IRAQ: Preparatory High Committee for the Administrative and Constitutional Nineveh Region restates demand for autonomous Nineveh Region

NINEVEH PLAIN, Iraq – The Preparatory High Committee for the Administrative and Constitutional Nineveh Region has made a public address to the executive and legislative branches of government of the Federal Republic of Iraq in which the High Committee drew attention to the ongoing dire situation in the Nineveh Governate and its capital Mosul since 2003 and re-stated its fundamental principle that the Nineveh Governate should become an own Administrative Region under the federal law of Iraq. The statement by the Preparatory High Committee was read on April 4, 2021, in the presence of committee members including Youssef Yacoub Matti, President of the Bethnahrain Patriotic Union (Huyodo Bethnahrin Athroyo/HBA).

The fragile state of the Governate and the failure of the central and Kurdish governments to provide the Nineveh residents livelihood, security, wellbeing, or even compensation and reconstruction for that matter, has empowered the peoples of the Region to stand up for their rights, especially considering that injustice continues to exceed all human limits and corruption continues to be widespread. A strong autonomous Nineveh and Mosul would benefit and support the state of Iraq, the High Committee stated.

The Nineveh High Committee’s statement also criticized the central Iraqi Election Commission charged with such requests as a transformation from a Governate into an autonomous Region would e.g. require a referendum. According to the High Committee for the Administrative and Constitutional Nineveh Region, the Iraqi Election Committee is trying to obstruct the submission process for a Nineveh Region by requiring compliance to conditions and requirements related to parliamentary elections and parties. The Preparatory High Committee claims it has complied with all necessary procedures stipulated by Law No. 13 as enacted by the Iraqi House of Representatives in 2008. Moreover, the Preparatory High Committee clarified that the project for a Nineveh Administrative and Constitutional Region is not a political party and therefore parliamentary election law does not apply to it. This was confirmed by legal committees of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq.

In the conclusion of the statement, the Preparatory High Committee called on the Iraqi President, Prime Minister, and chairman of Iraqi Parliament to lift their grievance against a constitutional Administrative Nineveh Region and to stand by the constitutional rights of the peoples.