CPTnet
13 April 2009
IRAQ UPDATE: 16-31 March 2009


Monday, 16 March
While they waited to have meetings arranged, the team did some climbing in the mountains around Amedi, seeing high snowy landscapes in the morning and narrow canyons and alpine meadows in the afternoon.

Tuesday, 17 March
The team met with the Mayor of the Batufa district who said he would appreciate CPT accompanying displaced Kurds back to their villages and that he would be willing to help when the team registers at the office of the governor of Duhok.  The team stopped to visit in the town of Shaladze on the way home.  One of the leaders there told team members, “All the time I get people coming here to say they want to go back to their villages.”

Wednesday, 18 March
When the team called the Zharawa IDP Camp, they learned about a family that village after Iran announced it would no longer bomb the border areas.  When Iran did bomb their village, a one-year-old child died.  The bombing also injured the parents and their livestock and destroyed their home.

Thursday, 19 March
The team had several meetings in Hawler (Erbil in Arabic).  Michele Naar and Chihchun Yuan went to the Ministry of Planning to work on NGO registration so the team can develop projects in all of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).  Next, they met with a former government official who told them that if CPT can help even one family go back to their village in five years, it would be a wonderful work.

Peggy Gish, Craig Kite, and Bob Holmes met with an official at the International Relief and Development office seeking his advice on CPT’s plan for accompaniment in the conflicted border areas.  He fears that the KRG and Iraqi politicians will not allow the villagers return to their homes, because of their dependence on the U.S., which has approved the bombing and does not want it to become a media issue.

Next, they met with officials at UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq).  When CPT mentioned human rights issues in the conflicted border zones, they replied that the governments had agreed that the area was a ‘no-mans-land’ and that the bombing really was not killing anyone or doing much damage.  CPTers countered this opinion, saying that the bombings were driving civilians from their homes, depriving them of their livelihoods and displacing them from their traditional lands—all of which are violations of the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

When the CPTers reported seeing at least eleven Turkish military bases within Iraqi territory, the UNAMI officials said that the Turks would not have bases in Iraq without the consent of the Iraqi government.  When team members talked about accompanying displaced villagers they replied that the KRG government is not likely to ‘buy in’ to CPT’s project.  Asked what CPT can do to put pressure on governments, they said CPT could document human rights violations, and the U.N. would welcome such documentation.

Sunday, 22 March
On a conference call, the team learned that for the financial health of the entire CPT organization the Iraq project would be suspended in June.  The team spoke of how often the Kurdish villagers working with the team have been abandoned by outside governments they hoped would help them

Thursday, 26 March
The team traveled to Hawler and met with the Minister of the Interior.  Surprisingly, he gave the team permission to do the human rights documenting in the region under the KRG control but, not surprisingly, he would not allow CPT to visit the regions being bombed because the CPTers’ safety would be the KRG’s responsibility.  He would have no problem with CPTers visiting the bombed villages with the U.N. because their safety would then be the U.N.’s concern.

Sunday, 29 March

The team travelled to Dukok and met with the Deputy Governor who said that CPT is welcome to work in the Duhok region.  Visiting the restricted areas would require the permission of the Mayor of Amedi who would decide whether the location is safe or not.

In Amedi, the team met with the Mayor, who welcomed CPT to work in the Amedi region and told team members that the region has 326 villages.  During Sadam Hussein’s time, all but thirteen villages and town centre of Amedi were destroyed.  One hundred thirty four villages are now inhabited but the rest are not because of security risks due to Turkish bombing.  Many displaced villagers now live in ‘collective’ towns like Shaladze.

The mukhtar (village leader) of Shaladze was delighted that CPT had a green light to work in the region.  He took the team to see a house in Shaladze available to rent.  He said the towns have residents who can translate for the team.

Monday, 30 March

Team members returned to UNAMI in Hawler and learned that the humanitarian wing of the U.N. could use CPT’s human rights documentation to begin advocating for the return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their homes.