Category: News

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Iraq’s Future Isn’t Oil, It’s Sustainable Electricity

By Luay al-Khatteeb, for Foreign Policy. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Iraq’s Future Isn’t Oil, It’s Sustainable Electricity

As the country continues to grapple with the aftermath of the Islamic State insurgency, revolutionizing the country’s energy sector could be the key to long-term security.

Click here to read the full story (subscription required).

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Iraq, Jordan, Egypt Economic Partnership gains Momentum

By Muhammed Magdy for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Iraq, Jordan, Egypt economic partnership gains momentum

The tripartite meeting between the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, and the ensuing agreements to boost cooperation raises questions about a nascent alliance that could confront Iran’s growing influence in the region.

Click here to read the full article.

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Iraq invites Int’l bidders to Mansuriya Gas Field

By Joe Snell for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Iraq invites international bidders to Mansuriya gas field

Iraq has invited international bidders to develop its Mansuriya gas field near the Iranian border, Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar told the state news agency INA last week.

The invitation comes after the termination of a contract with a group led by Turkey’s state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corp. that also included Kuwait Energy PLC and the Korean Gas Corp.

Click here to read the full article.

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Breaking Out of Fragility: Diversification and Growth in Iraq

Breaking Out of Fragility: A Country Economic Memorandum for Diversification and Growth in Iraq

Iraq is at a crossroads. Almost two decades after the 2003 war, the country remains caught in a fragility trap, facing increasing political instability, growing social unrest, and a deepening state-citizen divide.

Amid a multitude of crises (including an oil price shock, the COVID-19 pandemic, and recent protests) as well as a culmination of poor economic policies, a lack of reforms, and an inability to tackle corruption, Iraq is having its worst annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth performance in 2020 since the fall of the Saddam regime.

Instability, a lack of jobs, corruption, and poor service delivery remain among the most important risks to the country’s long-term growth.

With every crisis comes an opportunity to reform. However, Iraq’s path to reform will be challenging and uncertain. Given current oil prices and the persistent drop in global demand for oil because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country will have a tough time addressing the needs of its people in the short term.

It can, however, embark on a long but much-needed path toward structural transformation and reform, one that could leave its economy less dependent on oil and more driven by private sector activity.

The widespread protests since October 2019, which have called into the question the country’s current political economy, illustrate that such path for reform can no longer be avoided. Nevertheless, as this report shows, this path will demand persistence, and Iraq will face much uncertainty as it tries to address its long-lasting challenges and change the status quo.

This report highlights what Iraq can do to sustain future growth, but it also shows why the country has not yet managed to achieve high levels of diversified growth alongside peace, stability, and a better standard of living for its people.

The report also suggests strategic pathways by which Iraq can break free from this fragility trap, in which peace and stability can create the conditions for people to fulfill their aspirations, find private sector jobs, and thrive.

In this context, the report’s four chapters provide:

  1. an understanding of Iraq’s underlying fragility and political economy challenges and their implications for a diversified growth model;
  2. an analysis of Iraq’s growth characteristics and the country’s potential for and benefits from eco¬nomic diversification;
  3. a trade diagnostic and assessment of Iraq’s potential for trade and regional integration to create growth and stability; and,
  4. a review of Iraq’s agriculture sector, from primary agriculture to agrifood systems, and its potential to support economic diversification, growth, and stability.

Breaking Out of Fragility: A Country Economic Memorandum for Diversification and Growth in Iraq (Full Report in a PDF Format)

(Source: World Bank)

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New COVID-19 Isolation Ward opens in Dohuk

Newly-constructed COVID-19 Isolation Ward opens in Dohuk

A 20-bed Isolation Ward designed to handle the most severe COVID-19 patients has been officially opened by the Governor of Dohuk in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Iraq.

Constructed by UNDP and funded by USAID, the Isolation Ward sits adjacent to Dohuk’s Burns and Plastic Surgery Hospital and will serve a catchment area of 325,000 residents from Duhok, Akre, Semel, Zakho, Shekhan, Amedi and Bardarash districts. It includes life-saving medical equipment, most of which was also funded by USAID.

The facility is one of 13 isolation wards currently being established across the country by UNDP to support the Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government’s efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Other measures under UNDP’s response package include increasing the testing capacity of laboratories, providing personal protective equipment to healthcare workers and undertaking assessments to establish post-COVID-19 recovery strategies.

“The new isolation Ward is critical for Dohuk, which continues to host a high number of people displaced from the ISIL conflict, as well as Syrian refugees. This facility will help alleviate pressure on nearby health centers, providing quality care for infected patients and a purpose-built environment for frontline workers,” says Resident Representative of UNDP Iraq, Zena Ali Ahmad.

