Opening corruption files and demands for permanent staffing sparked demonstrations in several Iraqi governorates.

• Demonstrations in Maysan governorate on 20-11-2022

In response to activists’ call on social networking sites to claim their rights, a demonstration was organized by several university graduates in Maysan Governorate

been achieved. Despite appeals and addresses in official pleas to all concerned parties, including the Director of Education Maysan, the governor of Maysan, and all the deputies of the province in addition to the Minister of Education, the Deputy Minister, and even the Speaker of Parliament and the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament. However, our demands were not met.

a complaint with human rights organizations about unjust violations, we demanded our rights. The government agencies accused the demonstrators of being the cause of the violence and not the other way around, and this is not true. A false allegation - as one of the demonstrators said -.

Through the monitoring team's work, it was noted that the security forces closed the doors of the Directorate of Education and prevented employees from entering it during the demonstration. Even at the government level, there was no response to the demands of the demonstrators of the Director of Education.

The protest began peacefully, but it turned out to be peaceful when the demonstrators closed the Education Building to pressure the government to respond to their demands. However, the security forces resorted to violence and beatings by the demonstrators to disperse them; the reporters were

not spared from the attack, as the staff of the Murbid channel, who was trying to cover the events, was beaten by the security forces. Many actors were injured during the demonstration, and approximately nine people were arrested in addition to hitting the demonstrators. Because of the violence, the rally ended.

The irony of the matter is that the number of actual needs of the Directorate of Education of Maysan announced by the Directorate of Public Education in the province of Maysan is 7500 job positions. The number of education graduates in Maysan is close to the job need. Their appointment or contracting with them will achieve several things, including bridging the critical gap in the market for educational, educational, and administrative cadres in schools, raising the quality of education and educational services provided to pupils and students by relieving the pressure on the existing academic cadres, pumping new blood from graduates and trying to address unemployment and revive the Iraqi economy. Thus, there is no justification for the government's reluctance to appoint graduates.

In the media, the demonstration received excellent media coverage. However, many channels could not monitor and cover the protests because the security forces in the area prevented them. The channels present during the demonstration were Al-Merbad, iNews, Al-Furat, Al-Ittijah, Al-Janoubia, Al-Iraqiya, and Al-Rabaa. After the violent incidents during the rally, the purification ended after bargaining with the security forces to end the demonstration on the condition that the detainees be released.

• Demonstrations in Babylon governorate on 21-11-2022
  

unconditional installation#. The most important markets were the addition of a confirmation clause for employees working on contracts on permanent staffing within the 2023 budget, which has yet to be approved.

The gathering of lecturers in front of Babel education began at half past eight in the morning, where hundreds of demonstrators gathered to demand their rights to the appointment, as the

Governmentally, during the demonstration, the Director of Education, Babel, announced his solidarity with the Babel lecturers in their demand for permanent staffing and declared his readiness to raise the needs of the demonstrators to the responsible and concerned authorities in the government. As for the media, these demonstrations did not attract attention, as it was limited to social networking sites.

Security forces from the Fifth Babel Emergency Regiment of the Babel Police Command were present before the start of the demonstration. During the rally, the security forces adhered to their impartiality in dealing with the demonstrators, as the monitoring team did not monitor any cases of violence by the security forces. Still, their work was limited to maintaining the peacefulness of the demonstration and organizing its movement. The assembly did not witness any significant restrictions on the body, so it can be described as peaceful because it does not contain any aspects of violence or clashes.

After the demonstrators announced their demands, the demonstration ended at noon, after announcing the statement of the Coordinating Committee of the Babylonian demonstrators to withdraw from the rally and await the outcomes of the cabinet session, which is expected to be held on the 29th of this month, regarding the confirmation of contract workers in government ministries. This report was written when it was issued—is there any news regarding the demonstrators’ demands?

• Demonstrations of Qadisiyah governorate on 25-11-2022

A protest vigil at precisely four o'clock in front of the Clock Square in the governorate, where dozens of them came out on Friday evening, 25/11/2022, the Sons of Diwaniyah came out with a

social networking sites, and following this invitation and to complete the file, MP Mohammed Nouri Aziz met with the Prime Minister-Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani- He put in front of him

them with new blood, who will be responsible for holding them accountable to you, the new governor, and their unions.

They also called for the implementation of investment and service projects from sober international companies to raise the standard of living of the governorate, as it ranks high in poverty and weak financial allocations within the previous budgets. They also pointed to the need to restart the factories and factories in Diwaniyah from the dairy factory, the textile and rubber factory, the Diwaniyah asphalt plant, and the government brick factory, which will contribute to the employment of thousands of unemployed young people, as well as the opening of the ready-made medical Plastmedia laboratory 100% and the reason for its stoppage, are administrative matters. Consideration of the issue of the seizure of agricultural land by influential people and the return of farm contracts to their beneficiaries and residents. Demanding the activation of the Diwaniyah commercial airport agreement, whose procedures have stopped due to corruption and spoilers. Termination of the file of lecturers and administrators by installing them on the permanent staff and contracting with non-lecturing graduates and wages. Finally, we pay serious attention to the issue of the scourge of drugs in Diwaniyah and its infrastructure, and we call for establishing a rehabilitation center for drug users.

As for security, the security forces have adhered to their neutrality, as the pause was peaceful and the security forces used no violence, and there were no significant clashes, as the role of the security forces was limited to providing protection to the assembly and facilitating the movement of the body. The media was limited to social networking sites, and no media channel was monitored to cover the demonstration.

Causes of demonstrations/demands of demonstrators

By reviewing the demonstrations and events in some Iraqi provinces, it becomes clear that the most prominent reasons that led to their launch are the following:

* Demand installation in government institutions for graduates.

* Demand the transfer of permanent owners by contract workers.

* Dismissal of the governor of Qadisiya.

* Demand the implementation of investment projects.

* Investigation of corruption files.

* Activating the Diwaniyah commercial airport agreement

Remarks on the security authorities ' handling of gatherings:

Despite the similarity of the demands and mechanisms of demonstrations and sit-ins, the security forces did not deal professionally in all situations. This behavior is a negative indicator of the performance of the security forces in dealing with the demonstrators. On the contrary, in other governorates, where the security forces dealt with events professionally. This raises the question of how the security forces themselves deal with the instructions on dealing with the demonstrators, which were announced in more than one forum. The observed behavior of the security forces is more local in nature than as an institution of a growing state that operates according to unified public contexts.  The unprofessionalism of the security forces infuriates human rights monitors in Iraq and puts the issue of the professionalism and impartiality of the security forces in a weak position.

Kurdistan organization for human right watch

www.KOHRW.org

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