The Right of access to information draft law has been put on the agenda of the Iraqi parliament for Wednesday, September 17, as according to the head of the committee, "every citizen can easily access the information he wants.”
Farooq Hanna Ato, head of the Iraqi Parliament’s Culture, Tourism, Archeology and Media Committee, said he cares about the draft law as much as his children because it had an appropriate civil content as it is “in line with international standards.”
KirkukNow: The Right of Access to Information Law is on the agenda of the Iraqi parliament for Wednesday, September 17. Do you think the bill will see the light in this session?
Farooq Hanna: To be honest, I don't know what will happen, but I know that what we did to put it on the agenda of the parliamentary session was a year of efforts to work on the bill, after it was sent to parliament.
After the first and second readings, dozens of meetings and seminars were held with civil society organizations, especially the Tawasul Network, an umbrella for many non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as hundreds of journalists, other state institutions related to the law, including the Iraqi intelligence agency, foreign and international organizations. Although a dissenting vote in parliament was against the passage of the law, the insistence of the Culture Committee and some other MPs made it on the agenda.
KirkukNow: So there are no protests against the project?
Farooq Hanna: As of this writing, I have not heard any voice of protest from any MP or parliamentary faction. Therefore, we hope that the situation will continue as it is now. The bill has been signed by 50 MPs and has been included in the agenda of the parliamentary session.
If the draft is endorsed, it will be one of the laws this session of parliament will be proud of. In addition, Iraq as a state is fulfilling one of its international obligations.
KirkukNow: You mentioned that the law came from the government. The draft by the government was problematic. Have the concerns been taken into account?
Farooq Hanna: Of course, what came from the government has been amended up to 80% with what is now being put to the vote. What exists now has been adapted to international standards.
KirkukNow: Are you afraid that the meeting will not be held and the project will remain the same?
Farooq Hanna: Yes, we are afraid, but we also see that many MPs are busy with electoral campaing, so the issue of exceeding the quorum required to hold parliamentary sessions, is an open issue and may or may not be met. However, if the quorum is not completed, there is still another session of parliament. I hope it will be voted for in this session.
The most important thing we did and we are proud of is that we did not let what came from the government go as it was and we brought it into line with transparent and international standards.
KirkukNow: Have you benefited from the Right to Information Law of the Kurdistan Region?
Farooq Hanna: Kurdistan Region has been put on shelves and has not been implemented, we have not benefited from it.
KirkukNow: Did the Kurdish factions support it?
Farooq Hanna: Mr. Shakhawan Abdullah supported us as the deputy speaker of parliament, as the same for the Kurdish MPs in the cultural committee.
KirkukNow: What is the mechanism for implementing the law?
Farooq Hanna: I cannot go into the details of the project, but an office will be established in the government with the Human Rights Commission and some judges who will have the opportunity to work in court.
But there is another concern: if the government does not want to implement it, it will take dozens of ways to hinder its implementation, but what has been done is that every ordinary citizen can easily access the information he wants.
KirkukNow: You look very proud of the law?
Farooq Hanna: I love and am proud of it as much as my children. I worked on it for a year, received approval from the National Security, Intelligence, Defense and Interior Ministries. Our first challenge was to remove the shortcomings in the project sent to us by the government.
We changed 80% of that. We have reached a draft that does not include information that should not or is feared to be published that harms the interests of the state or the individual.
KirkukNow: So what you have done now is compatible with a democratic system and a federal state?
Farooq Hanna: Yes, it will be one of the best laws in the region and the Middle East, so I ask the media and journalists to work for it on social media and support and pressure to complete the quorum and vote on the bill.
