Constitution Education Workshop

Karbala
July 20, 2006

The Iraq Foundation held a constitution education workshop in the Iraqi Southern City of Karbala on July 20 th. Some 70 Karbala government officials and civil society actors attended the workshop, the last one in a series of constitution education workshops that were held across the country over the past year as part of the Foundation’s Iraq Constitution Assistance Project.

The workshop was divided into three panels:

Panel one: Freedoms and Rights in the Iraqi Constitution

Panelist: Dr. Kareem Moza’al al Saadi – Professor of Law at Ahl al Bayt Halia University

Dr. Saadi thoroughly discussed the constitutional articles that guarantee personal, economic, educational, social, cultural, and political rights to Iraqi citizens and pointed out to the vagueness of the language used in the document, stressing the need to revise number of articles and add others that would ensure better protection of the Iraqi peoples’ rights and freedoms.

Panel two: Freedom of Speech and the Press in the Constitution

Panelist: Mr. Ghalib al Da’ami – Editor in Chief of Karbala Today

Mr. Da’ami began the session with a presentation on the articles protecting freedom of speech and the press in previous Iraqi constitutions, comparing and contrasting the language that was used in the constitutions during the years 1952-1988. Mr. Da’ami concluded his presentation by making a number of recommendations to the government aimed at protecting journalists and the freedom of speech in the country. Mr. Da’ami recommended that the government bears the complete responsibility of protecting journalists and ensuring their security. Other recommendations included, empowering the syndicate of journalism and considering violence committed against journalists as humanitarian crimes that should be tried at international criminal tribunals.

Panel three: Civil society and the Iraqi Constitution

Panelist: Ms. Nisreen al Aemaedi – Women’s Rights Activist

Ms. Aemaedi started by a presentation on the status and role of civil society in the Arab world. This was followed by a discussion of the relation between civil society and the government in Iraq. Ms. Aemaedi focused on constitutional articles that address civil society’s role in the country and concluded the presentation by calling for a law that would protect civil society’s independence and prevent its control by the government.