Committees' recent meetings - 21 January 2021
A summary of Kurdistan Parliament's committees' recent meetings and activities:
Agriculture and Irrigation Committee
19 January - The Committee, led by chair Abdulsatar Majeed (KIG), held their weekly meeting.
The committee discussed the financial dues that the Iraqi federal government owes to farmers for the years 2014 to 2016, which is a debt.
The MPs also reviewed farmers’ land disputes, in particular one in the village of Ashkawsaqa. The committee decided to prepare a report to Parliament’s Presidency in an effort to reconcile the two families in Ashkawsaqa and solve their dispute.
The same day, the committee met with representatives of farmers of Ashokan village, who are against the development of the ‘Happy City’ residential project currently being built by a Chinese company.
The committee expressed their support for the farmers of Ashokan and decided to send their complaints in an official letter to Parliament's Presidency and asking the ministries of municipalities and culture and the Investment Board to solve the problem.
The committee decided to arrange a large meeting next Wednesday with the ministries of trade and agriculture and farmers' representatives to find a suitable mechanism for receiving the payments that Kurdistan’s farmers should receive from Baghdad, which is a debt owed to them by the Iraqi government.
Legislative Committee
19 January -The Committee, led by the chair Bizhar Kochar (KDP), held their regular meeting.
The committee prepared for its second reading the Bill on Protection of Domestic Products in Kurdistan Region, with the members and advisers making their comments and suggestions on it.
At the second reading at a future Parliament sitting, MPs will give detailed feedback and recommendations on every article of the bill, and on the bill as a whole.
Relations and Kurdish Diaspora Committee
18 January - The committee, led by the chair Dr. Rebwar Babkayi (KDP), held an online meeting with the KRG Head of the Department of Foreign Relations Minister Safeen Dizayee and with the KRG’s official representatives in America, Europe, Iran and Australia.
The meeting discussed mechanisms for monitoring the representatives and evaluating their activities, the problems experienced by the Kurdish Diaspora, and strengthening cooperation between the committee and the KRG Department of Foreign Relations.
Dr. Babkayi and Minister Dizayee both said that such meetings are important to improve services for the Kurdistanis living abroad, help to strengthen the foreign representations’ work and Kurdistan Region’s diplomatic position and status in the international community.
The KRG’s representatives in North America, several European countries, Russia, Iran and Australia explained their responsibilities and the challenges that they face in their work, and made requests that would help them to improve their services and activities.
Education, Higher Education, and Scientific Research Committee
19 January - The committee, led by chair Abdusalam Dolarami (KDP), held their weekly meeting.
Reducing and giving discounts on tuition fees by some universities and institutes was discussed.
A subcommittee was formed to visit Erbil Polytechnic University and Koya Technical Institute to follow up on the problems in their departments of disease analysis and nursing.
The issue of restarting education during this Coronavirus pandemic was discussed, and the committee decided to form two subcommittees to visit both the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Ministry of Education to discuss it.
Another topic of meeting was making preparations to welcome the lecturers’ representatives.
All the notes and requests sent to the committee were read, and after review and discussion they were sent to the relevant authorities for action.
Social Affairs and Protection of Human Rights Committee
19 January - Members of the Committee, led by the chair Romeo Hakari (National Union Coalition), visited several government directorates in Erbil.
The MPs visited the directorate for the care of people with special needs in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and met with the director Payman Abdulkarim. Together with Ms. Abdulkarim, a meeting was held with managers of all the centres and institutes, and Mr. Hakari explained that the purpose of the MPs’ visit was to understand what the problems are, particularly with regards to implementing laws and regulations.
The challenges facing people with disabilities was covered in detail, and the MPs congratulated Dr. Hassan Yousif on being appointed as the Director of the Institute for Persons with Disabilities. Dr. Yousif is the first person with a disability to be awarded a PhD (in Kurdish literature), which he received on 3 January this year.
The parliament committee assured the directorate that they would make serious efforts to resolve their problems with the relevant parties.
The committee visited the shelter for women threatened with violence in Erbil, and met with the director Tavga Faizullah. The problems were discussed, especially in receiving new cases in the Coronavirus pandemic.
The committee visited the directorate’s departments and met with some of the women sheltering there, and focused on solving the problems within the framework of laws and the committee’s responsibilities.