IRAQ: Muna Youkhanna Yaqo installed as head of Independent Commission for Human Rights of the Kurdistan Region

ANKAWA / ERBIL, Iraq – Syriac Professor of Law at Salah al-Din University Muna Yaqo Youkhanna was installed on June 2, as the new head of the Independent Commission for Human Rights of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI). Yaqo took the oath in the presence of KRG President Nechirvan Barzani, Speaker of Parliament Rewaz Fayeq, and the President of the KRI’s Supreme Judicial Council Faiq Zidan. Yaqo succeeds current head of the Commission Diyaa Boutros.

Muna Yaqo Youkhanna is a fervent activist for the rights of the Syriac (Chaldean-Aramean-Assyrian) people in the KRI and Iraq. She has publicly criticized the many violations and wrongful seizures by Kurds and Arabs of Chaldean-Syrian-Assyrian land and assets in the KRI. She has defended the rights of her people in many KRI forums and committees. She was candidate for the political party Abnaa Bethnahrin in the Iraqi 2018 parliamentary elections.

Yaqo, a Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian born in Erbil in 1970. She is married and has three children. She has a BA in Law (’91) and earned top rank during her studies. Yaqo has an MA in Private Law and a PhD in International Human Rights Law with a specialty in Minority Issues.

Yaqo is currently professor at the Faculty of Law at Salah al-Din University in Erbil. She is also a member of the department board and a member of the editorial board of the Law and Policy Journal, a member of the KRI Constitution Drafting Committee, a representative in Parliament, and a member of the Catholic University in Erbil’s Board of Trustees.

ئەمڕۆ چوارشەممە 2021/6/2، به‌ئاماده‌بوونی د. @Rewaz_faiaq سەرۆکی پەرلەمانی کوردستان، لەدیوانی سەرۆکایەتیی ھەرێم، @IKRPresident سەرۆکی ھەرێمی کوردستان واژۆی لەسەر مەرسومی دەستبەکاربوونی خاتوو مونا یۆخەننا یاقۆ سەرۆکی دەستەی سەربەخۆی مافی مرۆڤ کرد. pic.twitter.com/F8j8UnHtJe

— Kurdistan Parliament (@KurdistanParl) June 2, 2021