security actor behavior in the existing security arrangements or configurations in each of the districts So some communities feel that these security actors are not working in the interests of all residents And that some are purposely targeting Are marginalizing some communities. So there's a concern about behavior Third there are concerns that security actors have too much power and influence on the administration and governance in their districts or sub districts And uh, this is especially true of uh, the christian community in hamdini and the turkman communities be they uh from the the sunni community or from the shia community in the lafa And then last lastly, there's there's a there exists a concern that um That security security concerns are no longer about isis across the three districts unemployment and the lack of Of employment is ranked as the biggest threat to safety by communities More so than a resurgence of isis more so than other Risks that they're experiencing. This was true of the three districts. So these economic fears tie indirectly with security in another way That we've captured in the data And that's the majority of residents in sinjar and the lafa and a near majority in hamdini I believe people residents in their communities Join security actors because of economic need and necessity So again, the general trend is security is better, but communities still have security concerns as uh, as I outlined Thank you. Um, so anything here on to point out in terms of the If there are specific issues that affect women in particular or if their views and assessments are different Yeah, so there were a real one came in security. There weren't a lot of uh discrepancies between how men and women viewed security In some communities security actors were were not Were viewed in more positive terms by women But across the board there weren't really any any variations between the two groups Thank you so much. So the conflict With isis and conflict over all bereft communities apart and in in many cases turned them against each other This in itself Became a barrier to return of many people What does that data tell us about coexistence in in avat and matters of justice and reconciliation As the people see them Um From the data, uh, we look, um, there are a number of indicators that are looking at reconciliation coexistence social cohesion views Um, the general trend is that communities feel reconciliation is needed. So when I say communities, we're talking about christians. Shabbat the turkman We're looking at the Sunni Arab communities the Yazidi communities In in the three Districts that I mentioned all these communities feel that reconciliation is needed. That's true But where there's variation is that not all communities feel reconciliation is feasible or possible So digging deeper on this if we look at Hamdini district Those that are more pessimistic about the prospects for reconciliation I mean really when we look at Hamdini We know about the tensions between the the christian community and the shabbat community So the christian community particularly those living in Bartala sub-district um, they are much more pessimistic about achieving reconciliation than uh, than christians in hamdini center akarakosh and Then the the shabbat community who the shabbat community feels more so than the the christian community that reconciliation is Is possible now these the differences are largely related to the the power dynamics in the district or the shifting demographic and power dynamics in the district And so You know the This has also caused there to be some challenges to reconciliation So on this There's a sizable segment of the christian community that does not believe compromises should be made in order to achieve reconciliation Um, which is another impediment to moving forward on it now on a positive note The the data from the csmf does show that both the christian community and the shabbat community Not only feel a need for reconciliation, but they want reconciliation And that each side recognizes the victimization of the other community. So these are really big steps that um Weren't from from round one to round four Some of these things did not show up. So we've seen a shift towards perceptions about victimization of the other Peer so there's an acknowledgement And in terms of what issues are linked to reconciliation residents in all three districts Rank the crimes committed by isis as the the first thing that should be on the table when discussing reconciliation These things differ than uh, beyond isis crimes looking at when you look at the districts themselves So they all have their own dynamics and idiosyncrasies And so if we look at the laffat, for example in the sub district in the laffat called zoomar, which is a disputed territory Issues related to the speedy tats the status come up in the data On what issues should be tied to reconciliation between the community and the the christian community in in zoomar And obviously in hamdani as well you uh beyond isis crimes issues related to housing an administration political participation Which are known to to be creating tensions between the communities are issues that Are both sides no need to be discussed another positive in terms of the agreement is that Across the three districts. There is a common challenge identified to reconciliation occurring Communities believe that there's a lack of political will And that that is the main impediment to reconciliation And you know, this is this reflects to what we hear from communities outside of the data set Interacting with them through different dialogue processes in other types of initiatives is communities particularly the ethnic and religious minority communities feel that they've lost political agency That their their political rep representatives do not really reflect the Interest of their other communities, but instead they're they're beholden to the interests of larger political parties who Who dominate the political space in those areas? Thank you Osama clearly I think the It's good to to see the areas of progress where people feel better about security Where people recognize the need for reconciliation and they want it, but it's also clear that there are Unique characteristics to each location issue that requires when interventions are made That you take those nuances into consideration to To achieve success I'll come back to you with more questions about the data But let me move to adad now Adad, can you tell our viewers? What is the alliance of iraqi minorities? And what are some of the key issues that you work on? Thank you very much Sahang and I would like to thank the usip for allowing us or giving us this opportunity the alliance of iraqi minorities and is an alliance between civil society organizations that work on creating a unified friends among minorities And their issues and to defend these issues we Worked through peaceful Means we were established in but in 2010 after a series of Meetings between a number of iraqi minorities and under the sponsorship of the usip We created the alliance we now have 23 members and 63 individuals University professors ex ex-parliament members human rights activists Minorities activists we give them honorary membership and Consultive capacity in the alliance. We also have colleagues from the From all minorities that the christians ksaba kaka a turkman Bahá'í armenians and Gypsies and those with a darker skin tone. We work in all parts of iraq on Strengthening the rights of iraqi minorities in a manner that would guarantee that respect of the rights and interests Through campaigns Supportive campaigns and through monitoring violations and defending the rights of iraqi minorities and protecting them and we work on maintaining