Erbil, 5 July 2010 Representatives of the Iraqi Council of Ministers Secretariat (CoMSec) including the NGOs Directorate, several Iraqi Government Ministries, outgoing Chair of Iraqi Council of Representatives' Civil Society Committee, and Iraqi and International NGOs, yesterday agreed on recommendations to guide the implementing regulations for the new Iraqi Law on Non-Governmental Organizations (Law No. 12 of 2010), which entered into force in April 2010.
"The passing of the NGO law in early 2010 was the successful result of years of consultations and negotiations, but without clear guidelines for how to put its provisions into practice, neither Iraqi authorities nor NGOs will fully benefit from the law", said UNOPS Portfolio Manager for Civil Society Mr. Adam Styp-Rekowski.
Over the course of the past months, the Iraqi Council of Ministries Secretariat (CoMSec) worked on drafting guidelines, but during a three day roundtable organized by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) with funding from the European Union (EU), the Government of Finland and other donors through the UNDG Iraq Trust Fund, the stakeholders, supported by international experts, had an additional opportunity to draft implementing regulations that would reflect Iraqi needs and be in line with international best practices.
"This has been very productive" said the outgoing Chair of the Iraqi Council of Representatives Civil Society Committee, Ms. Alaa Talabani. "Procedures drafted by the Government should make it easier, not harder, to implement the law, and this is what we have achieved."
Jamal Al-Jawahiri, Public Relations & Finance Secretary of the NGO Iraqi Al-Amal Association, concurred, adding that "for me as a member of civil society to sit with representatives of the Government and Parliament and be accepted as an equal in these discussions is a great achievement. The roundtable has brought us closer and listening to each other as well as to international, regional and KRG experts has enabled us to meet half way and agree on a number of important issues."
The recommendations agreed on by the participants will be used by CoMSec to finalise the draft regulations.
"With consensus on the practical issues, we will soon be able to look beyond the law and see how we can support civil society further", concluded Ms. Alaa Talabani.