Protest Organizers Shut Offices

Two political parties that led demonstrations in Baghdad over the past two weeks said on Monday that security forces controlled by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had ordered them to close their offices.The actions came amid growing concerns that Mr. Maliki, who is backed by the United States, is using force and other measures to stifle this country’s democracy.

Officials for the Iraqi Nation Party and the Iraqi Communist Party said in interviews that dozens of armed security forces had come to their offices in Baghdad on Sunday, two days after nationwide protests calling for better services.Although the parties do not have any seats in Parliament, they are outspoken critics of the government and helped organize the protests in Baghdad.

Mithal al-Alusi, the leader of the Iraq Nation Party and a former member of Parliament, said that on Sunday officials from Iraq’s federal police force, on orders from Mr. Maliki’s office, arrived at his office and ordered him to leave.

Although the Communists were told their buildings were being requisitioned for government use, Mr. Alusi said he received no explanation why he was being evicted. He said he would try to persuade Mr. Maliki and his cohorts to reconsider the order.“He is breaking the Constitution; he is breaking the law,” Mr. Alusi said.

Mr. Alusi said that high-ranking members of Mr. Maliki’s Dawa Party spoke with him five days ago, and urged him to align with them. But Mr. Alusi demurred, saying that he had already given interviews standing behind the protesters and had sent his members into the streets to march with them.“We support the demonstrations,” he said. “We are in the streets with our people.”

Jassin Helfi, a high ranking Communist Party leader, said that at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning about 60 security forces in about a dozen vehicles came to the party’s headquarters and the office of the party’s newspaper.

The forces said they had received an order from the Baghdad Operation Command, a special brigade controlled by Mr. Maliki, saying that they had to close their offices within 24 hours, Mr. Helfi said.The forces, Mr. Helfi said, did not have any documentation and did not provide an explanation for why the party had to close their offices.

Party officials demanded they provide some sort of documentation and the forces returned about an hour later with a letter signed by Mr. Maliki, Mr. Helfi said.The Iraqi government denied any political motive behind the evictions, and said it was not restricting the parties’ rights to protest or air their grievances against the government.

Ali al-Moussawi, a government spokesman, said the parties had “overtaken” government-owned buildings that were needed by Iraq’s Defense Ministry. Clearing out the Communists and the Umma Party was simply part of a long-standing plan to turn over the offices back over to government use, Mr. Moussawi said.“The Constitution guarantees the activity of all political parties,” Iraq’s Cabinet said in a statement.

But critics said the raids appeared to be the government’s latest attempt to crack down on dissenting voices behind demonstrations that have called for anti-corruption reforms, better public services and more accountability from leaders. Scores of reporters and demonstrators were beaten or arrested after nationwide rallies earlier this month.

“This is part of the violations of public freedoms and human rights,” said Hanaa Edwar, an activist with the civil society group Al-Amal. “They feel that these demonstrators are terrorists. Political parties not loyal to their policies are being attacked. And for what?”

The evictions came as a few hundred protesters in Baghdad marked the one-year anniversary of Iraq’s national elections with a “day of regret” — a modulation of the violent “day of rage” rallies earlier this month that ended with nearly 20 demonstrators dead and dozens wounded and arrested.

In Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, a traffic circle and park that has become a focal point for the protesters, about 200 people stood behind skeins of yellow police tape and shouted “We want our rights!” and vented their disillusionment at Iraq’s leaders and the problems plaguing this troubled democracy.

“We had a hope for the best” said Rana Hadi, 24, who said she voted for Mr. Maliki and his coalition. “But we were wrong. Nothing happened. Nothing changed.”Although bombings and power outages are still a daily occurrence, violence has dropped sharply over the past year, with 184 people killed across the country last month, and electricity production and oil output have both ticked up.

But a year after the elections and three months after Iraq’s leaders finally ended a long political standoff and formed a government, Mr. Maliki has still not finalized his government, and is still personally overseeing the powerful army and police forces.