the Privacy of the and the private nature and characteristic of the minorities and to keep and maintain their presence and to preserve their heritage their Heritage and presence in iraq now. We are negotiating with the Nineveh protection units in order to find a solution to have stability in the area and defend and protect the rights of all The minorities in the area. We also work on protecting the constitutional rights and guarantees and For all religions and for all religions and languages of the minorities We also work on building relationships with all the stakeholders to protect the political Ethnical and religious rights of my own minorities We also work on developing the areas where minorities live to ensure Equality and justice and to enable the minorities to have an influence and impact over the things that Over the things that affect them in their areas of Of residents we have worked since 2019 and we are still working on Um On the partnership budget supported by the usip we have worked with the municipal councils in the five areas that we have chosen and with Nino and with the ministry of planning and the parliament and the government secret rates Is it a good example of the agency of the minority communities themselves and the civil society? Representing organizations and individuals so at the How do you assess the current situation of the iraqi minorities in iraq and what are the key challenges that they face from your perspective? Well, when we talk about the situation of minorities in iraq, we have to categorize them to three groups The first one is the protection of presence identity second equality and indiscrimination third active participation including political participation And these are points that the alliance focus on since its establishment All iraq is after the fall of the regime in 2003 were optimistic especially after The suffering they have endured and the displacement and marginalization They were optimistic that the new iraq will give them will be A new haven for them where they will not be discriminated against but unfortunately what happened was the Opposite because some of the minorities have become threatened their presence Became threatened and it was clear that they will only stay in iraq for a time for example We had more than a million and half christians before 2003 and now in iraq we only We only have We only have 300 000 christians although we do not have official statistics. They are still Leaving iraq and immigrating outside of iraq the sabi are also 90 of them have left iraq We have less than 4 000 members of this minority and although they Were the majority in some of the districts now they have Vanished completely from these districts the same applies to the azidis especially when the doors of immigration have been open to them To europe we are trying to draw the attention of the world to this problem and this threat which is not which is irreversible Irreversible what we see is that there is more pressure on the minorities to uproot them from their historical land as a result of the international conflict and the Wars that are happening in iraq while it is happening in upper bill war in the hope to govern it on the turkish borders the turkish government is As harassing the pkk and the some of the and they are bombing the areas and The most recent was yesterday the most recent attack was yesterday and the residents who are mostly iserians Are having to be are being displaced the same Goals applies first and jar we have a heavy presence of pkk in that area and we have more than one security actor Active there and this strips the area out of stability and this drives the residents to leave the area And to succumb to the attraction of immigration that is why in the alliance we work with the usiv P and we are trying to work with other stakeholders to provide or to ensure that there is a A stable environment that would attract the minorities back Of course, we cannot forget about the role of isis that has Persecuted minorities in some of the areas and they destroyed their livelihoods and their presence and despite the efforts Effort exerted by the by several international organizations and although some success have been achieved in Some areas like alhamdulillah, but there were discouraging results In areas like talkeh for example, there are several factors like economic ones and other ones and you know, for example the intensive presence of security agencies Intimidates the minorities and the christians. Therefore, we need to exert more effort to close the refugee camps and bring the people back to their To their homes also there is discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and color and religion in iraq and in our alliance We monitor and record Uh numerous incidents of Discrimination especially against the gypsies and people with dark tone skins and also there is Denial of denial of some religions like the ka'aiz and azar adesh and they are considered as muslims, although they are not even in the The law in iraq bands the baha'i activity and it restricts any activity that is done for the baha'i or organized by the baha'i Sect also there is a hatred That there is obvious hatred against christians and jews especially in that Especially in their feasts and celebrations also Unattended minors are automatically considered to be muslims now We are working on drafting a new law about that and we are receiving support from the usip and we are working on promoting the Culture and geography and religion of religious and we are trying to eliminate hate speech in cooperation with the ministry of education and the region of kurdistan and we are trying to promote and Promote the minorities and coexistence despite of the difference in our opinion these steps are very slow in baradal And we need the support of the international society To help the iraqi government to take A brave and quick steps to support this although the although human rights and Religious rights is considered to be very distinguished and special and Kurdistan because they recognize all religious minorities and they are all represented in the Ministry of religious and they are all allowed to practice that which was however the conflict over the Lands of christians is something that the kurdistan's government should address and take serious action because International support is required to identify these problems Especially in cases where court orders have been issued, but they were not actually implemented yet The participation of minorities in politics support is a major indicator in iraqi especially that it is a It is a plural and I Country I mentioned here for example the federal court and the parliament as a judicial Power however the minorities are not represented in the parliament although there is One christian member and although the federal court has ruled that the azidis should be represented in the parliament But they are not the new elections law Will not ensure fair representation for the minorities in the parliament I really appreciate the three Categories of efforts that you mentioned the need Protection of minorities existence and their identity equality and non-discrimination and political participation in the The the key examples that you gave and I think it was a good complementarity in between what you said I would wassama said based on the data and i'm glad that you also mentioned your efforts at the national level and as People globally talk about matters of race And talking about the dark-skinned iraqis is and they're plighting iraqis an important one So it is good that the coalition is the alliance is representing the diversity of the iraqi minorities even when There are legal barriers to their representation and education about