Under the auspices of the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights and the supervision of the office of the commissioner Dr. Ali Akram Al-Bayati, a seminar on (ways to combat the phenomena of firing shots and the spread of the scourge of drugs) was hold at the headquarters of the Commission in cooperation with the Senate of the clans of Sadr City and the Ministry of Interior on Sunday 3/2/2019.

Dr. Al Bayati started the seminar welcoming all participants, and stressed that holding of this event comes in the framework of the exercising of the oversight, education and coordination role of the Commission among all institutions to protect and promote rights and freedoms through various programs which deal directly with citizens and society. This event was attended by the IHCHR Deputy Head, Mr. Ali A. Al-Shammari, and member of the Board of Commissioners, Judge Mushriq Naji.

The IHCHR Deputy Head called on all the sheikhs of Sadr City clans to sign a charter for cooperation and support the competent security agencies to eliminate these phenomena and to reject the perpetrators and promoters and bring them to the competent bodies to receive their penal.

The member of the Board of Commissioners, Judge Mushriq Naji, in turn stressed that the drugs are no less dangerous than Daesh because it plagues the society, kills its members and destroy the economy of the country, accordingly addressing this phenomenon requires a serious stand of all, noting that the Commission identified the causes of the outbreak of this phenomenon, conducted statistics for all provinces and met with detainees convicted by drugs cases. The IHCHR is in the process of holding a conference next month to review all indicators, statistics and recommendations to reduce this phenomenon.

For his part, Major General Mut’eb al-Shammari, Director of Tribal Affairs in the Ministry of Interior, stressed the continues work with tribal sheikhs and other community figures to reduce negative phenomena. These joint efforts has succeeded in reducing the phenomenon of tribal dakka (threatening with firing shots), especially after the judicial authorities ordered to punish the perpetrators according to the Anti-terrorism law.

Major General, Ali Al Ghurairi, the Baghdad Police Chief, pointed out that the competent bodies in the Ministry of Interior are exerting great efforts to combat the negative phenomena in the society, but their elimination is entirely dependent on the cooperation of the members of the society with the various State institutions. The Brigadier Jasim Al-Gharrawi, the Director of Combating Drugs Department, reviewed the efforts of the security services in the arrest and prosecution of drug dealers and traffickers and trace their networks to refer them to the judiciary, indicating that openness to the world and security and social conditions contributed to the growth of this phenomenon and the increasing numbers of drug abusers and addicts of both sexes and of all ages.

The Chairman of the former Committee on Security and Defense, Mr. Hakim al-Zamily, said that the CoR has enacted many laws related to the subject of the seminar, including the Weapons Law No. (51) of 2017 and the Drug Act No. (50) of 2017 that include penalties up to the death punishment, but there is a problem in applying and dealing with these laws, Pointing out that the spread of some phenomena in society, including the drug abuse, are supported by external agendas and schemes targeting youth energies in the country.

The representative of Al-Sadr City Senate, Sheikh Saddam Zamil Al-Atwani, confirmed in turn that protecting society from these phenomena is a national duty of all, especially tribal sheikhs, and they should be backing the security services to support them in enforcing the law and eliminating phenomena.

The Manager of the Education Department in the Commission, Mr. Mahdi Hasan, talked about the efforts of the Commission in the field of raising awareness and education in cooperation with State institutions and civil society organizations.

The seminar included the opening of dialogue and discussion on the two phenomena to exchange and develop ideas on ways to deal with these phenomena and behaviors and eliminate them before concluding with the distribution of plaques and certificates of appreciation to the participants.