Cracks continue to form that could undermine the partnership government. On Monday, eight members of the multisectarian Iraqiya coalition announced they were splitting off to form their own party, a new fracture in a large coalition backed by many of Iraq’s Sunni minority.

In Tahrir Square, some demonstrators dyed their index fingers red and thrust them into the air, a bitter echo of the purple-stained fingers that smiling Iraqi voters, emerging from the polling stations, had waved on election day.


By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and JACK HEALY, The New York Times.

Kurdish unrest in Iraq

Masked attackers burned tents of protesters overnight in the main city of Iraq's Kurdistan region, police said Sunday.Hundreds of demonstrators gathered later in the day in Sulaimaniya for another protest against Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional government, witnesses told CNN.The unrest in northern Iraq that erupted three weeks ago has killed five people and injured 158 so far, the head of the emergency health department, Dr. Nozad Ahmed, said.

According to police officials, several empty tents erected by protesters at Bardagi-Sara central square of Sulaimaniya were set on fire before dawn. The attack was under investigation, the police officials said.Some protesters blamed the attack on Kurdish security forces, who denied any involvement.

Separately, the head of an independent Kurdish radio station said Sunday that gunmen attacked the broadcast facility and destroyed or stole equipment overnight.Azad Othman, the head of Dank Radio, told CNN that the attackers stormed the station in Kalar, a town 150 kilometers south of Sulaimaniya. Security officials in Sulaimaniya said they were investigating.

It was the second attack on an independent broadcaster in Kurdistan in the past two weeks. On February 20, masked gunmen attacked and burned NRT TV, wounding a guard, according to police officials and the broadcast company.

NRT, the first independent television station in northern Iraq, started broadcasting on February 17, and was the only station to air footage of shots fired at demonstrators on the first day of the protests, according to a company statement.

Protesters in the Kurdish region, mostly in Sulaimaniya, are demanding political reforms from Barzani's regional government and the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party. Like protests in other areas of Iraq, the demonstrators also complain of corruption, unemployment and poor public services.

On Thursday, Barzani gave a televised address in which he called on the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament to study the possibility of holding early general elections in the region. The previous regional election took place July 2009, with the next one currently scheduled for 2013.

Barzani expressed his admiration for the young people of Kurdistan for displaying political maturity in airing their demands through peaceful demonstrations. But he urged them to avoid resorting to violence, which he said would tarnish the image of the Kurdistan region.Previously, he blamed the protests on a "very small group of people determined to undermine the stability of the region."

From Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN

Gunmen storm Iraqi station

ARBIL, Iraq - Gunmen raided a privately-owned radio station in Iraq’s Kurdish region on Sunday, shutting down broadcasts encouraging protests against the Kurdish government, officials said.The pre-dawn raid on the Kurdish Voice radio station in Kalar, a town south of Sulaimaniya in northern Iraq, was carried out by unknown gunmen who broke into the channel and smashed and looted equipment, the station manager and a security official said.

The Voice radio channel, owned by two Kurdish journalists, was broadcasting programmes encouraging people to demonstrate and calling for political reforms in the Kurdish region, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world.“I hold the government responsible for the attack. They want to suppress personal freedoms in Kurdistan,” Jaza Mohammed, the station manager, told Reuters.

A senior security official in Kalar confirmed that unknown gunmen attacked the radio station, but could not give further details.The incident was the second attack by gunmen against the media in the Kurdish region in less than a month. Gunmen raided and set fire to a television station in Sulaimaniya on Feb. 20, shutting down broadcasts of protests.

Demonstrations in Sulaimaniya and other cities of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region have been almost a daily event for the past weeks as hundreds have protested against corruption and called for political reforms.Last month, protesters clashed with security forces when they tried to storm the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party headed by President Masoud Barzani.