them so Let me move to our third speaker and Nagina For more than a decade your office has supported iraqi minorities In iraq basically what is drl's approach to support iraqi minorities and how do you Translated into action in iraq. What has been some of your priorities? I asked that understanding That there are specifics of the work for the safety of the people involved may not be shared and I also saying that recognizing that You are here with us in an official capacity With drl, but also as an iraq expert. So I hope that we will be able to To hear from you your expertise later on on some of the other matters, but if we focus here on drl's work Thanks sarhan. Good morning and good afternoon to everyone and thanks for allowing me to be part of this Really rich discussion. I think to answer your immediate question about where we in drl have been working on the issues of minorities. I think we can We can go back and we can start with just the basic Understanding that The issues of the minority communities within iraq can never exist in a vacuum This is it's not a subject that we can just say we will focus only on these communities in isolation That in order to be able to ensure that they have all of those elements that had that Outlined that are our priorities of the alliance That those cannot happen without the full participation and focus on the broader society as well So all of the work that we attempt to support With any rock to ensure that those communities can not only survive but thrive as active citizens and participants in their country Is really on two parallel tracks both addressing those immediate needs that they have as individual communities And as a collective of component communities that are facing very similar issues But from different perspectives as it affects each of them And then also ensuring that we're having that connection back to their their place both In their regional geography as well as on the national level because if we continue to just focus in on the very small micro Community level without connecting that back to these larger issues that are happening at the national level Neither side will be able to succeed. So it's always with the eye of being able to address both the immediate impact of what's happening to Religious and ethnic components and then also their place within the broader system It's It's almost like pulling at a string when when we you know address one issue that comes Against one community. It's never happening in isolation. It's always happening both to Other communities and within the broader reach. It's just the impact And how it affects the the different parts are are often more severe when you have a more marginalized group Or one that has been under, you know, these mass migrations that adad outlined And then also the active conflicts as well as already having Lower participation. So all of it has to be incorporated and built on each other in order for there to be success Thank you. So in terms of translating that into action, is that because you did not feel comfortable going there or Not at all. Just I forgot the second half of your question. So a lot of that work Um and the majority of that work it is again happening always on two levels we have the work that our Our colleagues in the embassy and in the department are working on the national level at the diplomacy side ensuring that these perspectives Are included in their engagement with their counterparts in the iraqi government in the Kurdistan regional government But then also being able to feed that work into our support to civil society organizations They are they are the ones that have that access and that ability to engage with their communities directly There's there's a difference. And I think going back to You know, sama laying the groundwork and the context in which we're working We're talking about, you know, in the moment, uh, the csmf was was developed in 2016. That's well two years After the initial ISIS incursion But that's not the beginning of the story for where minorities issues were happening where iraqi components started to I mean even addressing the language around how we reference these communities minorities versus components Talking about them as religious versus ethnic minorities where their their Stake lies in geographic discussions. None of this is new But all of this kind of came to the forefront after the incursion of ISIS and One of the things that we do have to be mindful of is that over time that has led to the The smaller circles of trust Are a little bit more difficult to access Particularly when we're talking about these continuing cycles of instability So it's not possible for us to say that we can support that work unless we're directly working with those organizations that represent their communities Unless we are connecting those back to those larger political discussions and ensuring that When we're talking about any of these broader issues We're also in short connecting what that community level Perspective and the impact of some of those decisions is going back in a feedback loop You know we're where we're able to support Projects that allow for that analysis that assessment that progress at the community level It doesn't just end with this project is done. We're happy We have to then take the impact of that project to the results and feed it back into the larger Objectives that we're trying to achieve Otherwise, we're we're having quite a We're putting ourselves in a situation where we're not feeding the the broader progress And that would just bring us right back to where we were. I would say prior to 2014 even Thank you. Thank you, Nagina and thank you for pointing out the word choice in iraq component versus minorities and and for those who are listening to us in english and They're not familiar in iraq the word choice for The word minorities is not It's usually not preferred to use because it could suggest a status where you're inferior To another community and the minorities as they have been Flagging that as an issue. It's not something minority in terms of numbers But it also in terms of your status and how you're treated on your you're represented So they use the word Component mckelwin at I know it's a little bit awkward in english But that's it comes up in this conversation. That's what what we mean So Nagina if I may Ask you as you look at the data and from your Years of work on your rock So Two pieces of the question you answered some of my second question, but just put it back to you if you have additional thoughts on that What? findings and trends in the csmf data stood out to you And the other piece to my question is that how do these relate to? What you see in the rest of the country, especially In light of the public demands In the middle and the south south of the country And so as I do that before I get your answer just to remind that To help our interpreters we do not speak too fast. I hope we have slowed down enough For them. I'm to encourage everybody who are watching us online to send their questions via the chat box Under the live stream on the usipu website or on Facebook and I know some have started to kick in and I'll Get to them after This round Nagina I promise to try to slow down, but this is this is a Herculean task for me. So I'll do my best um I think one of the most interesting facets of the The framework and where we've seen I'll I'll answer in two parts. I think first this is the fourth wave of data that we've received. Um, it's been over many iterations of collecting an analysis analysis of the data on the part of usip On the on the positive side. I think what we've seen is that there is progress Particularly in some of the more recent data collected. I think what what frequently