“This facility could not have been established without the generous funding from one of our key partners, USAID, so we are extremely grateful for their continuous support,” adds Ms Ali Ahmad.

“The United States is proud to continue helping communities through building facilities like this one. We will continue to work with the KRG as we face this pandemic, and we will all come through this together,” says U.S. Consul General Rob Waller.

In future, the Isolation Ward can be repurposed to treat patients with airborne infections and respiratory illnesses. The equipment can also be used to enhance the capacity of ICUs to provide intensive respiratory care.

(Source: UNDP)

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Minister proposes Joint Company for Iraqi Kurdistan’s Oil

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Minister of Oil, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismael [Ihsan Abduljabbar] (pictured) has reportedly proposed setting up a joint oil company to manage the production and export of oil from Iraqi Kurdistan.

According to Shafaq News, the new company would be “linked technically and administratively to the presidency of the region and the Federal Oil Ministry“.

The Minister is quoted as saying:

“The ongoing talks between Baghdad and Erbil show new visions and ideas for the region.”

(Source: Shafaq News)

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Time to focus on Girls in Iraq

Their voice, our equal future, time to focus on girls in Iraq

11th October marked the International Day of the Girl Child, a day dedicated to girls’ empowerment, fulfilment of girls’ rights and solving challenges that they face.

This year, the global theme is “My Voice, Our Equal Future,” a reminder to listen to girls , understand the changes they want to see and to ensure that all of them have an equal opportunity for a bright, safe and healthy future.

In Iraq, the challenges experienced by girls and boys are many and complex. Violence against children, including young people is unacceptably high in Iraq, with 80 per cent facing violence at home and in schools. Many girls in Iraq, like millions of girls around the world, suffer from female genital mutilation, child marriage, sexual harassment and abuse, and other harmful practices.

Girls across Iraq continue to be particularly affected by increased insecurity, which in turn has imposed restrictions on movement that affects their access to education, protection and jobs. Young girls are keen to make the most of opportunities, have specific interests, identities and experiences and are keen to share accountability in their development, exercise of human rights and ensure their gender-differentiated needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on movement have elevated risks for girls to be violated and abused. The number of gender-based violence cases has increased since the onset of COVID19 pandemic in Iraq according to the Protection Cluster Monitoring in Response to COVID-19 (August 2020)

According to the GBV Information Management System’s data of the first two quarters of 2020, 23 per cent of the incidents of violence reported to the service providers were among children and adolescents, of which 6 per cent were aged between 0 and 11 years, and 17 per cent were aged between 12 and 17 years old.

Interviews conducted by the United Nations with families living in displacement camps across Nineveh governorate, affirm that child marriage remains a frequent practice and a coping mechanism for families living in poverty to reduce the financial strain.

Education and learning are some of the best ways to empower girls and protect them against violence, exploitation and social exclusion by providing them with the opportunity to build a better life for themselves, their families and their communities. To make education and learning accessible and empowering for girls, it needs to be safe and gender sensitive.

Having zero tolerance to bullying, cyberstalking, sexting and harassment should be a priority for all as part of the national COVID-19 efforts to reimagine school systems and learning, we must address violence against girls of all ages in and around classrooms and on digital learning platforms. Because girls have higher risk than boys to experience violence, verbal and sexual abuse, a multi-sectoral approach is needed to address all risk factors and cases. Youth-friendly, accessible and quality education and learning, health and social services are essential for girls’ empowerment and their development.

Ending gender-based violence is not a far-fetched dream; this is a real possibility. All that is needed is for girls to have access to formal education, , skilled, civically engaged, healthy, supported, and protected at home, in institutions and at the community. The alternative is devastating with a lasting negative and damaging impact to the health, education and well-being of Iraqi girls.

We call on the government, civil society organisations, the private sector, faith-based groups and the international community to accelerate their efforts to:

  • Improve equal access to quality primary and secondary education including life-skills
  • Promote access to alternative learning opportunities for out of school adolescents and youth, in the form on life skills and citizenship education, including social and business entrepreneurship for improved learning to work transition;
  • Increase capacity of the health sector to provide adolescents and youth-friendly health services across the country, with focus on girls; Ensure that girls – survivors of GBV access free and quality specialised services anchored in survivor-centred and age-appropriate approaches
  • Mobilise girls, boys, parents and leaders through civic and social engagement to challenge discriminatory gender norms and create real social, economic and civic opportunities for all girls;
  • Draft and enforce legislation, such as the anti-domestic violence law and child law, to protect girls and prosecute those who harm them;
  • Implement the recommendations by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, including to criminalise, forced, temporary and child marriage;
  • Increase availability of child protection services for girls and young women.