Unlike their regional counterparts, Iraqi protests generally have not called for the removal of the elected government, installed just two months ago after months of tense negotiations between political factions. Rallies have demanded more jobs, better public services, the ouster of local officials and reforms.

Iraqi Kurdistan has enjoyed virtual independence under Western protection since the end of the first Gulf War in 1991, attracting foreign investors as a relatively stable area compared with the rest of Iraq, which fell into sectarian strife and a raging insurgency after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Reuters

Iraqi Official In Hot Water

Iraqi teachers and local officials are up in arms over a derogatory comment by a senior education ministry official describing members of the teaching community as mostly jackasses.Apparently unaware the microphone was on, Deputy Minister of Education Ali al-Ibrahimi was caught on videotape telling other officials that "three quarters of all teachers are donkeys."

Nasser al-Kaabi, a member of the board of the Iraqi teachers' union, told RFI that teachers are demanding al-Ibrahimi's immediate dismissal, together with those officials who agreed with his "highly offensive" statement during the meeting.Al-Kaabi stressed that "this demand brooks no delay, otherwise teachers will take to the streets, thus further stoking public protests." The teachers are also demanding that al-Ibrahimi appear on TV after his dismissal to apologize publicly for the distress caused by his remarks.

The chairman of the Baghdad provincial council education committee, Falah al-Qaissi, told RFI that the local Baghdad government backs the teachers' union in their demand.Al-Qaissi said the deputy minister's remarks were unacceptable, and that al-Ibrahimi seems to have forgotten that he owes his position to the people he insulted.He added that as the Baghdad provincial council is not empowered to discipline al-Ibrahimi, it will ask the minister of education to fire him.

Al-Ibrahimi, in comments to RFI, expressed "my deepest regret to teachers" for his unfortunate comment. He added that "no one is infallible."He said the matter is now before a court as a libel case and that the timing of the release of the videotape was "politically motivated."

By Radio Free Europe

Iraqi Women Bemoan Strictures

Female students at Iraqi colleges of physical education are frustrated they cannot put what they learn to practical use due to the conservative values in the society.

Student Suaad Khadhum told RFI that "the social environment in present-day Iraq is not conducive to girls engaging in outdoor sports activities and even physical education students have to do it within the confines of their college or at home."She said that the conservative outlook is also visible in the courses, "which are overwhelmingly theoretical, with a minimum of actual physical training and exercise."

Shurooq Saleh told RFI that applying what female students learn outside "is virtually impossible due to the lack of sports facilities."She said "starting [up] female-only sports centers would reassure parents and persuade them to allow their daughters to frequent these facilities for exercise and leisure."

Shireen Ali said that she would like to see clubs and facilities where women can exercise and develop their sporting potential like in other countries. She said "this remains a wish at present but I am hopeful that one day Iraq too will be a country with flourishing women's sports."

Dr. Mudhaffar Abdullah Shafiq, chairman of the Iraqi association of sports and exercise medicine, told RFI that sports and exercise in general are alien to Iraqi women, who also have bad eating habits.

He said that a tremendous awareness campaign is required about the physical and psychological benefits of sport and exercise to women, including the favorable impact on their looks as well as stamina for working women.

Thuraya Najim, a member of the parliamentary youth and sports committee, told RFI that sports education starts both at home and school.She urged the government to make sports compulsory, as many schools skip physical education in favor of other subjects because they view exercise as unimportant.

Fawziya al Attiya, a professor of sociology at Baghdad University, told RFI that traditional customs and values restrict the chances of women engaging in sport throughout the Arab world and Iraq is no exception.

She recalled the situation was better in the 1960s and 1970s, when attention was paid to sports at school and clubs had sportswomen as swimmers, gymnasts, tennis players, etc. But wars, international sanctions, and violence in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 have conspired to disrupt this trend.

Al Attiya said she hopes that stability, modern education, better economic conditions, and higher living standards will contribute to encourage women to re-engage in sport.