happens is that As I said, these are long-standing issues and The situation has gotten so bad that we forget to see that in some cases there there can be progress and it Can be incremental and it can be Difficult to measure but in some cases that does exist But what is even more striking and what I hope people will take? away from both this discussion and Really, I encourage you to take some time and look at the framework on usip's website. It's an excellent tool Both in usability and in and sheer information and analysis that the usip team has put into it um I think what what is really remarkable is none of this is a surprise And none of this should be unique to any single community and if we can normalize understanding that There are there is a spectrum of where these issues have impact and where these responses Are very common. I think that can begin a lot of that process that again Osama talked about on the need for reconciliation But some of that difficulty on how to approach it um the commonality of some of the contributing factors to To that feeling of instability um unemployment and livelihoods are issues across the country um a feeling that security is not Is not a constant is common across the country again Do do the the component and religious and ethnic minority communities? Do they feel them more With greater impact and more strongly in some situations absolutely and that's Extremely valid and has to be addressed again in one of the the two parallel tracks that we talked about But it it is part of the the greater and um uniting Assessment and feeling within the country that these these are issues that affect everyone um and because of that, I think we've seen this really Public and consistent movement to say that across the board We we are not happy with corruption. We are not happy with how this affects our livelihoods We are not happy with what what is happening in the environment around us And and we are not seeing this translated even into that security that we would need to be able to address some of these ourselves So for me, I think that is the most remarkable part Of of the the data and the framework and the analysis that we've seen is that it really highlights and underscores that There there are so much of these commonalities and then again back to the mission of the alliance of iraqi minorities I think that Part of of what's so important about their work is that in the the budgeting process in the participatory budget planning It's intended to say that this is happening at our district or our provincial level Feeding into the national level and as part of those communities We do want to highlight our specific interests. So again, you can't let either side fall to to one side or the other And it really is about addressing those broader issues But but with that understanding that it is sometimes worse for others But it doesn't mean that it's different. It just Those commonalities are part of what has to be addressed Thank you. Thank you so much. Nagina. So before I switch gear so taking one question from what would you receive from facebook? There's a question is a report available with the findings from the iraq conflict and stabilization monitoring framework So I'll answer that question osama and because I would like to go back to with you to the data As nigina mentioned, the the data is available on the usip website the Round one two three actually all four rounds the road data is available on the website So people can draw their own analysis from it second for there is a report on rounds one two and three And there is an interactive dashboard for round four that you can work with on the website and there are multiple pieces for round four that draw work touches on the issue of sin jar and the issues of Decentralization that you can find on the usip website Those are available and if you have other specific questions There's an email on the website that you feel free to reach out to us and ask us questions that that you may have So with that osama, let me when we I think we've taken good stock of Where is the situation now what are the challenges and some of the actors involved in this work some of the initiatives done I'd like to switch gear and look at Moving forward. We spoke about that. This is an election year big election year an important Event for iraq What does the data tell us about political representation and governments you started You said a little bit of that But specifically what does the csmf highlight in terms of expectations from the government the international actors And in particular actually the elections. What what what what do we what does the data tell us about upcoming elections? We're how people view it. What does it say? Yeah, thanks are wrong. Um, yeah, there's there's a A lot of the really fascinating data and across the four ways, but in particular around four because we do ask specifically about elections and wave four And we'll continue to do so in wave five and wave six the next two two rounds So starting with the elections first, uh, there's not a lot of faith in elections as a driver of positive change In the three districts looked at and this this was true regardless of ethno religious identity, so Elections aren't seen as being a driver of positive change now. This shouldn't really come as a surprise Especially when you look at other data from the csmf related to how communities view a political political actors governing actors and political institutions. So on this There's a general dissatisfaction With governing actors with political leaders And there's a view that political actors and parties have negative and undue influence On local administration, and I'll come back to this point in a little bit And that political parties and leaders use identity division to mobilize support So they they use sectarian narratives to mobilize political support And that these actors are not working in the best interests of the communities But are are rather driven by personal benefit so on Going back to the local administration part In the three districts the local administration So it would be the the whenever there was a municipal administrative Council before it was they were dissolved The local administration was viewed more positively than Provincial and central level actors And the it's easy to see why because that is the the closest touch point with the communities Those in the district council and the and the mayor Are are from the communities. There's When the district councils were functional there was more inclusion of all the various Components within the council. So there's more the more positive for the local administration And the data from scenes that CSMF Takes that a step forward and shows that communities want there to be more decentralization to that level So that's a very important point. So there's a The data shows that there's a general mistrust towards central level and provincial level actors But there's more trust in district level actors So these views have impacted, uh, you know, they have impacted how Elections are seen to induce positive or negative change, but they've also done something else They've also impacted How protocols how how communities view political representation and civil leadership And how that can be how those can be used as a means for advancing political interests I mean, so when I meet one question that we asked in particular and using the example from sinjar amongst the all communities the the ziti community and Others the the senior community the credit communities We the the majority of residents in the district cite international backing financial resources And an armed group as the top three ways to advance political interests So not a free and fair elections are