The Role of Iraq’s National Reconciliation in Peace-building

The Role of Iraq’s National Reconciliation in Peace-building
Dr. Abdullah Ali Abbou

It is known that national reconciliation is an expression of an important stage in conflicting communities. When parties of a conflict come to a standstill of all the methods available to solve their dispute the parties may come to the realization; due to domestic and international pressures, that peaceful reconciliation, as opposed to violent confrontation, is desirable. In other words, reconciliation in this context is developing a national consensus aimed at bringing together different perspectives and bridging the gaps between the opposing or warring parties.

The success of national reconciliation in a society of conflict requires the recognition of the plurality of societal interests, as well as the multiplicity of various intellectual, political, social, and cultural perspectives. The success of reconciliation requires the participation of all the various components of the community in the process and the recognition by these components that working together is critical. National reconciliation can also serve as one of the mechanisms for the implementation of transitional justice in post-conflict societies. Transnational justice requires society to reconcile with itself, to have faith in in democratic alternatives, and to deal with the various aspects of transitional justice and the provision of its requirements.

Reconciliation as a community-based long-term goal means the completion of a national consensus among the various components of civilized society within a comprehensive, integrated, specific, and accurate plan guided by the basic principles attained from the experiences of peaceful conflict resolution methods. Of course, such a noble project will be unable to succeed if there are not adequate conditions, such as the availability of wise, honest, competent, and fair leadership acceptable by all parties to the conflict. Other factors are relevant to the success of a national reconciliation project. These include the capacity of the conflicting parties to sit peer to peer in each reconciliation session, the demonstration of genuine ability and will to actively listen to one another, the implementation of long term goals derived from reconciliation, meeting periodic targets, identifying aggressors and victims and labeling each group accordingly, linking reconciliation with reform to ensure non-recurrence of violence. Lastly, reconciliation will require zero tolerance for, whether in the present or future, possible attacks on the people’s rights and freedoms.

Often communities that have a legacy of human rights violations, war crimes, genocide, or any form of crimes against humanity deal with transitional justice as an activity that focuses on building a secure society dominated by civil peace. This concept is accompanied by measures that include the establishment of truth commissions, offering of compensation to victims, attempts at rebuilding communities, general reform of state institutions, as well as the emergence of relevant terms and concepts in the national discourse such as national reconciliation.

Reconciliation is important and a necessary step to rebuild communities in accordance with the legal foundations of democracy, to face the heritage of human rights violations, to hold perpetrators of crimes liable, and to be fair to the victims of such violations through strategies and mechanisms that will ensure criminal, social, and economic justice. Reconciliation is also a significant factor in repairing damage at the community and institutional levels, as well as rehabilitating spoilers and reintegrating them into society. In addition, reconciliation is a critical component of political reform and a peaceful transition of power. It also works to maintain the separation and independence of powers, as well as to ensure individual rights and public freedoms.

In this respect, Iraq after 2003 has been transformed from a political system that was based on the idea of one-party rule with the prevention of cultural and political pluralism in all of its forms, into a pluralistic democracy based on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Iraq has had to deal with the legacy of its former regime, a regime that was characterized by serious violations of human rights, various crimes against its own citizens, and exploitation of the Iraqi state institutions in order to achieve the goals, policy, and ideology of its party. The result of this legacy is the present involvement of a large number of workers in the institutions of the Iraqi state that participated under the former regime in the execution of human rights violations and heinous crimes against individuals.

Conflict began to appear between the components of the Iraqi society in 2003 with the formation of a new Iraqi government and the transfer of sovereignty. Conflict became apparent when deciding upon what type of mechanisms would be appropriate to deal with the crimes of the former regime, and in what ways could perpetrators of these crimes be held accountable for their actions in order to achieve social justice, minimize damage, and compensate people affected by these crimes.

Thus, talks about applying the mechanisms of transitional justice in Iraq have begun. However, the prevailing nature of the conflict and the nature of its components, which include the people that continued to work in the institutions of the Iraqi state even after the fall of the former regime, generates a barrier to success. After an increase in calls to uproot former perpetrators of crimes from their civil service positions, a law came into legislation that would uproot the Baath party of Iraqi state institutions. However, after a period of using this law, large difficulties and disadvantages appeared. The difficulties and disadvantages made the implementation of this law complex in that a large segment of the Iraqi people, including a large number of workers in state institutions of the former Iraqi regime, were involved in the ranks of the ruling party at the time.

Because of the escalation of the conflict and sectarian strife in Iraq, particularly in the years between 2005 and 2007, the Iraqi government began looking again for another mechanism through which justice, and redress can be achieved for victims while contributing to the building of peace in Iraq. This mechanism came through Iraqi government support to the national reconciliation project in Iraq. The Iraqi government created a supreme body for national dialogue and national reconciliation to take over the task of achieving reconciliation between the components of the Iraqi people, promote peace, and build a new Iraqi society based upon the foundations of democracy and human rights. The purpose of this body is an attempt to reduce the daily suffering of the oppressed Iraqi people from the tragedies and attacks they have endured which have been utterly appalling. This includes forced migration, killing, torture, and horror. In essence, the extent of flagrance that occurred towards all citizens is beyond human comprehension due to the viciousness these acts embodied.