By Radio Free Europe

Iranian agents inside Ashraf

According to information received by NCRI from inside the clerical regime, in a dangerous act, Iraqi forces under command of Maliki bring Iranian intelligence agents wearing Iraqi army uniforms or other disguises inside Ashraf in tainted-glass vehicles. Bringing Iranian agents inside Ashraf is usually done at night and mostly in tainted-glass vehicles that are being recently used by the Iraqi forces stationed at Ashraf.

According to reports from Ashraf residents, in recent days and at various hours during the day, but mostly at nights, these vehicles whose passengers cannot be seen come to Ashraf. Inside Ashraf, they mostly use the road that leads to Ashraf cemetery that is not under the control of Ashraf residents.In yet another act last night, agents of the Iranian intelligence and the terrorist Qods force, with assistance from the Iraqi forces, tore a section of Ashraf's southern fence to make way for infiltration.

The International Committee of Jurists in Defence of Ashraf emphasizes that bringing Iranian intelligence agents who wear disguises inside Ashraf is an act to prepare the grounds for terrorist acts and for fresh conspiracies against Ashraf residents. It calls on the US forces and the United Nations to conduct an immediate investigation into this matter.To clarify matters, the ICJDA requests that sections of Ashraf where Iraqi forces travel to, especially Morvarid Cemetery (Ashraf's cemetery) and its vicinity be searched by the US forces and the UN, and that entry of all tainted-glass vehicles to Ashraf be prohibited.

Maliki seen as a threat in Iraq

As protesters throughout the Arab world challenge their authoritarian leaders, Iraqis, government officials and regional experts see increasing signs that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is expanding his power, undermining the fragile democracy struggling to take hold here.

A ruling in January by Iraq’s highest court — sought by Mr. Maliki — gave him control of once-independent agencies responsible for running the country’s central bank, conducting elections and investigating corruption.A month after that ruling, two leading human rights groups reported that forces that report directly to Mr. Maliki, in violation of the country’s Constitution, were running secret jails where detainees had been tortured.

And in July, Iraq’s high court ruled that members of Parliament no longer had the power to propose legislation. Instead, all new laws would have to be proposed by Mr. Maliki’s cabinet or the president and then passed to the Parliament for a vote.Political experts said they knew of no other parliamentary democracy that had such restrictions.

With influence from the United States waning as the military prepares to withdraw at the end of the year, Mr. Maliki’s critics say that one legacy of the eight-year American occupation is a democratically elected leader from the country’s Shiite majority who has far more power than the Constitution intended.

Critics said that the court ruling in January was a particularly damaging blow to the country’s voting process and feeble economy. Sean Kane, the program officer for Iraq at the United States Institute of Peace, a Congressionally financed research center, said that the decision appeared to contradict Iraq’s Constitution, which he said states that the commissions have varying levels of responsibility to Parliament.

Referring to the recent court ruling, Aliya Nasaif, a lawmaker from the Iraqiya coalition, a rival to Mr. Maliki’s State of Law bloc, said: “Because there is no law, you will find him overwhelming other institutions. This is the beginning of dictatorship. We are regressing by centuries.”Mr. Maliki has tried to respond to public discontent by giving his Cabinet 100 days to come up with ways to improve services. He has also promised to cut his pay and not seek a third term in 2014.

An official for the United States Embassy said that Mr. Maliki and his advisers were trying to signal that they understood the outrage of Iraqis over corruption and poverty.Those concessions, however, have done little to mollify Iraqis, and thousands took to the streets last week, sometimes violently, to protest the government’s failure to provide electricity and jobs.

Rights groups criticized the government for what they called a violent crackdown on those demonstrations, saying that scores of people — including journalists — were beaten and detained.On Friday, protesters took the streets again, although there were far fewer reports of violence. Nevertheless, in the southern city of Basra, several journalists at a protest reported they had been beaten by security forces.