the ability to contest The electoral elections are the political space Because they're not seen as elections are not seen as a as a driver of positive change, but rather these these things International backing having financial resources and an armed group are seen as the best way for these groups to advance their political interests Which is disconcerting And then ending on a positive note from round one to round, uh three there was There was particularly from the ziti community and the christian community. There was more of a A tendency to look inward Um, and so there was there. I don't want to say they were more saccharian But it was there these communities wanted there to uh wanted there to be political representation tied to ethnic religious identity In round four that has changed The christian community and the ziti communities amongst other communities the shabak Who already believe this but there's a broad there's a belief a more a wider belief in broad-based political parties and representation so that's a positive, uh trend from round one to round four moving away from Ethno religious identity as a marker for political affiliation to one Looking and recognizing the benefits of broad-based political representation Thank you sama I'll probably come back to some of the issues you mentioned, but let me go to adad and And hear from him. So adad, how do you assess the upcoming elections? How do the minorities view the upcoming elections? What are their expectations? your Your own mute adad Ta'ala mute I apologize. Thank you saran really conducting the elections in any country in a democratic way is A cause for joy and the peaceful transition of authority really the iraqi parliament voted on the elections law number nine of 2020 which guarantees the representation of the zidis the christians and the savan shabak and the kundans in parliaments a few the kota but uh The drawback of this law is that it's made the kota of the christians and the saabi iraqi as one constituency and all iraqis have the right to vote in these elections and the representatives of these minorities which opens the door for the larger groups to steal and I stress the term stealing the kota figures as well what we saw in the previous elections by pumping a large amount of votes into the christian parties supported by the Larger parties and therefore confiscating the free will of these groups to choose their representatives freely and the fear this year is that there will be a huge conflict between the Larger blocks specifically the current guides for these seats because the system of multiple constituencies makes each party and entity have lost votes in A certain constituency in iraq that cannot be benefited from and therefore The they will guide these Seats and the votes there was serious efforts to amend the law By us with parliament, but we failed and we did not receive assistance in our Efforts by anyone even the un represented by unami Did not support us on the pretext that we don't need to divide iraq More than it is currently divided noting that this experience that we asked for which is restricting Voting to the minorities based on the idea has been previously applied in codistan In 1992 and was a success and this applies to the quota of the zedis and the shabaq But we are in need to change or amend this law to take into account the interests of the minorities And the true representation In parliament and knowing that the rest of the minorities don't have Quota seats and cannot reach parliament except through the larger lists and parties So And it is not possible to change at this stage Then what do you expect or hope the elections will achieve for the minorities anything positive to expect? the Regarding the quota seats We have our expectations which may be true to an extent based on the outputs of the previous Elections which I referred to in my discussion, but I do hope that the government forms as soon as possible It's formed after the elections and takes into account the representation of the minorities and to work on the amendment of the Post So the after the elections of 2020 to amend the law to give the exclusive rights to Choose the representatives of the minorities by the minorities themselves Coming to you How do you view the upcoming national elections? Is drl doing any work related to them? Yeah, so let me leave it at that Um, thanks sarhan. So yes, um Remember that drl is democracy human rights and labor. So the elections are very much On our minds and have been but I think that the important thing to bear in mind is that um Elections are only as good and only as credible as the people who participate in them So that's where a good bit of our focus has been on the drl side is on participation On on getting out the vote on on hoping that In the work that we're doing we are helping to establish the credibility of the elections The the fact that they they are happening Um, exactly when you know, october is the date right now. It has changed But whenever they do happen They require voters in order for them to have a chance And I think the the most important part of that to keep in mind is They elections are a step in a process. They're not the whole process themselves so We need to start with first participation active participation with the candidates to ensure that as they are as they are Seeking to to take the trust from the communities that are voting for them that they're hearing those communities And what they demand from their elected officials Then the elections themselves the votes and then After the election, I think is is where the most emphasis Will have to be and will continue to be because that's when the work Begins We can you know, we will and we can contribute and are are doing the work with our partners on like I said getting out the vote and on On the assessment of the elections as they happen on the transparency and the credibility Of the process, but it's it's immediately after the elections where that's where you hold The former candidates now elected officials to their word To the agreements that they made to the commitments that they made in this process And that that is constant and that has to be We have to stay the course on that part of it and remain committed to it. Otherwise The next question will be okay the next group of candidates and Parties and representatives and if we're not holding that second step of accountability on the governance process Then I can I can see why there is Some of this pessimism around elections, but it is it's the first step It's ensuring that getting people to vote and then when they vote They're holding their elected officials accountable to what they've committed and promised to do During this period. We're in right now when they are doing that candidacy when they are seeking those votes And I think that's where you'll continue to see the work that we do even beyond october 10th October 11th is where I think the The The real hard part will begin Thank you. Thank you Nina. So, um Couple of things, uh, I think This is a good place where we're talking about representation and the performance of the governments and that we Government and we two components came up with the government and that includes the government of iraq and the kudosan regional government And then the international community you've covered a good part of what DRL has done what the u.s. Government has done It was our hope that we would have another speaker that would speak more about The the international community, but unfortunately that did not work out. So hopefully there will be future conversations about that And the the we will get to talking about the government of iraq and its responsibilities. What's doing? What are the expectations? But I also