The Iraqi parliament reactivates the Article 140 Constitutional Committee to compensate those affected by Saddam’s regime
The Iraqi parliament reactivates the Article 140 Constitutional Committee to compensate those affected by Saddam’s regime
2023-07-20 05:30
Shafaq News/ The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Shakhwan Abdullah, announced on Thursday the reactivation of the Constitutional Article 140 Committee to settle the files of those affected by the previous regime.
Abdullah said during a press conference held in the parliament building with the participation of members of the Parliamentary Committee on Article 140, and was attended by the Shafaq News agency reporter, “The temporary committee formed in the House of Representatives to follow up on the work of the Article 140 Committee of the Constitution, which has been suspended for more than 10 years, has been activated again after the political blocs agreed on that.”
He pointed out that “there are thousands of transactions for those affected by the policies of the defunct regime in accordance with the framework of Article 140, and that we have noticed through representatives of the governorates that there are many files, and the truth is that the amount allocated for compensation by the government in the budget law for the year 2023 does not cover compensation.”
And that “Article 140 of the committee needs four trillion dinars, while the budget allocation is only 100 billion dinars, and after efforts, another 100 billion dinars were transferred, so that the amount becomes 200 billion dinars, and a mechanism has been put in place to pay compensation.”
Abdullah confirmed that “there are weekly periodic meetings for the work of the Article 140 Committee to push for its real activation and complete its tasks, including setting the necessary legislation and canceling the decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council that are unfair to the rights of the people of many provinces.”
Abdullah expressed his thanks to the government for voting on a bill to cancel the decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council.
He pointed out that “the first task of the Article 140 committee will be to seek to receive the draft law from the government and approve it to ensure the restoration of farmers’ rights, and there will be a mechanism in cooperation with the government committee to access the dues of citizens in all governorates, including the southern governorates that did not receive compensation, in addition to the governorates of Kirkuk, Diyala and Nineveh.”
Article 140 provides for the abolition of the policies of demographic change pursued by Saddam Hussein’s regime in the disputed areas in favor of the Arabs at the expense of the Kurds, and then a census of the population before the last step, which is to hold a referendum to determine the population according to whether they wish to join the Kurdistan Region or remain under the administration of Baghdad.
It was scheduled to complete the stages of implementing the article until the end of 2007, but security and political problems prevented that.
In 2019, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that Article 140 of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq remains in force, stressing that this will continue until its requirements are implemented and the goal of its legislation is achieved.
shafaq.com
