PEREGRAF
Dindar Zebari, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Coordinator for International Advocacy, told Peregraf that Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s government has developed a four-year plan to improve human rights in the Kurdistan Region.
International organizations and foreign governments have become more vocal in recent months about human rights violations in the Region, many perpetrated by the ruling parties.
Calling the plan a "good achievement," Zebari said that it will help to resolve “deficiencies” and include sending three reports to the KRG Council of Ministers annually.
"We have set a mechanism for the plan,” he said. “About 42 general managers and consultants from all the ministries and government offices related to the governmental situation in the Kurdistan Region are involved, as are the Kurdistan Parliament, the judiciary, and the security agencies including the Asayish and Counterterrorism."
The plan will be formally announced next month.
During the interview, Zebari brushed off suggestions that he was “the man who rejects international reports” and claimed that the Kurdistan Region has the best rights record in the Middle East.
He then said that the critical reports have “dozens of shortcomings.”
In December, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq issued a damning report about the harsh treatment of activists and journalists by the authorities in Erbil and Duhok.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is the dominant party in those governorates. Zebari is a KDP cadre.
There is "very good" progress in the Kurdistan Region, he countered, citing the laws designed to protect minority rights.