want to I'll say more at the end we are we have we have planned another event next week Where we will hear from two ministers from the government of iraq where we will go into Matters of the government of iraq even in more detail of them. So again, I'll share more information at the end then getting to the questions that we are receiving through the Chat the q and a box on the usip live stream. Please keep those questions coming There are I want to make sure that some questions related to What was the purpose of To afford the United States to go to iraq and related questions If you forgive us for not Getting to those questions here and the reason is not important questions It's just the time we allocated the objectives to really focus on the issues of the iraqi minorities And our speakers Their functions and their responsibilities are not in a way that allows them to comment on some of those issues So I hope that you forgive us for not getting to those questions today in this platform But happy to do so in other platforms where we have speakers who can speak To those issues again important issues that you are raising there So coming to another question that we have Commenting question that we have received Um Is and if I can bring Something closer so the ui declaration on minorities which sets forth the responsibility of the state To protect minorities as well as the role of the international community When the state is unwilling or unable to do so In iraq are the government Governments of the Kurdistan region and the the federal government in Baghdad basically making progress in their efforts to advance rights protection and political participation for minorities What more is needed both from the iraqi governments and the international community? I think these are good concepts and questions to go and start with adad first to see How would you answer those questions? Well, the truth is we still have hope we'd not lose hope and we know that the labor of the democratic process is very difficult And the minorities are the weaker link in any change process, but we will Stay in our land and and and our homeland regardless of what happens Now we do not expect anything from the current government except keeping Their promises to support diversity and protect it after the elections We want or we expect the government to adopt policies and strategies that would Prevent the loss of the threatened minorities and to maintain that presence in iraq as part of the diverse Community in iraq the international community has a responsibility They have to support and develop the areas of the minorities impose pressure on the iraqi government to legislate laws that would protect minorities prevent discrimination and provide the necessary environment for political participation in all parts of the government and Also, we need support to ensure that the areas of minorities are kept away from international conflicts that are happening on the land of iraq as for political representations. I have mentioned or I have spoken about the political representation in the region of Kurdistan I think that that is representation is the same in the federal government and in the KRG because mainly it is it consists of the major lists and Entities and there are votes they win votes from outside of these entities to the lists and to And to recruit parliament members that would support the formation of the government This is what happened in 2018 and this is also what will happen in 2020 Thank you. So In the same lane, um, you've been working on these issues on the ground for for a while Um, um Do you how do you see? The minorities view changing About the performance of the government of iraq and the KRG. Do you see a change there? And if yes in what way? Yeah, thanks for honk. Um, so starting off with the data I think we for the fourth round There was a change. So while the central government we asked questions about perceptions towards the central government provincial government local local government While perceptions for the central government still weren't good They increased among some communities minority communities because of more engagement from the the prime minister and and the the new administration that came in visits more engagement More discussion about those issues. There was a initial from from the data. There was a bump Uh in perception that okay, there, you know, there's more acknowledgement from the central government on our issue is not whether or not that translate into Um, the the outcomes that these communities want to see that's another story and I think that points to Um, I think the the larger difficulty. So if we look at legislative reform and even the electoral law that um, uh, uh, our colleague mentioned the new electoral law was in response to the The the protest move in 2019, right? So the the new electoral law was created instead of one electorate on a government level creating 83 or 86 Electoral districts that was meant to strengthen accountability within those districts. So they would tie uh ministers in parliament to A smaller defined more narrowly defined electorate Now the issue there is um other things other other reforms didn't happen. So In areas where there are a minority groups Those moves become beholden as I mentioned earlier the view is that they've lost political agency to larger political parties In those areas. So even though they're voting Larger political actors still have the the elect the the electoral apparatus to win votes and not really Allow for local agency amongst these communities to come up though on on legislative side if we're looking at the Things around reparations compensation. There have been legislative gains over the years to respond to grievances not just amongst minority communities, but all communities victimized But in particular if we're looking at minority communities the latest that was passed was the the zzd female survivors law Which looks at the zzd community, but also other minority groups that have been victimized By by isis I think the problem in the compensation Mechanism in iraq is a good example A lot of legislative reform has happened to make that compensation mechanism More inclusive and on paper responsive But the barrier has been on an operational level. How do how to actually implement those laws? That's where we're seeing there being a disconnect and not really meeting the The the needs of the communities. So it's there might be Legislative or some structural reform happening, but that structural reform hasn't manifested in on an operational level Thank you sama. So negina Coming back to you with a two-fold Question one is that the covet added more burden on foreign assistance And Which was already facing many competing priorities The upcoming elections are also taking some focus and some programming is going in that direction So while there's more demand from the minority communities for more help from the international community So there's one challenge there in terms of how do you? Basically prioritize and how how do you go about this this the second aspect is more practical On the operating in fact the operating environment has been changing in iraq Not just threats from isis, but also us iran tensions attacks on diplomatic facilities killing of civil society leaders How has drl responded or adjusted It's programming in this changing operating environment Those are great questions. So hang and I think that I think that the The specifics of the environment and how how you describe them are Have evolved and I think have magnified over the past couple of years But a lot of this has been present and has been part of the operating environment in which we've been working for some time Um, we have had obviously with the