Girls can be powerful agents of change, and nothing should keep them from participating fully in all areas of life. We must come together and show our commitment by dedicating resources for girls to realise their rights and fulfil their full potential.

(Source: UN)

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Confronting the Traumatic Fallout of War in Iraq

By Hussein Al-Alak, Editor of Iraq Solidarity News (Al-Thawra). Re-published with permission by Iraq Business News.

In May 2005, the UN announced that Iraq was “about to become a transit station for heroin“, where after being “manufactured in Afghanistan is heading towards Europe through neighbouring Iran“.

In 2013, it was reported that “violence, unemployment and poverty” had led to a dramatic “increase” in drug abuse across Iraq and that drugs were becoming wide spread, in places where child labour is commonly used – such as in car repair shops and on road junctions, where cheap goods are often sold.

The Baghdad Post reported how the Islamic State were cultivating opium in Sharqat to finance their terror based operations. According to the publication, opium was being used to extract heroin in the laboratories of the University of Mosul, after falling under IS control in June 2014.

In Kurdistan, security forces raided a drugs farm in October 2016 and found narcotics with an estimated value of around $1 million. The mountainous nature and rough terrain of Northern Iraq, had made it difficult for security services to detect this and other drug farms in the area.

In 2017, it was highlighted by the Associated Press, how Iraq’s national security agency confirmed the presence of facilities producing drugs – such as crystal meth – in the Basra and Maysan provinces in the south of Iraq.

According to anti-narcotics officers in Basra, since 2014 the drugs trade has flourished because of the vacuum left, when security forces were moved from the borders to join the fight against the Islamic State, which swept through nearly a third of Iraq that year.

Mental Health, Drug Abuse and Seeking Solutions

Those vulnerable to drug abuse and those experiencing drug addictions, are people living with conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – where extreme acts of violence and isolation due to instability – has left people turning to illegal drugs to “numb” the pain of conflict.

While treatments for such conditions often vary, the Narconon rehabilitation service, holds a different perspective to other treatments offered for drug and substance abuse. Narconon don’t have “patients“, “victims” or even “addicts“. They have “students who are learning to live a successful drug-free life.“

As people are often proscribed legal drugs, to suppress cravings or to dumb down the psychological element of addiction, Narconon offers more therapeutic remedies, with “no substitute drugs” and they also seek long lasting solutions by addressing the question; “what drove a person to drugs in the first place?“

In an approach similar to rehabilitation techniques like Mindfulness or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Narconon recognises the connection between mental health and addiction, where “a person’s attention can be stuck in thousands of different moments“, which then impacts a persons overall behaviour in the present.

Quite often, people living with PTSD can also experience sleeplessness, feelings of detachment, alienation, a lack of motivation and suicidal thoughts. The traumatic experience gives so much mental attention to the past – that even years after the traumatic incident – the person is often left with “little or no attention for the here and now.“

Repairing the mind, body and spirit

As Iraq emerges from the battle with Islamic State and as the country seeks to rehabilitate its infrastructure, people need their own rehabilitation services to overcome the hidden wounds of war. People also need to be mindful, that Iraq’s approaches to Mental Health may also be under-developed due to neglect, a lack of investment and displacement.

While the professional brain drain Iraq experienced due to conflict, may mean conditions like PTSD and addictions have been left untreated, it’s worth giving consideration to the fact; bricks and mortar can replace the material scars of war but drug abuse and the absence of mental health services, can lead to other long term conflicts.

 

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Former Unaoil Exec Jailed over Bribery in Iraq

Former Unaoil executive sentenced for paying bribes to win $1.7-billion worth of contracts

Basil Al Jarah has today been sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment for paying in excess of $17m in bribes to dishonestly secure approximately $1.7bn worth of contracts in post-occupation Iraq.

Al Jarah, Unaoil‘s former Iraq partner, conspired with others to pay millions of dollars in bribes to public officials at the South Oil Company and Iraqi Ministry of Oil. These bribes secured contracts for Unaoil and its clients to construct oil pipelines, offshore mooring buoys in the Persian Gulf, and other infrastructure projects, collectively worth just over $1.7bn.

These contracts formed part of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil’s ‘Master Plan’ to rebuild its oil export capacity and revitalise the Iraqi economy after years of war and occupation.

Director of the Serious Fraud Office Lisa Osofsky said:

“Al Jarah and his co-conspirators’ machinations, driven by greed and heartless avarice, compromised the fairness of the bidding process and ultimately drove up the price a war-torn country had to pay for essential infrastructural upgrades, earning Unaoil and its clients vast profits in the process.

