The National Protection of Civilians Policy in Iraq is public!

We are pleased to share the first Iraqi National Protection of Civilians policy which has been approved by the Iraqi Prime Minister in 2024 and ready to be shared publicly!

The policy is a direct result of the collaboration between PAX, Iraqi Al Amal Association, and representatives of Iraqi governmental institutions, with the foundations for the policy being set by the Office of the National Security Advisory, and the policy eventually brought to fruition by the Permanent Committee on IHL at the Office of the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office. Various Iraqi security institutions, including but not limited to, the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, ICTS, INSS, INIS, the Peshmerga, the Federal Police and high-level Iraqi academics were consulted for the formulation and finalisation of this policy.

The policy contextualizes the few existing international examples of PoC policies to the Iraqi context, leading to a unique document that details the Iraqi vision for protection during armed conflict and in times of peace – a concept not yet seen by any other international PoC policies. Another unique aspect of this policy is that it is applicable to the entirety of the Iraqi Security Apparatus and is not isolated to the MoD or MoI. It shows the commitment of the Iraqi government to increasing the capability of Iraqi defence, security, and law enforcement agencies to protect civilians. PAX and its partners look forward to assisting Iraq in the translation of this national policy to practical applications, guidance for Iraqi military and law enforcement operations and to assist Iraq in strengthening accountability as well as strengthening the opportunities for civilians to find answers, justice, and support when they experience harm.

We urge the international community working on PoC to take note of the Iraqi policy and welcome considerations to use it as input for similar processes of contextualized policy development in other countries. For that purpose, we release the official policy text in Arabic and English, and plan to release an informal translation to French shortly.

For further information, please contact Saba Azeem (azeem@paxforpeace.nl) and Wilbert van der Zeijden (vanderzeijden@paxforpeace.nl)

You can find the Arabic version of the policy here:

السياسة الوطنية لحماية المدنيين في العراق – PAX Protection of Civilians