exception of kovat, but obviously these these tensions that exist They have been more pronounced recently, but they have always existed the the inability to travel and to be um To be able to freely move around the country particularly for us who are not iraqi That is always been challenging, you know with covid and the current security and environment even more so Sorry niggina my Sorry, I the majority of our work is We undertake it through our partners who are inside iraq uh, the organizations the leadership these are Generally iraqi led Partially because that is how you actually achieve success for some of these goals, right? It's not by transplanting another model of what is important and what is needed What might work? It's listening to the people who it will most greatly impact and saying What how do you think we can make this work? And because of that, it's not it's not the traditional type of foreign assistance We would like to we would like you to do this It's much more You have identified these issues How can we support progress toward those? Where they align very much with our priorities and our hopes for some of these issues I I really don't want to get too much into the details of the type of partnerships and And organizations with which we work because of that security component But I will say that We we have been able to consistently program and support efforts of our partners Without a break since since I started working on this file in Through drl in 2012 and that's that's because our model and our framework is based on that The organizations that are already there and already doing the work It's where they will allow us to partner and support them on that work that that is the change that that we've taken on The question of covet is uh is actually a question and an answer in itself Covid has made it much more difficult to do some of the traditional You know larger gatherings and and meetings that you really do need to have in person But what it's also done is it's it's brought quite to the forefront and to the light A lot of these vulnerabilities that again Have existed but people have not really paid a lot of attention to You asked at the beginning about how some of these issues have have Perhaps disproportionately or in some way affected or the response of women in in these situations Covid and this is not specific to iraq but globally we have seen that One of the first order Effects of covet has been on women on their ability to participate in public life On rising rates of gender-based violence because With with that added instability at such a colossal social scale With the economic instability that comes with it the lack of ability to move We're seeing that the first step was that women Retreated in many cases from public life Which in you know a two-parent household with a very strong income from the one of the partners Is difficult but manageable We have such a high number of single female headed households in iraq again This is from generations and iterations of the conflict You have women who their entire work is not something that you can do Remotely and teleworking their livelihoods are based on Working in other people's homes in in sales in In factories and handicrafts again. This is across the region not specific to iraq and globally I would say So what what we are going to now see covet really bringing to light is That retreat in many cases of women from public life and what that has meant more broadly for society and progress That's going to be another question that the impacts of that I will be very interested to see how it's teased out in future analysis under the csmf But more broadly these are questions that we we struggle with and work with across the board it impacts It impacts every lens through which we view all of these questions and I think the the The lessons we will learn from that vulnerability of women and then add every other layer of vulnerability That comes with Ethnicity religious background conflict environment only compounds all of those issues So that will be something that we will continue to try to address and we will continue to try to support Because it's not a question. It's it's a It's a requirement that we all stay very focused on that as well Thank you Nagina. So we are about 13 minutes out from the end of our discussion So for the rest we still have a good number of questions and comments that come through the on the us ip website through the q&a box and through Facebook and other questions that we have received before So I for for going forward I Appreciate the shorter answer so that we can get to as many of those questions as possible This is not to suggest that the previous answers were long It's just since we have a good number of issues I would like to take I can take short comments so that we address them So a question that has come in It relates to basically reconciliation And says how are the various communities? Define their need for reconciliation. Is it driven by revenge justice accountability? economic empowerment How can reconciliation address their sense of loss? I think Osama and earlier on Touched on those issues to a certain degree and answered those if I may Go to adad add a An angle to this Especially on the issue of revenge and accountability piece. I mean in iraq It has been for a while, but especially these days The return of iraqis from al-hol camp in syria is in very much in the news There is a debate. There is a challenge about what to do with about 30,000 iraqis there About a hundred or though of people in the camp have been returned to iraq To ninoa in a camp there And as again, we'll have more discussion with the government of iraq next week But from the perspective of the iraqi minorities Adad how do they view the return of of the of families from al-hol even though The un and others are stressing that this is these are not isis families There are people who are there who escaped the conflict. They are here back on a humanitarian basis the need How do the communities view These returns and this issue Uh Well, the minorities or the components in General especially those who have been affected by Isis they were hoping for positive steps towards Implementing transitional justice for the crimes of isis, but the problem in iraq is that the Uh file of transitional justice Uh For the file of the subdam's regime has not been closed yet yet and there are no actual measures on the ground special trials and The memorization memorization. This does not happen especially Except for what is happening in sinjad. There are there are There are some events being held for the victims for the yazidi female victims Many of the minorities and compound components were not compensated for the homes they've lost and the lives they They lost therefore the return of the isis families, although we know that They are families that need human care and they have a lot of needs in order to ensure dignified life, but I would like to Um I would like to say that the minorities are not happy with that especially the yazidi minority And especially that iraq did not take any special measures to compensate the families of the victims and To ensure justice to give them back their lands and to Uh Close the refugee and displacement camps had these measures been taken there would have been room for reconciliation And there would have been understanding for the return of these families, but now there is generally satisfaction Thank you, adad. Um, so usama, uh, one of the comments, um, uh on on that that we received online and I would like to probably Try to take that conversation to sin jar and the sin jar agreement Uh, so the comment basically says many of the issues discussed are Consistently repeating themselves in new