Save the Tigris Campaign and partners announce the first alternative civil society forum for water in Mesopotamia: the Mesopotamian Water Forum will be held in Spring 2019 in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and will involve civil society actors from the states of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria. It will be an open space to give...
Arabic | عربي Eleven local social forums from different Iraqi cities met in Baghdad to discuss their role in the Iraqi Social Forum process. “We Love Iraq” meeting، Baghdad – 10/09/2018 The Karrada district, located in the heart of Baghdad, hosted a 3-day meeting of 11 social forums representing 11 different Iraqi cities. The...
Arabic | عربي Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative 11 September, 2018 “Try to drink tap water from anywhere here if you can,” said one of Basra’s tribal sheikhs, addressing the Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi. “Why do you treat Basra residents as second-class citizens?” The sheikh called on the Iraqi government to apologize for describing...
Arabic | عربي By Kawa Hassan and Camilla Born Middle East and North Africa Program & Working Group on Climate-Related Security Risks The following report was used in a July 2018 UN Security Council debate on the nexus between climate change and security, brought forward under the Swedish Presidency of the Council. Iraq is...
Arabic | عربي The city of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region held its first festival to celebrate women’s rights. The working group on women’s rights of the Kurdistan Social Forum organized its ‘Mrwary Festival’ from 24-25 August in Hawary Shar Park in Sulaymaniyah. Through this festival, the working group aimed to promote the economic independence...
Arabic | عربي The Guardian by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in Bani-Mansour The land of the Bani-Mansour clan north-east of Basra is flat and parched, spattered with dry crusts of salt and thorny shrubs. Clusters of palm trees form small patches of green in the otherwise dusty yellow and brown landscape. Nestled among them are about a dozen berms,...
Arabic | عربي Mustafa Saadoun, Al Monitor, August 31 2018 BASRA, Iraq — Human rights advocates and health officials estimate that 17,000 to 18,000 residents of Basra province have been poisoned by heavily polluted and salty drinking water. On Aug. 26, hundreds of residents stormed the Basra Health Directorate to protest the poor health services provided to those made...
Arabic | عربي The Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI) 16 August 2018 Iraqi security forces violently broke a peaceful strike in the Huwair sub-district of the Al-Midaina District north of Basra, where the West Qurna oil field 2 is located. Government officers killed a peaceful demonstrator and wounded others, while approximately 20 other...
Arabic | عربي Shafaq News An online campaign launched by Iraqi activists and bloggers succeeded over the past few days in drawing attention to the water pollution crisis in the southern district of Basra. Recent videos and photos went viral on social media showing dozens of poisoned patients in hospitals due to contamination of drinking...
Arabic | عربي Asharq Al-Awsat It seems that geographic realities linking Iraq to Iran have caused inescapable problems that are compounding their turbulent political relations. Issues between Baghdad and Tehran go beyond problems of borders and oil field demarcation, extending to water supplies. Iraq accuses Iran of cutting river water flowing from its territory and...
Arabic | عربي Under the project of “Paths to Coexistence in Mesopotamia,” the Iraqi Social Forum conducted a digital and social media training last week, 9-11 August 2018, for a group of young people from Hit, Ramadi, Falluja, and Diyala. The training was held over three days in the meeting hall of the Iraqi Social...
Arabic | عربي Follow up Jameel Aljameel Over 400 Mosulians (the people of Mosul) celebrated the return of life and activity to their city after its liberation from Daesh in the World Youth Festival in Mosul on Sunday 12 August 2018. The festival, organized by the Italian organization Un Ponte Per… (UPP) in cooperation...