Currently, religious and national values threaten the unity of the Iraqi people and the cohesion of its national fabric. The various divergences in religious and national values in Iraq can be attributed to history and foreign plans to divide and conquer the land. Thus, the body for national reconciliation was established in order to institute meaningful coherence between the Iraqi people, to consolidate of the rules of national unity, and to promote a climate of love and harmony between the different components of Iraqi society. The body was also created to address the effects of terrorism and corruption. The purpose of this body is to spread the spirit of sincere citizenship that will equalize Iraqis in their rights and duties without distinction on the basis of sectarian, ethnic, sexual, and political orientation. The essence of this body is to rebuild Iraq.

This supreme body of national dialogue and national reconciliation consists of 22 figures of leadership and a wide array of the spectra of the Iraqi people (including members listed by the representatives of parliamentary blocs in the House of Representatives, the relevant Ministers, the representatives of the military forces, and a number of independent Iraqis); it is chaired by His Excellency the Minister of State for dialogue, which is linked to the prime ministry and responsible for all matters relating to the implementation of the initiative of of national dialogue and national reconciliation. The purpose of this body is to develop policies that put into practice the national initiative, oversee the affairs of the dialogue and its follow-up, hold local and international conferences, support the proliferation of information of all kinds to flow in favor of the success of the initiative, shape prioritization, and to coordinate between the political and social spheres of society while mobilizing and organizing various groups for the success of the overall reconciliation plan. It is worth mentioning that the most important result of national reconciliation in Iraq has culminated in an agreement made by different representatives of the Iraqi factions at a meeting in Helsinki, Finland. This agreement took place between August to September 2007 and essentially set ground rules for negotiation between the various politically oriented groups to in attempt to open the floodgates towards national reconciliation.

Among the most important items found in the Helsinki Agreement are:

-To resolve issues relating to political affairs through peaceful and democraic means and mechanisms,

- To inhibit the use of arms for illegal armed organizations that are not during the negotiation process,

- To form a committee in accordance with mechanisms to be agreed upon, these mechanisms are to be sturdy enough not to succumb to blackmail or threat of using the power of arms by groups that reject the agreement,

-To work on reducing the external, regional, and international interference in internal Iraqi affairs,

-To protect human rights, ensuring the efficiency and independence of the national judiciary and the Constitutional Court,

-To ensure the participation of national forces in the political process, the government, and in state institutions,

-To take measures to end killings, violence, torture, abduction, forced displacement, and destruction of infrastructure,

-To form an independent advisory panel to provide insight, support, and practical solutions to address effects of conflict from the past,

-To contribute to national reconciliation and Iraqi unification,

-To ensure that the various factions and the Iraqi entities work together to build Iraq and effectively contribute in the activation of all efforts that assist in the success of the political process, the unity of Iraq, and the preservation of its sovereignty,

- To mobilize political discourse in the national direction and evade sectarian rhetoric,

-To stop deportation, and to work in aiding internally and externally displaced people to safely return to their homes while ensuring their continued safety by national forces in cooperation with the political forces and tribal communities,

- To address ineffectiveness of domestic security forces by arming, equipping, training, and clearing security and military forces of the Iraqi army and police to create an active and capable force,

-To spin the economic wheel in the country so as to contain youth disenfranchisement and engage the youth in productive projects that will have an impact on the livelihood and well being of Iraqi citizens,

-To face the bandits of conflict without discrimination, and also to hold negligent and irresponsible officials of the Iraqi forces accountable,

-To confirm a shared vision for the Iraqi national forces of the necessity of ending the presence of foreign troops in Iraq in order to regain national sovereignty,

-To build the armed forces and the Iraqi security services in accordance with a national and professional foundation in accordance with a specific timetable,

-To pay particular attention to continuing to stress the need to continue constructive dialogue between political parties so as to fully achieve national goals,

- To strive towards inducing groups not involved in the political process to activate and engage in constructive dialogue in order to reach common convictions,

- To negotiate with the armed groups not involved in terrorist operations, encourage them to adopt peaceful methods in the conflict, and to absorb of their elements into the organs of the State,

-To strive towards encouraging all Iraqi political forces to participate in the reconstruction of Iraq in all elements of reconstruction,

- To put an end to the continuing abuses and violations of human rights practiced by foreign forces in Iraq against citizens and their property,

- To recognize the need for the Iraqi government to renew its duty to defend the rights of innocent citizens.

Through the review of the rules of negotiation established in the Helsinki Agreement, it is evident that national reconciliation is an important mechanism for building peace in Iraq through the range of aforementioned steps. It seems also clear that peace in Iraq cannot be achieved through force and the use of arms, but rather through negotiation, dialogue, the abandonment of arms, and the decision to resort to peaceful means to resolve conflict between the warring parties in Iraq.

Dr.Abdullah Ali Abbou
Assistant Professor
Duhok University College of Law and Politics, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Email: abdullahabbou@yahoo.com

Dr. Abdullah Ali Abbou is an assistant professor of public international law in the University of Duhok’s College of Law and Politics. He has taught courses about international organizations, human rights and research methodology within his university’s Master of Arts program in peace and conflict studies. Dr. Abdullah earned his Ph.D and Master of Public Law degrees from the University of Mosul, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in law from the same institution.