Framers of Iraq's new constitution said they will meet next month's deadline despite a move by Sunni Arabs to suspend work after the killings of two colleagues. Some Shiites are pushing a proposal that could erode women's rights.
Vast gulfs remain among the positions of Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni members on key issues, including Iraq's identity as an Arab nation, the role of Islam and federalism, some committee members said privately on Wednesday.
Shiites want a greater role for Islam in civil law -- a proposal that could erode women's rights in such matters as marriage, divorce and inheritance.
PHOTO: AFP
Under Islamic law, a woman inherits half of what a man would. Men also have the power when it comes to initiating divorces. Iraq has been operating under a secular 1959 civil status law that treated every person according to his sect.
"We reject the changes ... because some Islamic parties want to kidnap the rights of women in Iraq," said Yanar Mohammed, head of Women's Freedom in Iraq Movement. "We reject such attempts because women should be full citizens with full rights, not semi-human beings."
However, Mariam al-Rayyes, a Shiite member, said Islam will be the state religion and a "main source" for legislation in the constitution.
"It gives women all rights and freedoms as long as they don't contradict with our values," she said. "Concerning marriage, inheritance and divorce, this is civil status laws. That should not contradict with religious values."
The chairman of the committee drafting the new constitution told reporters that subcommittees dealing with specific articles would finish their work within the next two days and submit their reports for review.
Humam Hammoudi, a Shiite cleric, said he was confident the committee would finish the final draft by the end of the month so that parliament could meet an Aug. 15 deadline for approving it. The document then goes to a referendum by mid-October.
His optimism came despite a move by 12 Sunni Arab members to suspend participation in the committee to protest poor security after the assassination of two fellow Sunnis helping draft the constitution.
Committee member Mijbil Issa and committee adviser Dhamin Hussein al-Obeidi were gunned down Tuesday as they left a restaurant in Baghdad's Karradah district. A bodyguard also was killed.
Issa was among 15 Sunni Arabs appointed to the committee last month; Sunnis form the core of Iraq's insurgency, and giving them a greater voice in preparing the constitution was seen as key to wooing them away from violence.
But two Sunnis quit the committee due to insurgent threats. Kamal Hamdoun, a Sunni member, said the 12 remaining members would meet Thursday with Sunni leaders to decide what to do.
"Our membership has been suspended temporarily until tomorrow when we meet the committee that chose us," he said. "We don't have security."
At a funeral service for Issa on Wednesday, a hard-line Sunni cleric said the Sunnis agreed to participate in drafting the charter "under pressure from others," presumably including the US.
"A constitution cannot be written under [US] occupation," Harith al-Dhari said. "This is what Sunnis got from joining the constitution committee. Their members are being killed."
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said concerns about the security of the Sunnis were understandable but that "we all look forward to the work of the committee continuing."
The three minutes of silence Wednesday honored the nearly 100 victims of a massive suicide bombing in Musayyib last Saturday and nearly 30 others, including 18 children and teens, who died July 13 in a suicide attack in Baghdad.
Observance was sporadic. State-run Iraqiya Television showed traffic at a standstill in parts of central Baghdad and along a main street in southern Basra. But officials in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, said they were never notified of the commemoration.
In Basra, more than half of the 41-member provincial council suspended participation in meetings Wednesday to protest the deteriorating security situation.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS