UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

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