Protecting the Future:
Gavi Mairone, founder of MM~LAW, has assisted in drafting a law, which expands jurisdiction for Iraqi national courts in the Kurdish Region of Iraq to protect all citizens within the Kurdish Region (KR) with no distinction towards race, religion, ethnicity and gender. The draft law also ensures due process and the recognition of civil and human rights of any party accused of genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity.
Leaders of the major Kurdish parties have expressed support for the bill, which is pending before the Justice Committee of the Kurdish Parliament and will be submitted for its first reading in May 2018.
While this law, if passed, will not apply to such crimes perpetrated against Kurds in Syria or outside the Kurdish Region of Iraq, it will apply to those Iraqi Kurds who have been taken to Syria by the Islamic State terrorist organization, and tortured, murdered, and/or enslaved. Therefore, it will not apply to the alleged chemical weapons attacks that the Kurdish people have been subjected to in recent weeks in Syria. However, this could be a first step to light a path for other governments to enact similar legislation.