UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
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CPA began to allow some vetted ex-Ba’athists to return to their jobs. Interim Prime<br />
Minister Iyad Allawi continued this policy after the hand-over of sovereignty. 498<br />
However, the Shi’ite-dominated Iraqi Transitional Government under Prime Minister<br />
Ibrahim Al-Ja’afari and the Iraqi Government of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki 499<br />
announced major purges of former Ba’ath members. 500 For example, nine senior judges<br />
were removed from the Iraqi High Tribunal in 2005 on the grounds that they were former<br />
members of the Ba’ath Party, although they had been vetted before their appointment.<br />
Other judges were threatened with dismissal but were ultimately allowed to remain so as<br />
not to further disrupt the Tribunal’s work. 501 This was on the basis of the<br />
De-Ba’athification Order.<br />
Since then, pressure increased on the Government to reverse the de-Ba’athification policy,<br />
which was widely blamed for creating a vast pool of unemployed and disenfranchised<br />
Sunnis, many of whom later joined insurgent groups. In order to gain Sunni support in the<br />
October 2005 constitutional referendum, a compromise was reached under which the new<br />
Council of Representatives would consider amendments to the Constitution. 502 A major<br />
issue for review is the reversal of the de-Ba’athification policy. 503 According to many<br />
Sunnis, the Government’s de-Ba’athification policy has become an instrument to not only<br />
identify members of the former regime, but to target Sunnis as such and prevent them from<br />
being employed in the public sector. 504<br />
On 7 November 2006, the Iraqi Government announced that it had prepared a draft law that<br />
would allow the majority of former Ba’ath Party members to return to their positions or to<br />
draw a pension for their past employment in an aim to reach out to the Sunni population<br />
and foster national reconciliation. According to Ali Faysal Al-Lami, Director of the de-<br />
Ba’athification Commission, this move would allow all but the 1,500 most senior former<br />
Ba’ath Party officials to either return to their jobs or get retirement benefits. 505<br />
498 Edward Wong, Iraq Asks Return of Some Officers of Hussein Army, The New York Times, 3 November<br />
2005, http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/2005/1103officers.htm; Al Jazeera and<br />
agencies, Ex-Baathists to get back civil jobs, 12 June 2004, http://english.aljazeera.net/News/<br />
archive/archive?ArchiveId=4375; Rory McCarthy, U-turn on hiring of Ba’ath party members, The Guardian,<br />
23 April 2004, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1201330,00.html; John King, Policy easing to bring<br />
Baathists into new Iraq, CNN, 22 April 2004, http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/22/iraq.baathist/.<br />
499 Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki was a former deputy head of Iraq’s De-Ba’athification Commission.<br />
500 Ellen Knickmeyer, Iraqi Alliance Seeks to Oust Top Officials of Hussein Era, The Washington Post,<br />
18 April 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61487-2005Apr17.html.<br />
501 RFE/RL, Iraq: De-Ba’athification Commission Backs Away From Tribunal Purge, 29 July 2005,<br />
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/07/5c52d87e-b550-4eb7-94d2-a4ddb80e0853.html.<br />
502 Article 142 of the Constitution.<br />
503 See, for example, IRIN, Iraq: Constitution revision key to reconciliation, analysts say, 6 July 2006,<br />
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=27109.<br />
504 ICG, The Next Iraq War? Sectarianism and Civil Conflict, Middle East Report No. 52, 27 February 2006,<br />
p. 10, http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/middle_east___north_africa/iraq_iran_gulf/52_the_next_<br />
iraqi_war_sectarianism_and_civil_conflict.pdf.<br />
505 BBC News, Iraq Baathists ban “to be eased”, 7 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/<br />
2/hi/middle_east/6123182.stm; John Ward Anderson, Proposal Would Rehire Members of Hussein’s Party,<br />
The Washington Post, 7 November 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/<br />
11/06/AR2006110601321.html.<br />
99