11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Restriction of local and international human rights groups ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 24015]

"The government restricted the activities of local and international human rights groups, generally citing security considerations. The government's cooperation with NGOs and with the UN and its agencies on human rights issues varied.

All nongovernmental investigations of alleged human rights violations, such as access to prison and detention facilities, continued to be highly restricted. The government attributed restrictions to the security situation and government policy. The government generally did not permit detention center or prison visits, meet with domestic NGO monitors, respond to their inquiries, or act in response to their reports when the issues concerned alleged human rights violations by citizens.

The former regime did not permit independent human rights organizations, and, accordingly, the NGO community in the country was still relatively new. During the year NGO activity and advocacy remained weak overall. Six thousand NGOs (of which 148 were international) were registered, although the number of individual members of NGOs in the country was small. There were 225 human rights NGOs and 112 women's rights NGOs. The vast majority of human rights NGOs were affiliated with political parties or with a particular sect and frequently focused human rights efforts along sectarian lines. Branches of international NGOs and NGOs serving women did not generally subscribe to this pattern.

The Council of Ministers Secretariat's (COMSEC) NGO Assistance Office continued to impede the activities of NGOs through onerous registration processes and excessive documentary requirements. A number of local NGOs reported having their assets frozen arbitrarily despite compliance with burdensome reporting requirements. NGOs can normally regain access to their funds by registering with the government; however, there was only one office in the country, located in Baghdad and assisted by three roving offices, that accepted registrations."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Freezing of local and international NGO-assets by Central Bank of Iraq; acts of intimidation by representatives of NGO-Assistance Office; NGOs are targeted by terrorists ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 24016]

"It is a standard practice of the Central Bank of Iraq to freeze the assets of organizations, including both international and domestic NGOs, contractors, and unions if the government determines that the organization holds a significant amount of funds from an unknown source. This practice affected NGOs that were not registered or have not held elections that the Ministry of State for Civil Society Affairs (MOSCA) has judged to be fair.

Women's rights NGOs appeared especially vulnerable to this disruption, which many attributed to disapproval of their activities and services. MOSCA's claim that assets were being released toward the end of the year could not be verified.

Unannounced and intimidating visits to some NGOs by representatives of the COMSEC NGO Assistance Office demanding photographs, passport details, names, and addresses of all staff and their family members continued to occur. In 2006 the ministry also instructed all NGOs that they were no longer allowed to communicate directly with other ministries. Instead, all communication or requests were to be sent first to the MOSCA, which would then forward the request if deemed appropriate. In practice, this instruction limited the ability of human rights NGOs to communicate concerns to various ministries, including MOI, MOD, and MOHR.

Terrorist organizations frequently targeted human rights organizations, and the poor security situation severely limited the work of NGOs."

Document(s): Open document

06.2007 - Source: Freedom House

Security constraints limited activities of NGOs in many regions ("Freedom in the World 2007") [ID 20731]

"Domestic and international nongovernmental organizations were able to operate without legal restrictions, though security constraints limited their activities in many regions."

Document(s): Open document