Human rights mark a "danger" on components rights in Kurdistan Region

Shafaq News / The Independent Human Rights Commission of Kurdistan Region confirmed on Monday, the right of the components in the region to broader participation and real representation in the political and administrative process in Kurdistan, refusing to talk about canceling or reducing the seats granted to the national components, and also warned against mocking and belittling any member of Kurdistan Parliament in accordance with the "quota" or use it as a pressure card during political differences.

The statement of Independent Human Rights Commission of Kurdistan Region comes a day after Kurdish leader , Masoud Barzani announced his rejection of the "attack" against the national and religious components in Kurdistan, stressing that they are an integral part of the region and "all their rights are reserved."

Barzani’s speech came after political parties attacked representatives of the components in the Parliament of Kurdistan Region, under the pretext of supporting Kurdistan Democratic Bloc.

" Kurdistan Parliament held on May 7, 2020 its regular session to discuss a draft of a specific law and some of the files, including the file of withdrawing parliamentary immunity from some members on the background of complaints against them by the competent courts and the public prosecution," Diaa Boutros Saliwa, head of the commission, said in a statement received by Shafaq News, "noting that" the discussion of this issue led to division of political blocs, differences of opinion and boycotting some parliamentary blocs for the session, and through the session was it was voted to withdraw confidence from one of the members of parliament.”

"There was a lot of talk about this issue, and there were circumstances and different opinions and directions between the political blocs, which led to the dispersion of relations between them on the political level,” explain that “this issue is not of the work fields of the Independent Commission for Human Rights therefore we will not interfere because it is not the specialty of our work. "he added.

"But what concerns us according to the tasks of our work is related to the rights conditions of the Kurdish components, and the quota seats granted to them according to the law," summarizing a number of things, including that "a member of parliament in any country is elected by the citizens represents by voting on him in the election process after its success, it becomes their legal representative in parliament, and this is a political right that is granted to all members of parliament in different political parties that are running in the election process.

"The member of Parliament is free to express his opinion in parliament to vote on the issue of what is being proposed by the parliament presidency, even if he disagrees in his opinion with others and sometimes with the views of the same members of his bloc," stressing that "it is not permissible in any way to attack the MPs voters of any national or religious component have given their vote in the voting process within the parliament dome. "

"This violates the principles of human rights in particular, freedom of expression of opinion. Likewise, citizens who voted for a member of Parliament who represents a national or religious component included in the quota may not be included in political differences between parties and during differences in visions," he said, noting that " The resolution of these differences takes place in the Parliament, which is the final decision, not what is published on social media and statements in meetings and interviews. "

Saliwa pointed out that "every candidate for Parliament in the election process and after approval in the Electoral Commission after announcing the results according to the applicable electoral law becomes a legitimate parliament member, according to the number of competitive votes obtained by him, no matter how large or few they are", explaining that the votes are counted for him at the level of the component he represents and not a comparison with the total level of the Kurdistan region’s voters from the general lists that exceeds two million votes, while the voters from the components (the quota) do not exceed twenty thousand who are entitled to vote. The number of these votes may not be taken as a weakness or strength card of a member of Parliament and used to mock him and belittle the member of Parliament.

On the issue of participation in the voting process, Saliwa explained, "Every parliamentary group or member of parliament has the legal right to participate or not participate in the parliament session. He also has the legal right to practice in the voting process or not to vote on a draft law or a paragraph of the paragraphs of the parliament session," noting that "It is not permissible under any pressure that this right to be taken from him or forced into a position that he does not believe in because he has absolute freedom in this matter, and based on the internal system of Kurdistan Regional Parliament, he was given the right to form political alliances and work on joint programs between the political blocs."

A statement issued by the Head of the Human Rights Commission pointed to "another issue, which is talking about canceling or reducing seats granted to national components," explaining that "according to the election law (granted quotas), 11 seats must be allocated to components out of 111 seats in Parliament of Kurdistan Region, but what is going on from attempts of some parties and even some members of Parliament or some political blocs to reduce the number of quota and make them a pressure card during political differences, is an alarm and constitutes a threat to the future of the components in Kurdistan Region and a violation of their rights.

He stressed that "they are the native people of the country historically and culturally have a tangible and effective role in coexistence and acceptance of the other", explaining that "these attempts come at a time when the components demand wider participation and real representation in the political and administrative process in the region's institutions because their rights are still marginalized and their representation is weak as demanding the implementation of the Law on the Protection of the Rights of Kurdistan Components No. (5) of 2015