Parliament needs to pass this law about the Federation Council quickly because it gives provinces better representation in a smaller council, Kurdish MP Mohammed Kayani, who headed the Regions and Provinces Committee in the previous Parliament, told NIQASH. The Federation Council has fewer members – no more than 72 – so provincial voices will get a better hearing, he explains.
Allowing the formation of the Federation Council and implementing the half-passed Law 21 will solve a lot of the problems that arose between the provinces of Iraq – and their various majority populations – and the central government in Baghdad during the previous government’s rule.
Getting Law 21 back on track would also mean the return of a much debated law, introduced by Iraq’s former president, Jalal Talabani, in 2012, that redraws provincial borders. On one hand, as Iraqi expert blogger, Joel Wing argues, this law could lead to major problems as provincial councils change and elections need to be reconsidered. On the other, new, set boundaries could solve some of the country’s recent problems - for example, an oil field on the border between the Maysan and Nasiriya has recently been causing tensions.
Speaking of Iraq’s natural resources, another of the most urgent pieces of legislation involves the country’s long-languishing oil and gas law. Until this has been resolved, there’s no doubt that Iraq’s Kurds, who passed their own version of such a law some time ago and who have been doing oil and gas deals independently of the central government, will continue to butt heads with Baghdad. Issues around oil and gas have been a major cause of what the Iraqi Kurdish have described as a “financial blockade” of their region.
There are also a number of laws around the country’s security that need to be addressed. This includes further work on amendments to the de-Baathification law. This was originally passed to ensure that those who profited from former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s regime, led by his Baath party, were not able to infiltrate the country’s new government and civil service, or to benefit from past misdeeds. However the law has also been deeply divisive on a sectarian level as many of the former Baath party members are Sunni Muslims.
Alongside this, there is also legislation about a general amnesty for those detained without charge or awaiting trial – again many of these are thought to be Sunni Muslims, or any other individuals that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki considered enemies – and 2005’s anti-terrorism laws. The latter includes broad definitions of anyone who aids, abets or carries out terrorist acts and again, is thought to have been used to formulate bogus charges against political or sectarian opponents.
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