Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani confirmed today, Saturday (August 10, 2024), that his government realized early on that the goals of economic and social reform must pass through the gate of women.

Al-Sudani said during the conference on combating violence against women, which was followed by “Baghdad Today”, that “this conference represents an important platform for exchanging ideas and supporting the effective role of women, as without the position of women, the greatest changes in history would not have been confirmed.”

He added, “In our government, we realized early on that the goals of economic and social reform must pass through the gate of women, and we embodied the fight against violence against women in our support for the Sixteen Days Campaign, and we sought within a clear approach to establish the Supreme Council for Women’s Affairs to be a direct planning and executive gate, and today we are proud and honored that our government includes in its administrative institutions many leading women.”

He pointed out that “we will discuss in a specialized workshop all the observations raised about the Personal Status Law.”   LINK

Does Iraq Still Need The Role Of The United Nations?

Iraq,Reports   # United Nations # UNAMI # Iraq   The Iraqi government, headed by Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, took a step that successive governments after 2003 had not taken before, by asking the United Nations to end its political mission in the country by the end of 2025, which it has been carrying out for more than two decades, as Baghdad’s request to the organization stated that its presence was no longer necessary.

 However, local observers tell Al-Jabal that Iraq needs neutral and professional international expertise to help it reach safety.

 Al-Sudani stressed that in these circumstances and after 20 years of democratic transition and overcoming various challenges, the reasons for the presence of a political mission in Iraq no longer exist, calling for the mission’s mandate to be permanently terminated on December 31, 2025, based on the letter he sent to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.

Al-Sudani called for UNAMI to focus until then on files related to economic reform, combating climate change, and development issues.

 What Does The United Nations In Iraq Consist Of?

 The United Nations consists of two field missions (UNAMI and UNITAD), and UN agencies, funds and programmes, operating at the community, governorate and national levels throughout Iraq.

As for field missions, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) is a special political mission established in 2003 by United Nations Security Council resolution 1500, at the request of the Government of the Republic of Iraq. The mandate of the Mission is to advise and assist the Government on a range of issues.

This includes promoting inclusive political dialogue and national reconciliation, assisting in the electoral process, planning for a nationwide census, facilitating regional dialogue between Iraq and its neighbors, and promoting the protection of human rights and judicial and legal reforms. The Mission is also mandated by its mandate to work with government partners and civil society to coordinate the humanitarian and development efforts of specialized United Nations agencies, funds and programmes.

While the Mission does not implement humanitarian or development programmes itself, it does promote the development and humanitarian landscape in Iraq, linking Iraqi partners – both government and civil society organizations – with the technical expertise available within the United Nations Country Team in Iraq.

The Mission is headed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, assisted by a Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance, and another Deputy Special Representative who also serves as Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.

 New Special Representative For Iraq

In the middle of last month, the United Nations announced the appointment of Mohammed Al-Hassan as its new Special Representative in Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), succeeding Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

The international organization said in a statement that “the Secretary-General of the United Nations announced the appointment of Mohammed Al-Hassan from the Sultanate of Oman as his new Special Representative in Iraq and Head of the UNAMI mission, succeeding Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert from the Netherlands.”

 Al-Hassan has diverse diplomatic experience, as his career spans more than 30 years in the field of preventive diplomacy, peacebuilding and development. His most recent position was Permanent Representative of the Sultanate of Oman to the United Nations since 2019, according to the same statement.

 Prior to that, Al Hassan held several positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Muscat. Among the senior positions he held were Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Oman to the Russian Federation, and during the same period he was a non-resident ambassador to Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia and Moldova.

Informed sources told Al-Jabal that Mohammed Al-Hassan will soon begin his work, succeeding Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

 In this context, the Prime Minister’s Advisor for International Relations, Farhad Alaa Al-Din, confirmed that the United Nations mission will end its tasks at the end of 2025, and Iraq expressed its gratitude and thanks for all the work and assistance provided by the mission over the past two decades.