Mr. Maliki, an uncharismatic but canny politician who was elected prime minister in 2006, has been credited with helping reduce the violence that once threatened to tear Iraq apart.But his critics say those victories have come at a cost. They accuse Mr. Maliki of taking a stronger hand over Iraq’s powerful police and military by leaving the slots of defense and interior minister open indefinitely, allowing him to act as the head of both agencies.

“The developments in recent months have provoked real concern across the Iraqi political spectrum, and the responsibility now rests largely with the Parliament to check the prime minister’s power,” said Jason Gluck, a rule of law adviser at the United States Institute of Peace and an adviser to the Iraqi Parliament in 2007. “Whether the diverse political parties in Parliament can effectively do so will be a critical test for Iraq’s burgeoning democracy.”

One of Mr. Maliki’s top advisers, Ali al-Moussawi, said that the once-independent agencies had “irregularities and problems” in the past because of “the lack of supervision.”Mr. Moussawi said the new oversight would focus on administrative matters but would not interfere with the overall missions of the institutions.“The noise against the court decision is for political reasons,” Mr. Moussawi said. “Those who make this noise are not doing it for the sake of these bodies but for political gains.”

Mr. Maliki had been seen as a fairly weak leader until 2008, when he ordered an Iraqi military offensive against Shiite militias, which had taken control of parts of southern Iraq. His critics say he continued to strengthen his power by using his security forces to resolve political disputes, particularly in Kurdistan.

Mr. Maliki narrowly lost in the March 2010 election and appeared significantly weakened. But he muscled his way to a second term after favorable decisions from the election commission and the high court, allowing him to assemble a wide-ranging coalition government in December.

Joost Hiltermann, an Iraq expert for the International Crisis Group, said that Mr. Maliki had benefited from the fact that Iraq has not been a top priority for the Obama administration.Some members of Iraq’s fractious Parliament, a rubber-stamp institution under Saddam Hussein, have said they would take measures to check Mr. Maliki’s power, vowing to cut funds to security agencies controlled by the prime minister and to pass laws that limit him.

None of those attempts, however, have gained much traction, in large part because the opposition is so divided.The degree of the court’s independence is unclear. The Iraqi Constitution is vague on how members of the court can be removed and appointed, and what guarantees its independence.

Officials with the election commission said they were baffled by the court’s decision that placed them under Mr. Maliki’s supervision. They also worried that Iraqis would lose faith in the credibility of local and national elections if Mr. Maliki’s office began to select election monitors or to change the rules governing where voting takes place, how ballots are counted and who runs polling stations.

Faraj al-Haidari, head of Iraq’s election commission, said that United Nations officials had expressed their concern about the ruling to him.Shortly after the decision was handed down, Mr. Haidari said he had received a letter from Mr. Maliki’s office telling the commission to halt the appointments of 38 low-level election officials. He said the commission had refused.

Fear has also extended to the central bank, where officials said they worried that Mr. Maliki would now have the power to order the institution to print money to cover Iraq’s growing budget deficits. Such a move would weaken the value of Iraq’s anemic currency and lead to rapid inflation.

“Our fear is that they will now see it as their money,” said the bank’s senior adviser, Mudher M. Salih Kasim.

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and JACK HEALY, The New York Times

Iraq protests draw thousands

Stifled by tight security but met with far less bloodshed than the week before, thousands of people swarmed to protests across Iraq on Friday to call for better public services and more accountable politicians.

The demonstrations went ahead despite curfews and bans on vehicle movement in major cities such as Baghdad and Basra. However, the gatherings were smaller than similar rallies the previous week, which saw more than a dozen people killed in clashes with security forces.Declaring Prime Minister Nouri Maliki a liar and waving banners that said "we need freedom" and "we love Baghdad," about 2,000 people gathered in the capital's Tahrir Square, where music played, pictures of the slums of West Baghdad were displayed and a mime performed.

