The Iraq Foundation is proud to announce the successful completion of its second annual fundraising dinner to support Iraqi children's charities. This year's event, "Helping Iraqi Children ...every step of the way," brought together nearly 200 participants from the Washington D.C. region and beyond to raise money for institutions throughout Iraq that care for mentally and physically disabled children and orphans. The fundraiser was held on March 23, 2007 at the Renaissance Hotel. The dinner featured a charity raffle, an art exhibition, DVD presentation on IF's project and humanitarian work, and traditional Iraqi music from the Sun Band, as well as prominent speakers, including Congresswoman Kay Granger, Co-chair of the Iraqi Women's Caucus, and Former Iraqi Minister of Municipalities and Public Works, Nasreen Barwari. For more information and to help support the children of Iraq, please click the link below.

In an ongoing effort to engage a wide Iraqi audience in basic human rights education, the Iraq Foundation broadcast two radio programs on al-Iraqiya Radio in March. The first program, featuring Aala' al Jabouri a noted Iraqi journalist and human rights activist, discussed social norms and women's rights. The discussion focused on early marriage, women's rights violations, the role of women in fighting discrimination, and the legal perspective on such issues. Jabouri argued that women's organizations have been unable to successfully advocate for the rights of Iraqi women and criticized constitutional article 41, which restricts women's rights and replaces personal status law 188 of 1959. Jabouri also expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the Ministry of Women and its role in assisting women and particularly vulnerable groups, such as widows in Iraq.

The Second broadcast took place on March 25 and addressed street children in Iraq. Talib Hussein, an Iraqi professor and social scientist, explored various reasons behind the growth in the number of street children in Iraq as well as ways in which civil society and the government could assist these children and re-integrate them into society. Hussein also discussed his findings from a study on how these children perceive themselves, their families, and the government. Jabouri warned that these children are being exploited and allured into engaging in terrorism activities in return for money. Jabouri made a number of recommendations to the government and civil society on how both sectors could combine their efforts to help save this group and provide a brighter future for the children of Iraq.

The Iraq Foundation launched an anti-corruption and transparency (ACT) initiative this March in Iraq. The goal of the ACT project is to support anti-corruption efforts through mobilizing Iraqi public opinion against corruption, encouraging transparency and accountability in government, and introducing a legislative agenda to help combat corruption and promote transparency. The project will reach out to the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, parliamentarians, government officials to spread public awareness on international standards of transparency and anti-corruption through fostering the growth of national mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability, and demonstrating the correlations between transparency and accountability.

In a continued effort to spread cultural awareness on universal human rights principles and standards, IF held three workshops in Iraq during February and March. From February 10 - 11, 2007, the Iraq Foundation held a human rights education workshop in Basra, Iraq for 19 Iraqi stakeholders, including civil servants working with the local government and local ministries in Basra and civil society actors. The first day of the workshop started with a presentation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Following the presentation, the participants were divided into three working groups and asked to identify rights that are being violated in Iraq at the present time, as well as propose solutions that could help address such problems. Discussion around the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the situation of rights in Iraq continued on the second day. The group also explored other UN conventions and the importance of citizenship that day. Participants were asked to express their opinion on numerous rights enshrined in the Iraqi constitution and the Universal Declaration. Some 50 percent supported the rights of Iraqis to hold more than one nation's citizenship, 60 percent supported the right of Iraqi mother to pass her citizenship to her children, 80 percent were in favor of equality among women and men, and 100% were in favor of freedom of expression and speech.

IF held a second workshop in our Human Rights Resource Center in Baghdad on March 4-5, 2007. The workshop, which was attended by twenty two journalists, discussed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its significance to the growth of a democratic society, as well as shed light on the understanding of human rights in Islamic and Arab cultures. The workshop also discussed environmental pollution and its relation to human rights and freedom of expression, thought, and belief, particularly as addressed by the Iraqi constitution.

IF held a third workshop in the Southern governorate of Basra from March 17-18, 2007 to raise awareness on human rights principles and practices and debate constitutional article 41. After reviewing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 21 participants were asked to identify the articles that they needed further information on. After a discussion on the declaration, the participants were asked to identify human rights violations at the government and ways in which they could be addressed. The workshop also discussed personal status law of 1959 and constitutional article 41.

The Iraq Foundation released the Iraq Democracy Watch (IDW) annual report in March, The Status of Rights and Freedoms in Iraq in 2006, which addresses violence against civilians in Iraq, individual rights and freedoms, the situation of Iraqi women, and the freedom of opinion and belief. IDW has produced eight reports and press releases since November 2005, which have been published in Iraqi media, including al Sabah, Kol el Iraq, al Sabah al Jadeed, Azzaman, al Adala, al Watan, and Noor al Iraq. The report will be available on the Iraq Foundation website in Arabic and English in the near future.

On March 26-27, 2007, the Iraq Foundation held a meeting for members of the Human Rights Defenders Network (HRDN) that was formed in December 2006. IF organized this meeting as follow-up to the original training held in Amman, Jordan last December, which brought together NGOs form many of Iraq's governorates and trained them in monitoring, documentation, advocacy, and networking techniques. The participants discussed the progress network members have made since January 2007 and future strategies, activities, and challenges. IF and the HRDN members also discussed ways to make the network more effective and efficient and better connected to one other. Eleven members representing human rights and non-governmental organizations from Kut, Baghdad, Sulimaniya, Sammawa, Kikuk, Basra, Anbar, Najaf, Mosul, and Salih el Din participated in the March follow-up meeting. The Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights also delegated a representative to attend the meeting.

During the months of February and March, IF's staff has been working hard to plan and promote the Iraq's Pledge (IP) campaign to ensure certain rights and freedoms enshrined in Iraq's constitution are fully preserved and enacted in legislation by Iraq's parliament. Currently, the Human Rights Committee is reviewing two of IP's proposed laws: Freedom of Expression and Equal Opportunity. To promote and discuss these laws with relevant ministries and their governorate offices across the country, throughout the month of March IF Staff in Baghdad and Basra have held seminars for MPs, Ministry representatives, civil society NGOs, and local municipal officials in twelve Iraqi governorates. In addition to organizing these seminars, IF staff printed 8000 brochures to publicize the Equal Opportunity and Freedom of Expression Laws. To view a complete list of the seminars sponsored by IF staff and their NGO partners in Iraq, please click the read on link below.