Iraq Democracy Watch:
National Conference

December 1, 2006

The Iraq Foundation organized a conference for Iraq Democracy Watch (IDW) in the Northern City of Sulimania on December 1, 2006 . The main goal of the conference, held at the Ashour Auditorium at the Dukan Tourist Retreat Center, was to collect feedback and recommendations from a group of diverse Iraqi civil society actors and intellectuals through discussing and debating a working draft of the annual report that was produced by IDW and devoted to addressing “The Status of Rights and Freedoms in Iraq.” In addition to the members of IDW, 52 Iraqi civil society actors attended the conference. The participants included Iraqi university professors, journalists, lawyers, and activists.

The Goal of the Conference was to:

1- To discuss the draft of the IDW’s final report on “The Situation of Rights and Freedoms in Iraq ” with a diverse group of Iraqi civil society actors in an effort to gather feedback and collect important recommendations.

2- To create a dialogue among a group representing diverse intellectual and cultural affiliations in an effort to reach a consensus on methods and frameworks that could be used to safeguard civil freedoms in Iraq .

3- To create a vision for the future work of IDW in order to ensure the respect of basic rights and freedoms in Iraq in accordance with democratic principles.

the conference concluded with Al-Abaeji thanking the participants for their viewpoints and recommendations and announcing that the group will revise and edit the report after incorporating suggestions that were made and adopting some of the recommendations proposed during the day.