Council of State Journal

For long time Iraq has encountered atrocious environment for human rights as a result of wars, instability, or even security chaos. In particularly, after the escalation of terrorism in 2014 when the Islamic State took control of important provinces where whom live in these local communities belong to a different denomination of religions, ethnics, languages, and ideologies in which they have become the victim of the most vicious attacks and brutal treatments. This crime, any other similar conducts that threaten human existence alike, shall be classified under the cruel and brutal violation compatible with 2005 World Summit Conference concussion by the United Nations. In order to address the effects of terrorism crimes and encounter it in Iraq, a set of institutional operations and local programs were launched in order to deal with victims' cases and compensate them with legislative steps that reflect the aspect of reparation and the achievement of transitional justice, especially after the end of military operations against terrorism. This reparation is a fundamental aspect of transitional justice that depicts the response of states and societies to the heavy remnant left by human rights violations, including those committed by terrorist organizations. Furthermore, this considered an explicit admission of such violations from the state to take responsibility of keeping up with the international rules in prosecuting criminals and compensating victims and to deter others as well.
This reparation to be fair and justice there are basic criteria, internationally agreed upon, in which impose an obligation on states that must be taken into account in enacting law and those local programs derived from them, which is the focuses of this research. Specifically, focusing on the current national Iraqi laws and local laws in Kurdistan region such as Law No. (20) of 2009 (compensation for those affected by war operations, military misconduct, and terrorist operations), amended in 2015, and Survivors Law No. (8) of 2021, and its evaluation according to what was agreed upon internationally, in order to reach fair justice for victims of terrorism. This research reviews the content of these national rule and its compatibility to guarantee and ensure fair and justice reparation, concluding with an important set of recommendations that support and develop local reparation programs in Iraq.