But the route to the square was blocked with razor wire and dozens of extra checkpoints. In a sharp increase of an already-heavy security presence, thousands of police and soldiers in armored vehicles lined the streets.Hansa Hassan, 40, a teacher who went to the protests last week but was deterred from attending Friday because she was afraid of security forces, said she knew many would-be demonstrators who were turned back altogether.

"There were many people who wanted to participate but who were prevented; my husband insisted, and he managed to go in, but there were many barriers," she said.One protester, who asked to be known only as Hamzuz because he feared for the safety of his family, said people were prevented from crossing any of the bridges over the Tigris River to get to the square in eastern Baghdad.

"We couldn't take water with us, or pens or cameras, or a statement that we wrote about the violence last Friday," said Hamzuz, who is with a youth protest movement called Iraqi Streets 4 Change.The previous Friday, there were violent confrontations in Tahrir Square between protesters and riot police, with demonstrators throwing stones and security forces firing water cannons, setting off sound bombs and, according to some witnesses, firing live rounds.

At least 13 journalists were prevented from covering the Feb. 25 protests and arrested in Baghdad, according to the head of the journalists union, Moayad Lami, who said the detainees were beaten in jail before being released.On Friday, journalists at the Baghdad protest were protected by security forces. However, local television news reported that riot police beat two Iraqi cameramen during a protest in Basra.

The unrest, which has been going on for a month, has rattled the political establishment, with Maliki and the speaker of the parliament, Osama Nujaifi, backing early provincial elections and giving ministers 100 days to address issues such as the provision of electricity and clean water.Maliki's shaky parliamentary ally, radical cleric Muqtada Sadr, has called the demonstrations credible, and on Friday thousands of people rallied in the heartland of his support: the Sadr City suburb in east Baghdad.

Facebook groups and websites were immediately updated with pictures of the events of the day, and protesters said they were planning more events. Hassan, the teacher, said she hoped to be there next week."Inshallah [God willing], next Friday we will go to Tahrir," she said. "Because, really, we hope to make changes to gain a good future for our sons and daughters."

By Alice Fordham and Raheem Salman, Los Angeles Times

Violence hits education

Several Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq and Yemen are unlikely to achieve the education-for-all Millennium Development Goals by 2015 because of insecurity and conflict, according to a new report by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The education-for-all goals were endorsed by more than 160 countries in 2000. But according to Kevin Watkins, director of UNESCO’s 2011 Global Monitoring Report, children and education are not just getting caught in the cross-fire, they are increasingly the targets of violent conflict.

"The failure of governments to protect human rights is causing children deep harm - and taking away their only chance of an education," he said.

The UNESCO report, entitled The Hidden Crisis: Armed Conflict and Education, says 35 countries were affected by armed conflict between 1999 and 2008, several in the Middle East. “Children and schools are on the front line of these conflicts, with classrooms, teachers and pupils seen as legitimate targets,” it noted.

Egypt

Recent demonstrations and clashes in Egypt led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, but also closed many schools. In mid-February, half-term was extended for two weeks. Schools in only seven of the country’s 29 governorates reopened after the recess, according to sources in Cairo.

The Interior Ministry deployed police outside schools to beef up security and encourage a return to school, but thousands of parents still preferred to keep their children at home.

“A deteriorating security situation hinders the opening of the schools and this affects the whole educational process,” Fathi al-Sharqawi, a professor of educational psychology at Cairo’s Ain Shams University, told IRIN. “Teachers will have to skip some parts of the curricula after the students go back to their classrooms, which will also affect these students’ learning badly.”

Hundreds of parents have complained that their children are attacked by thugs on their way to school, according to human rights groups. The Egyptian Centre for Human Rights, for example, said some parents complain that criminals use weapons to grab money from children.

