Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BAGHDAD1959
2009-07-20 08:01:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

ARTICLE 142 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROCESS DRAWS

Tags:  IZ KDEM KWMN PGOV SOCI 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1323
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #1959/01 2010801
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 200801Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3998
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 001959 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/13/2019
TAGS: IZ KDEM KWMN PGOV SOCI
SUBJECT: ARTICLE 142 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROCESS DRAWS
TO A CLOSE

REF: A. BAGHDAD 887

B. BAGHDAD 1579

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Steve Walker for Reason 1.4 (
d).

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 001959

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/13/2019
TAGS: IZ KDEM KWMN PGOV SOCI
SUBJECT: ARTICLE 142 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROCESS DRAWS
TO A CLOSE

REF: A. BAGHDAD 887

B. BAGHDAD 1579

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Steve Walker for Reason 1.4 (
d).

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (SBU) After nearly four years, the work of the Article 142
Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) is finally drawing to a
close. The vast majority of the approximately 60 proposed
amendments that will be submitted to the Parliament would
make only technical or minor cosmetic changes to the
Constitution, but three possible amendments are particularly
noteworthy. The first outlines the establishment of a
Federation Council, which would serve as an upper,
supervisory chamber to the current Council of
Representatives. The second would change the language of
Article 41 concerning Iraqi's personal status in a way that
Iraqi women's rights advocates believe could restrict women's
rights, although lobbying efforts seem to have delayed the
consideration of this amendment. A third amendment, still
under discussion within the CRC, would change Article 18 to
limit the transference of citizenship when a child has only
one Iraqi parent, creating another potential concern for
Iraqi women. The proposed amendments avoid the highly
controversial issues of Kirkuk, oil and gas, powers of the
regions and the powers of the President. Once the CRC has
submitted its proposed amendments to the full Parliament an
absolute majority vote is required for approval, with the
amendments to be approved as a package rather than one by
one. If the amendments secure parliamentary approval, they
will have to be ratified in a national referendum within 60
days. End summary.

-------------- --
The Article 142 Constitutional Review Committee
-------------- --


2. (SBU) Article 142 of the Iraqi Constitution required the
formation of a Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) to
present to the full Parliament "a report that contains
recommendations of the necessary amendments that could be
made to the Constitution." Although Article 142 set a
deadline of four months for completion of the report, the
process has drug out for nearly four years. At times the
CRC's work appeared moribund as consensus on divisive issues

like Kirkuk, oil and gas, and federalism proved elusive (ref
A). However, over the past few months, the CRC appears to
have found a renewed sense of purpose and it working to
complete its report so that it can get the amendments it has
agreed to ratified before the next national election in
January 2010.


3. (SBU) Part of the explanation for the CRC's renewed focus
is that lawmakers are looking to demonstrate legislative
accomplishments in anticipation of the parliamentary
elections. On June 6, in their weekly message, the Iraqi
Islamic Party (whose Salim Jabouri is deputy chair of the
CRC) touted the proposed constitutional amendments as "a
great accomplishment for IIP." There is also a sense within
the Committee that after four years of work, they must put
something forward or it will reflect poorly on the Committee
members, many of whom like Chair Humam Hamoudi (ISCI) and
Vice-Chair Salim al-Jabouri (IIP/Tawafuk) are serious players
on the Iraqi political scene. The CRC will soon present the
package of approximately 60 amendments for the full
Parliament's consideration. While the vast majority of
amendments represent minor technical and cosmetic changes to
the Constitution (e.g., changing "work is a right for all of
the Iraqis" to "work is a right of every Iraqi"),three
amendments stand out as having long-term consequences for
Qamendments stand out as having long-term consequences for
Iraq.

--------------
Federation Council
--------------


4. (SBU) One of the CRC's significant proposed amendments
would be to create a Federation Council that would begin work
after the 2014 national elections. (Note: Another proposed
amendment would extend the Presidency Council for another
electoral term with it having the powers of the Federation
Council during that time. End note.) The proposed
Federation Council would consist of 41 members, two members
elected by the people from each of Iraq's 18 governorates
along with five appointed representatives. Its primary
purpose would be to serve as an advisory body to the
Parliament. While the Federation Council would not have the
power to initiate legislation, it would have the ability to

BAGHDAD 00001959 002 OF 003


veto draft laws, although the veto could be overridden with
an absolute majority vote by Parliament.

