Minorities in Iraqi Constitution: A Critical Analysis of the Legal Discourse

Kawa Abdulkareem Sherwani, Et Al

doi:10.17762/turcomat.v12i2.713

Abstract

Between 1979 and 2003, when Baath party was in power in Iraq, minorities were neglected and were not part of the decision-making process. It was the priority of the new government that other components of Iraq where part of the process. The draft of the constitution of2005, in a number of provisions, do mention all the Iraqi components. However, no law has been passed to protect the rights of minorities and there is lack of appropriate mechanism to bring perpetrators to justice once violations have been committed against them. The data is taken from the English version of the Iraqi Constitution. The principles of critical discourse analysis areused as method to deconstruct the legal language of the constitution. This research undertakes a critical analysis of the legal discourseof the Iraqi Constitution and examines the provision of the constitution to highlight whether minorities in Iraq are protected under the constitution and whether the legal language of the constitutionis drafted in a way that is not vague or ambiguous to guarantee that protection. It is an attempt to investigate the legal language of Iraqi Constitution critically. The study concludes that the constitution was written in a way that may allow different interpretations, that is why it is difficult to be implemented with the available mechanisms. The study recommends that the constitution should be amended in a way that is inclusive of all minorities in Iraq and the provisions represent the quality between and among all the Iraqi components

Highlights

Mesopotamia (Iraq) is regarded as one of the first civilized centres in the world
The legal language should be as general as possible to bring all minorities under one umbrella
The latest constitution of Iraq makes explicit reference to various minority groups and highlights the positive existence of minorities in Iraq, they have not prevented the committing of violence acts against those vulnerable groups in the state, one of the most ancient civilizations worldwide

Summary

Introduction

Mesopotamia (Iraq) is regarded as one of the first civilized centres in the world. As a consequence, it must be characterised as being enriched with diversity in the field of groups, customs, traditions, folklore, languages, religions, and subsequent empires inherited by contemporary Iraq since its establishment in the early 1920s. The country maintains various historical minorities; some of them may be more than 20 centuries old, such as Yezidis, Zoroastrians, Mandaeens-Sabian, etc. These minorities are divided into different racial, ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups. Iraq may have an exclusive minority worldwide, such as the Shabak minority, which is considered an Iraqi minority (Salloum, Protection of Religious, 2017, pp. 121-122)

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Conclusion