Deputy Speaker Hawrami leads MPs’ meetings with judicial institutions and Justice Minister Dr. Farsat Ahmad
Kurdistan Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Dr. Hemin Hawrami on 21 February led MPs in meetings with the independent Judicial Council, the Shura Council and the KRG Ministry of Justice, to scrutinize the Region’s judicial institution’s implementation of their responsibilities.
MPs from Parliament’s Legislative Committee and the committees on Social Affairs and Protection of Human Rights, and Protection of Women’s Rights, took part in the meetings.
Shura Council
The meeting with the Shura (Consultative) Council, which is headed by Dr. Sardar Yassin Hamadamin, covered the bills that KRG ministries have directed to the Council who check and advise on them for legal consistency, compliance, etc., before they are submitted to the KRG Council of Ministers and then to the Kurdistan Parliament for readings, debate and passage so that legislation serves Kurdistani citizens.
Parliament’s Legislative Committee asked the KRG Ministry of Justice, Shura Council, and KRG Council of Ministers’ Board of Advisers to hold a joint meeting on arranging and unifying all the bills that will be submitted to Parliament.
KRG Minister of Justice Dr. Farsat Ahmad
On the same day the delegation met with KRG Minister of Justice Dr. Farsat Ahmad and his staff. Deputy Speaker Hawrami said that Parliament places great importance on the ministry’s implementation of the Reform Law and of the KRG cabinet’s 2019 manifesto.
Minister Farsat gave an overview of measures to implement the Reform Law. He said that the Ministry of Justice is working on publishing a journal called Social Contract for legal research, to be reviewed by 20 reviewers. He added that gender equality and human rights units staffed by specialists are being opened.
The Justice Minister replied to MPs’ questions about the problems facing the Legal Committee of the Council of Ministers, and said that new cases of unlawfully taking or using public land must be stopped, or such abuses will only continue.
On the cooperative associations in the governorates, Minister Ahmad said that a demand to stop the work of the cooperative association in Erbil was made and met. There have been no such demands to stop the cooperative associations’ work in Slemani and Duhok, so they are continuing.
Kurdistan Region Judicial Council
The MPs also visited the Kurdistan Judicial Council, which is independent from the KRG and is the highest judicial authority comprising judges and the head of public prosecution.
The MPs met with the head Judge Bangeen Qasim Muhammad, his deputies, the head of the prosecution service, advisers and general directors.
Deputy Speaker Hawrami explained that the purpose of their visit is to strengthen cooperation between Parliament and the Judicial Council. He said “We in the Parliament and your Judiciary Council, being the legislature and the judiciary, want to discuss some areas of mutual interest where cooperation is needed to help find solutions."
He pointed to some issues that Parliament’s committees are working on that are also the concern of the Judiciary Council, and emphasized the need for more meetings.
Judge Bangeen Qasim agreed that such meetings are important to understand the legal issues that need to be resolved.
The MPs asked the Judicial Council members many questions about areas of concern.