“This was a classic case of corruption, where powerful men took advantage of the desperation and vulnerability of others to line their own pockets.  I’m proud that the SFO could bring these men to justice.“

Al Jarah pleaded guilty to five offences of conspiracy to give corrupt payments in July 2019 in relation to two projects; one to install three mooring buoys and one to construct two oil pipelines. Co-conspirators on the mooring buoys bribery, Stephen Whiteley and Ziad Akle, were found guilty of one and two counts, respectively, of conspiracy to give corrupt payments in July 2020. Akle was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and Whiteley to three years’ imprisonment by HHJ Beddoe in July 2020. A further individual, Paul Bond, faces retrial in January 2021.

At his sentencing hearing on 8 October 2020 Al Jarah asked for further offences to be taken into consideration in relation to two other projects: one to install an oil platform and one to install a third oil pipeline.

(Source: UK SFO)

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Road to Baghdad — a Journey of Hope for Iraqi Children

By Iraq Solidarity News (Al-Thawra). Re-published with permission by Iraq Business News.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and around the world, people are taking those first steps in support of Iraq’s children.

Throughout October, the Iraqi Children Foundation are taking the Road to Baghdad on a virtual journey of 6,202 miles – the distance between Washington DC and Baghdad.

In this conversation, Hussein Al-alak speaks with Liz McRae about this month long journey and to also encourage you, to go on the road for the children of Iraq.

What is your name and what do you do?

My name is Liz McRae, and I am the Executive Director of Iraqi Children Foundation.

Can you tell us more about the Iraqi Children Foundation?

The Iraqi Children Foundation (ICF) intervenes in the lives of orphans and street children who are vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and exploitation by criminals, traffickers and extremists.

The organization was set up ten years ago by Americans who saw the need to help rebuild Iraq after so many years of conflict. More than 800,000 children were orphaned as a result of the Iraq War, and the ISIS occupation displaced another 1.3 million.

Our vision is that all children in Iraq have a voice, and are empowered to reach their full potential. All our programs have this goal in mind. We help vulnerable children through programs like “The Hope Buses”; where we convert used city buses into colorful, child friendly classrooms.

Each bus has two teachers and a social worker, and serves around 50 children with tutoring, nutrition, health care, social services, practical life lessons, community, and fun.

Another program is called “The Street Lawyers”; where a team of lawyers provide legal protection for children who are targeted by criminals and traffickers, abused by employers, or are facing other risks. They also assist children to get their papers so that they can go to school.

Can you explain how the COVID-19 Pandemic is impacting Iraqi children?

Many children in Iraq face incredible hardship every single day, often without access to proper nutrition, education, healthcare, and safety. COVID-19 adds new challenges for these children, and also exacerbates other existing issues.

For children living in poor communities, social distancing is difficult (if not impossible) due to large numbers of people living in close confines, and there may be little or no access to hygiene supplies or PPE, food, work, school, and community members. The bottom line is: COVID-19 makes vulnerable children more vulnerable.

What is the Road to Baghdad and why is ICF doing it?

During the entire month of October, we’re forming one big team of supporters from all over the world, to help us achieve our collective goal of traveling the distance between Washington D.C. and Baghdad.

Everyone can participate in any way you wish to “travel” with us – everything from running, walking, cycling, swimming, all the way through to dancing or housework.

Just log your daily activity and you’ll help us reach our goal! We’re doing this event because it’s more important than ever to support Iraqi children – with COVID and other concerns, they are facing extreme vulnerability.

How do people get involved in the Road to Baghdad?

Here’s how to join our virtual mission:

  • Click this link here and create your profile on My Virtual Mission!
  • Join the mission for Road to Baghdad – there’s a $25 registration fee, which goes to help Iraqi Children Foundation, and everyone will receive a digital certificate at the end of the race.
  • Anyone who travels more than 10 miles during the month of October will also receive an ICF custom running buff (gaiter).
  • Signing up only takes a few minutes, and once you’re done, you’re ready to go! You can manually enter miles via the My Virtual Mission website, or you can download the app and pair it with your phone, smart watch, Fitbit, or other devices.

Road to Baghdad is a great way to enhance your usual fitness routine, to set yourself a personal challenge, or even to contribute to a great cause while doing nothing differently! Remember, all your normal movement counts! You can go one mile or you can go one thousand miles… everything helps!

Sign up now and get involved – you’ll be helping Iraq’s most vulnerable children while also completing a personal challenge. Remember you can sign up ANY time throughout the month of October.

Send a message of support to people taking part on the Road to Baghdad by joining the Iraqi Children Foundation on Twitter and Facebook.

If you’d like to contribute towards ICF’s work in Iraq please click here.

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