A set of recommendations emphasized the importance of advocacy and mobilization to grant civil society the authority to act as a watchdog. Baghdad / Special.
Participants in a workshop organized by the Center for Solutions for Future Studies in partnership with Al-Nahrain Network for Integrity and Transparency recommended amending the NGO Law to grant civil society organizations legal status as observers of state performance, particularly in monitoring the government program and the accountability of oversight bodies before the Iraqi judiciary.
They also called for building the capacity of specialized coalitions to monitor the performance of the legislative, executive, and judicial authorities through practical programs based on e-governance and good governance standards.
Mr. Mohammed Rahim, President of Al-Nahrain Network for Integrity and Transparency, reviewed Iraq’s position on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), explaining the organization’s work and methodology in collecting data from 13 indicators, of which only four applied to Iraq in the 2021 assessment. He provided a detailed explanation of these indicators, particularly the evaluation of Iraq’s political and economic realities through the lens of democracy and its impact on the daily lives of citizens.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mazin Sahib Al-Shammari, Vice President of the Center, presented a paper on the relationship between civil society and the provisions of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), specifically Article 13, which calls for preventing and combating corruption through community advocacy led by NGOs. He pointed out that Iraqi law still does not recognize NGOs as observers of the performance of the legislative, executive, or judicial authorities, which limits their role under the UNCAC framework.
During the workshop, participants also discussed the importance of amending or enacting new laws to enable Iraqi NGOs and the media to access timely and accurate information, particularly on the official electronic platforms of state institutions, with continuous daily updates. Such transparency, they argued, would encourage citizens to report corruption, with the publication of any information being considered a formal complaint registered with oversight and judicial authorities.
