Parliament passes Law on Private Security Companies, committees present findings and recommendations on students’ demands and demonstrations
The Kurdistan Parliament on 1 December 2021 passed the Law on Private Security Companies. MPs also approved the findings and recommendations of the Higher Education and Interior committees on the recent student demonstrations and their demands.
Speaker Dr. Rewaz Faiq opened the sitting, with Deputy Speaker Dr. Hemin Hawrami and Secretary Muna Kahveci alongside her.
Speaker Faiq said, “In the past few days, the terrorist organization ISIS has attacked more than once the Peshmerga forces. Tragically eight of our Peshmerga soldiers were martyred and some Peshmerga were injured. In the name of the Kurdistan Parliament, we expressing our grave concern and our condolences to their families, God bless them. May the martyrs rest in peace. We hope that the injured make a speedy recovery."
"The Kurdistan Parliament hopes that this tragedy will spur the people of Kurdistan towards greater unity, so that we can all be of greater service to the public and safeguard Kurdistan’s territory and people.”
Speaker Faiq continued, "These incidents are a clear sign that there is a large security gap between the borders of Kurdistan Region and the Kurdistani areas outside the KRG administration, so we ask both the Iraqi Government and the KRG to cooperate to bridge those security gaps. We call on the Peshmerga Ministry to provide more of the logistical and military needs of the Peshmerga troops."
The Speaker asked MPs to stand for a minute’s silence for the martyred Peshmerga.
Then Parliament held the vote on the Bill on Private Security Companies in Kurdistan Region –Iraq. The Legislative and Interior committees read all the suggestions for each article and section of the bill and they were put to vote. Suggestions for the name and purpose of the bill were also put to vote. For the bill as a whole, 70 MPs voted in favour and passed it into law.
Parliament’s Higher Education and Interior Committees presented the findings of their investigations into the student demonstrations, based on their meetings with the Governor of Slemani, heads of universities, the Slemani’s directors of police’s and security and student representatives. They looked into students’ demands for the reinstatement of the student allowance, more services in universities and better dormitories, and made many recommendations in their report for solving the problems and meeting students’ demands and needs. The recommendations were approved by MPs with 64 votes, and the two committees were tasked with following up on implementation of their recommendations.
Speaker Faiq announced a short break, but the sitting was cut short because of a fire due to a gas pipe explosion in the basement of the Parliament building where the cafeteria is located. The fire was controlled by Parliament’s staff and the fire service. The rest of the sitting’s agenda has been postponed to 7 December.