--------------
Article 41
--------------


5. (C) As outlined in ref B, Iraqi women leaders from Sunni
and Kurdish parties have furiously lobbied the CRC over the
past two months to amend Article 41 of the Constitution to
remove language guaranteeing the right of every Iraqi to have
his/her personal status determined by their religion and
sect. Initial reports from Iraqi women MPs indicated that
the CRC's proposed amendment to the Constitution for Article
41 would read "The Iraqi shall have the right to commit to
the provisions of his/her religion and sect in personal
status issues. The Civil Status Law shall ensure its
regulation." Not only would this amendment's language not
address the concerns of Iraqi women's rights advocates, it
would aggravate them by giving all Iraqis a "right" to base
personal status choices on religion rather than simply being
"free" to do so. Nevertheless, the lobbying efforts appear
to be paying dividends. On July 9, MPs Ala Talabani (PUK)
and Maysoon al-Damluji (INL) told Poloff separately that the
CRC Chair Humam al-Hamoudi had unofficially agreed to delay
discussion of Article 41 to the next Parliamentary session in
the face of sustained opposition from Kurdish and Sunni MPs.


6. (C) Part of the explanation as to why Iraqi women leaders
have had to resort to outside pressure to influence the CRC
is that they lack allies on it. While the CRC has 27
members, only two of them are women. Moreover, the bulk of
the Committee's work has been done by a small sub-committee
of six to eight members with Alia Nassif (INL) being the lone
woman. According to Dr. Haider Hamoudi, a University of Utah
professor contracted by the Political Section's
Constitutional and Legislative Affairs (CLA) Office to
provide technical assistance to the CRC, Nassif is rarely in
attendance during the CRC's deliberations and has very little
of substance to contribute when she is present. The result
has been that issues of concern to many Iraqi women have
generally not been adequately discussed in the CRC. For
example, on June 25, MP Tanya Gilly (PUK) told Poloff that a
petition with 70 MP signatures calling for the removal of
Article 41's language regarding religion and sect had been
presented to the CRC Chair Humam Hamoudi and other CRC
members, but that it had been shelved and the proposal left
undiscussed within the CRC. However, sustained engagement by
women MPs from Sunni and Kurdish parties over the past weeks
appears to have gotten Hamoudi's attention.

--------------
Citizenship
--------------


7. (C) The lack of a champion for Iraqi women on the CRC has
manifested itself in another important way with an ongoing
debate within the committee as to whether to amend Article 18
of the Constitution which currently says that "anyone who is
born to an Iraqi father or to an Iraqi mother shall be
considered an Iraqi." The proposed change would limit the
automatic transference of citizenship granted to Iraqi
children of one Iraqi parent to circumstances allowed by law.
Before the new Constitution, under Iraqi law, only Iraqi
fathers could transfer Iraqi citizenship to their children.
The possibility that Iraqi women would be unable to transfer
Iraqi citizenship to their children if the father is not also
Iraqi would put Iraq outside the mainstream on this women's
rights issue, which the vast majority (167 out of 192)
nations of the world respect. The outcome of this debate is
far from certain. On July 8, Poloff spoke with MP Layla
Qfar from certain. On July 8, Poloff spoke with MP Layla
al-Khafaji (ISCI) who said that she had not heard any
discussion about possible changes to Article 18. She
indicated that this would be a "red line" for Iraqi women and
that she would raise the issue with her bloc leader Human
Hamoudi, who is also the CRC Chair.

--------------
Big Issues Left for Future
--------------


8. (SBU) While the CRC has addressed a number of technical
issues in the Constitution, it does not appear that it will
put forward any proposed amendments to address sensitive and
controversial issues such as Kirkuk, oil and gas, powers of
the regions and the powers of the President. From the
outset, the CRC seems to have decided to avoid debates on
controversial topics that could derail the entire process,
instead focusing on the technical and cosmetic changes on
which consensus could be reached.

--------------

BAGHDAD 00001959 003 OF 003


Next Steps
--------------


9. (SBU) Once the CRC has submitted its package of proposed
amendments, the full Parliament will need to pass them with
an absolute majority of its members. It is notable that the
proposed amendments must be voted up or down as a package and
cannot be accepted or rejected individually by the full
Parliament. If the package of amendments passes, a national
referendum must be held within 60 days for them to be
ratified. Moreover, any three provinces can reject the
package of constitutional amendments, so the changes will
likely have to take into account the preferences of the three
provinces of the Kurdistan region. It is also unlikely that
the Parliament would schedule a vote on them before November
when passage would allow the required referendum to be
conducted in conjunction with the national parliamentary
elections scheduled for January 2010.

--------------
Comment
--------------


10. (C) The renewed energy of the CRC is an encouraging
development as it demonstrates a realization on the part of
its members that something must be delivered ahead of the
2010 elections. It is also encouraging that Iraqi women
appear to have been successful in lobbying for a delay to at
least one amendment that they find objectionable, a clear use
of the democratic process. There is also an outside chance
that the entire work of the CRC will be rejected because of
its failure to address the big political issues, which is
ostensibly why the committee was formed. We will continue to
follow the CRC process as it moves along. End comment.
FORD