Politics

Special Iraqi cabinet session passes resolutions in response to protests

Since massive demonstrations began in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Tuesday and spread to several other cities, the government has been scrambling to gain control of the situation and deal with international condemnation for the violence used by security forces against demonstrators.

Kurdistan 24 2019/10/06 10:57

middle east Iraq Protests Baghdad Council of Ministers

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Since massive demonstrations began in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Tuesday and quickly spread to several other cities, the government has been scrambling to gain control of the situation and deal with international condemnation for the violence used by security forces against demonstrators. Nearly 100 have been reported killed and thousands wounded.

Protesters have been demanding an end to low standards of living, increased job opportunities, improved public services, and an end to rampant institutional corruption.

At an extraordinary session on Saturday night called by Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, the Council of Ministers issued its first package of "important decisions," as follows:

1: To begin the application process for residential land to be allocated to low-income people and additional categories in accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers, and in all provinces.

2: To complete the distribution of (17,000) seventeen thousand housing units to the low-income families in Basra province within a period of time not exceeding four weeks.
3: To prepare and implement a national housing program that includes building 100,000 housing units distributed among the provinces and which gives priority to the poorest provinces and regions.
4: The governors shall form committees to sort out the names of the neediest families in their provinces, from the category of those covered by social welfare programs to cover the distribution of residential land and to submit the names to the general secretariat of the Council of Ministers within two weeks.
5: The Ministry of Finance shall enhance the balance of the Housing Fund in order to increase the number of borrowers and enable them to build housing units on the plots of land to be distributed to citizens and to include this in the 2020 budget. Loans shall be exempt from interest, in accordance with laws governing the Housing Fund.
6: To grant 150,000 unemployed persons who are unable to work monthly allowance of 175,000 dinars per person for three months, with a total amount of 78,500,000,000 dinars.
7: The establishment of modern marketing complexes (kiosks) in commercial areas in Baghdad and the provinces to distribute to the funds referred to in the preceding paragraph during a period of three months at a total cost of 60,000,000,000 dinars, provided that the kiosk owner pledges to employ two currently unemployed individuals to ensure the provision of at least 45,000 job opportunities for citizens, taking into account the priority given to those removed stalls.
8: To prepare a program for training and qualifying the unemployed who have the ability to work and the number of 150,000 young graduates and non-graduates with the payment of a financial grant during the training period of three months of 175,000 dinars per month, for the total amount of 78,500,000,000 dinars in order to qualify them and for the operation of those who pass the training courses successfully in investment companies operating in Iraq.
9: To grant the successful persons in the above training courses appropriate loans to establish medium or small projects from the profit-making loan fund at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs or to grant them loans through the Central Bank's initiative for youth lending amounting to one trillion dinars.
10: To include the unemployed participants of the training program above the Industrial Services Law by granting them a piece of land serving to establish an industrial project with the enjoyment of all the privileges provided by the said law.
11: The Ministry of Defense will open the door to volunteering for young people (18-25) years through the electronic portal or reception centers in the provinces as of 15/10/2019
12: The ministries of defense and interior will take the fundamental procedures to repeal their contracts in all governorates.
13: The Ministry of Education shall take the necessary measures to contract volunteer lecturers and include the required financial allocations in the 2020 budget, according to need and specialization.
14: The Ministry of Agriculture shall take the necessary procedures to exempt the farmers from the amounts of leasing the agricultural lands due to them previously until 31/12/2019.
15: The governors, in coordination with the Social Welfare Departments of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, shall prepare lists of disadvantaged families for the purpose of granting them the welfare salaries of 600,000 families.
16: To consider victims among the demonstrators and security services as martyrs and be covered by the laws in force and grant their families the normal rights and privileges of this designation.
17: The Ministry of Health shall provide therapeutic services to wounded demonstrators and security forces and provide for all their medical needs at government expense, including treatment outside Iraq if requested.
18: The Council of Ministers directed the ministries and other concerned parties to implement the above decisions according to their competence. The council also decided to discuss the second package of resolutions related to reforms and the demands of the demonstrators at the next session and to continue taking the necessary decisions in the subsequent session.