What Kind of Liberation? by Al-Ali Nadje; Pratt Nicola; Enloe Cynthia

Author:Al-Ali, Nadje; Pratt, Nicola; Enloe, Cynthia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2011-09-18T04:00:00+00:00

THE DRAFTING OF THE PERMANENT IRAQI CONSTITUTION

The major task of the TNA was to draft a permanent constitution for Iraq, which would enable the election of a new national assembly (or council of representatives). The TAL provided a deadline of August 15, 2005, for finalizing the constitution, after which it would be put to national referendum by October 15, 2005. As in the run-up to the elections, in which the United States and other international donors sought to support women’s political participation through training and support for awareness-raising, international funding was marshaled to support women’s participation in the constitution-drafting process. When Nicola visited Washington in the spring of 2005, the issue of the constitution was uppermost in the minds of many of those to whom she spoke, including those within the U.S. administration.

The constitution was considered to be important for women because this document would determine the future of women’s rights in the new Iraq. It was also significant for the different Iraqi political players because it would define future access to power and resources. For the United States, the constitution would represent an important step toward establishing a supposedly democratic and stable Iraq.

As we discuss in greater detail in the next chapter, given the significance of the document, many Iraqi women’s groups lobbied for at least a 25 percent share of seats for women on the constitution-drafting committee (to reflect their representation in the TNA). Yet only nine out of fifty-five committee members announced in early May were women: six from the UIA, two from the Kurdish Alliance, and one from Iyad Allawi’s party, former IGC member Raja al-Khuzai. Moreover, none of these women were appointed as heads to the subcommittees in charge of drafting different parts of the constitution. Faiza Babakhan, a lawyer and former consultant for the Women Affairs Ministry, explained the limited presence of women on the drafting committee by saying, “The parceling out of these positions is determined not by merit but by complex calculations to achieve ethnic, sectarian and regional balances” (quoted in Goetz 2005).

Some women, however, regarded the drafting of a constitution under U.S. occupation as irrelevant to the protection of women’s rights and the human rights of Iraqis. Haifa Zangana, a London-based activist who had fled from political persecution under Saddam Hussein, wrote in August 2005: “This process is designed not to represent the Iraqi people’s need for a constitution but to comply with an imposed timetable aimed at legitimising the occupation…. Under Saddam Hussein, we had a constitution described as ‘progressive and secular.’ It did not stop him violating human rights, women’s included. The same is happening now. The militias of the parties heading the interim government are involved in daily violations of Iraqis’ human rights, women’s in particular, with the US-led occupation’s blessing. Will the new constitution put an end to this violence?” Certainly the process was not designed in a way that encouraged openness and inclusivity. By international standards, three months was breakneck speed for drafting a constitution, and

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