forms and with new militant groups filling the vacuum created by the previous conflict In my opinion a fundamental reshaping of iraq on all fronts has to take place before iraq can Start making progress and true peace building can take place after establishing peace any attempt before that Will only be temporary Uh, I think a great comment If we take look at sin jar and the sin jar agreement a very complicated case In iraq where you have Nuts the issues of disputed territories displacement and isis, but also the geopolitical Dynamics of turkey and iran and syria and border is just mixed in one place To have a breakthrough there um, the there there's the sin jar agreement between the government of iraq and the Kurdistan regional government Can you speak to that issue you've written about this issue? Uh, if we are we if we are to have a breakthrough in sin jar What are some of the issues that the agreement is trying to set the foundation for and what how is that Working there and again given the short amount of time I I can take a short answer there Great. Yeah, so I think the the sin jar agreement Does Three things the the sin jar agreement is meant to streamline Security in the district by calling for all of forces that are not local police and federal intelligence To leave that would mean pkk ybs the pmf other other groups to leave the district and for security be sole responsibility of the local police And The federal government's security Intelligence and then it also wants to get rid of the dual administration. So there's an official administration outside the district More oriented towards the the kreji and there's the unofficial administration that was set up in 2017 That has political power, but not formal 40. So it tries to get rid of those by calling for the establishment of the unified administration Um, what the agreement the third thing it does it calls for investment to create a committee to get investment to respond to a lot of the grievances around development or lack of development But the the issue is that the this is very much a political agreement between The the federal government and the kreji san regional government and that it ignores in many ways the the community of views of what they want And what what other grievances they have so when it comes to security I mean viewed as a really good first step But there's a call to include More people in the local police force. So that that would make up That would be comprised of all segments. So there's a view that ybs fighters Should not necessarily be integrated by by some But there's a segment of the zity community that says these And from the the federal government's level saying these are iraqi citizens They're the it's a political stream that they're a part of They've done nothing wrong. They can be integrated But there's a it's politically sensitive because of the larger geopolitical dynamics that that you that you mentioned so Put simply the agreement is good first step, but it doesn't necessarily reflect The needs or desires of the communities In in sin jar and that has been those communities have made themselves heard on those issues Thank you sama. So, uh, probably the last intervention Nagina The there's a question Says that how does drl policy in iraq take into account the diverse needs and opinions of each minority group? Which um, which which which vary by district? That's an excellent question. And I I will answer honestly. It's not possible to take into account the Every single individual entity and group And for that reason we partner with groups like the alliance of iraqi minorities So that we have partners that are are doing some of the work of coalescing those Those individual perceptions and needs And helping us to distill where we can support where we need to be highlighting where we need to be Addressing our work and our engagement Um, I think if I can and apologies, this might be a bit of a longer answer Um, I think many years ago star hang you you may remember we um We tried to figure out a way to do a a broad minorities block in the parliament and have a And tried to support a broader minorities parliamentary block and it doesn't work Because those different perspectives Um, really want to be heard and really want to have their individual experience addressed um, but there is there is power and impact in in pulling out from those individual Experiences common issues and if we can start there And again working in partnership with some of these entities that are already doing this and and Amplifying the voices of their communities If we can start with some of those common issues that are affecting all of the different minority groups And then from that pulling down to the individual groups and the Their specific needs then I think we can make a great deal more progress than if we overwhelm ourselves with each individual experience to to a point where We would we would in a sense be contributing to this idea that There is no commonality and possibility for reconciliation For some of the atrocities that have been committed very broadly I I hope that I've been consistent in being able to convey that Though some of these issues are not new they they have gotten worse And I think going back to sarah heng's earlier question on on how we can prioritize It's pulling from those issues where it has been worse and and can be addressed in the immediate term And that part of that will bring us to improving the situation for more of the whole and the collective And that's honestly the only way that we'll be able to make and keep progress So parts of that and pieces of that can be reflected in things like what osama noted the the yazidi survivors law But again note that that was a a law for one one particular group Initially, but because of the work of of many of these communities it was expanded to include the specific experiences of the other survivors of these atrocities So it's it's always part of each conversation to hear where we can potentially make the most progress as well as not bog ourselves down by being too Too Shifting our priorities too much without Completing one step of it Thank you again, unfortunately We have still a good number of good questions and comments that we have not been able to get to But I think this has been a rich discussion already we've come to the end of our time In closing it is clear That progress has been made in the recovery of iraq's minority communities from the conflict with isis In a good number of areas that you spoke with however The work is not done with many people still displaced people lacking services and security economic opportunity and concerns about political participation many of these as said by our Speakers existed before isis and have worsened in some ways after it including geopolitical competition On iraqi soil and in areas where the ethnic and religious minorities live. So the work is clearly not not done On june 23rd We will have the opportunity to engage iraq's minister of planning and minister of migration and displacement On how the government of iraq has responded to the needs of the minorities and what to expect next But also the broader issue of isis and the returnees from al-ahul and this the closure of the camps So, please join us next wednesday june 23rd at 10 a.m. Eastern time in the united states 5 30 p.m. iraq time That will be a good discussion. I'm sure With that thanks to our participants Nagina adad osama for joining us today and sharing your insights on the current situation Of the ethnic and religious minorities and the path ahead for them and thanks for the state department's DRL bureau and alliance of iraqi minorities for your continued partnership Thank you all our audience for tuning in. Enjoy the rest of your day