 In his interview with Al-Jabal, he stated that Iraq looks forward to continuing cooperation with the independent organizations and agencies affiliated with the United Nations according to an agreed upon program and according to Iraq’s needs, especially in the field of technical support, transfer of expertise, and building institutional capacities.

 Iraq Needs International Expertise

 Meanwhile, political and legal expert, Khaled Al-Ardawi, reveals that the international mission’s stay or exit is a matter decided by Iraqi need, as the presence of international missions is completely useful to help unstable peoples and countries or those that have emerged from severe military and political conflicts that have left a negative impact on their social and political cohesion, constitutional structure and security stability, due to the long international experience of the United Nations in this field, and its neutral role in setting advisory policies and strategies for governments in addressing their problems.

 Al-Ardawi explained to Al-Jabal that anyone following the Iraqi situation in all fields can easily see that the Iraqi political, social and security situation is still fragile, and that our country still needs neutral and professional international expertise to help it reach the shore of safety.

Accordingly, the government’s decision to expel the UN mission remains respected, but it must reconsider it through technical committees, far from urgent political impressions.

Political Pressures

 Meanwhile, the political researcher, Mujasha’ Muhammad Al-Tamimi, saw that the observer of the situation in Iraq sees that it is politically, economically, security-wise and socially unstable, so Iraq needs the help of friends to overcome its crises, and the United Nations and its mission in Iraq carry out advisory and guidance operations, not imposing decisions and transmitting reliable reports to the international community, so I see that Iraq needs the United Nations mission to help.

According to what Al-Tamimi told Al-Jabal, it seems that the Iraqi request to end the United Nations mission came as a result of political pressures imposed on the Iraqi government. Up until now, it is not believed that Iraq will abandon the role of the United Nations even after the end of its mission in Iraq. There may be a change of heart from the government if it sees that the situation in Iraq needs a United Nations mission.   https://aljeebal.com/posts/305

Central Bank Of Iraq Announces Growth Of Electronic Payment From 800 Billion To 2 Trillion Dinars[/Size]

   The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq announced on Saturday a record increase in electronic payment operations from 800 billion to 2 trillion dinars in one year, noting that government payments reached 912 billion dinars during July 2024.

This came during his participation in a specialized workshop on accelerating the transition to electronic payment, organized by the “Osool” Foundation for Economic Development and Sustainable Development, followed by Shafak News Agency.

Al-Alaq said during his speech at the workshop that the Central Bank of Iraq works side by side with the government program and the Prime Minister’s direction in supporting electronic payment, and we are proud of what we have achieved so far, indicating that in 2023, the amounts processed through the national switchboard witnessed a significant increase, reflecting the development of the infrastructure and the expansion in the use of electronic payment channels and the impact of the campaign launched by the Prime Minister to activate electronic payment operations in general, and in the government sector in particular.

He added that these upward trends continued to develop in 2024, as the amounts processed in the national switchboard systems reached more than 2 trillion Iraqi dinars in July alone, compared to 800 billion dinars in the same month of 2023, and became 1 trillion dinars in January 2024, and government payments witnessed an additional increase, reaching 912 billion Iraqi dinars last July compared to 287 million dinars in the same month of 2023.

Al-Alaq indicated that payments at fuel stations in Baghdad alone increased significantly, recording more than 44 billion dinars in July of this year, compared to 183 million dinars in July of 2023, and 4.5 billion dinars in December 2023.

Al-Alaq revealed a huge increase in the number of POS points of sale to reach more than 50 thousand points of sale this year compared to approximately 11 thousand POS points of sale at the beginning of 2023, and thousands of them in government institutions after It was zero before the campaign was launched in June 2023.

Al-Alaq expressed his hope that government institutions would adopt the establishment of specialized units in electronic payment technologies to work on following up and developing this important aspect. https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=253011