Manal Abdul Aziz, an Egyptian journalist who opted for home-based tuition for her two children, told IRIN in Cairo: “There is total obscurity about the future of this academic year.” The cost of hiring five teachers for her two children (aged 12 and 15) is the equivalent of US$169 a month - a significant sum for most families.

Iraq

Decades of war in Iraq, UN sanctions, poor security and the economic situation have adversely affected education and increased illiteracy levels. According to data produced by the government and UNESCO in September, at least five million of Iraq's almost 30 million people are illiterate. Of these, 14 percent are school-age children who left school to feed their families, are displaced or have no access to suitable schooling.

Ahmed Khalid Jaafar, 14, told IRIN in Baghdad that he left school after his father died in an explosion three years ago, and sought work on the streets to feed his mother and two younger daughters.

"I sell gum and my mother works is a seamstress," said Jaafar. "We make 200,000-300,000 dinars (US$160-250) a month. We spend that money on the most important things, mainly food. School is not important now." Jaafar and his family squat in an abandoned government building.

The September data show that adult illiteracy in Iraq is now one of the highest in the Arab region. In rural areas, almost 30 percent of the population are unable to read or write. Significant gender disparities exist, with 40 percent of the illiterate being women.

Other countries

Bahrain is on track to achieve the goal of halving illiteracy levels by 2015, but countries like Iraq, Mauritania and Sudan are off track. "The recent experiences of Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait and Yemen show that literacy policy can be effective: all four countries have increased their adult literacy rates by at least 20 percentage points in the past 15-20 years," the UNESCO report said.

In Yemen, a reallocation of 10 percent of the military budget to education would put an additional 840,000 children in school. In the north, 220 schools were destroyed, damaged or looted during fighting in 2009 and 2010 between government and rebel forces, according to the report. "In Yemen, many internally displaced children complement family income by begging, smuggling or collecting refuse, and there are concerns that child labour is increasing."

In Syria, attendance rates in pre-school programmes varied from less than 4 percent for children in the poorest households, to just above 18 percent for wealthy households.

In harm’s way

According to the report, armed conflict places children directly in harm’s way. Some get killed while others are exploited as soldiers or forced to flee their homes and become refugees.

“Children subject to the trauma, insecurity and displacement that come with armed conflict are unlikely to achieve their potential for learning,” it said. All too often, armed groups see the destruction of schools and the targeting of schoolchildren and teachers as a legitimate military strategy.

In conflict situations, children fear to go to school, teachers to give classes and parents to send their children to school. According to UNESCO, in such situations, children suffer psychological trauma, as well as loss of parents, siblings and friends. One survey of Iraqi refugee children in Jordan found that 39 percent reported having lost someone close to them, and 43 percent witnessed violence.

“Armed conflict remains a major roadblock to human development in many parts of the world, yet its impact on education is widely neglected,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. “This groundbreaking report documents the scale of this hidden crisis, identifies its root causes and offers solid proposals for change.”

by IRIN News

Hundreds gather for Iraqi demos

Hundreds of people converged on Baghdad's Liberation Square Friday for an anti-government demonstration despite a vehicle ban that forced many to walk for hours to the heart of the capital.

The Baghdad demo was one of many taking place across the country, as Iraqis rallied for the second straight Friday in a row. The demonstrations inspired by revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia have concentrated on demands for improved government services, better pay and an end to corruption in Iraq."Our country is lost and for the last eight years the government has failed to offer services for people. Thousands of youths are without jobs," said Bahjat Talib.

He said he walked from the vast slum in eastern Baghdad called Sadr City through eight checkpoints to get to the square. Talib said he had to tell security forces that he was going to work or they would not let him pass.He was one of about 500 demonstrators in Liberation Square, surrounded by what appeared to be even more security forces.

The Iraqi government, worried the demonstrations may spiral out of control, have taken strict measures that appear designed to limit the number of demonstrators who come out. Late Thursday, they imposed a vehicle ban in the capital so many of the protesters were forced to walk for miles. Similar vehicle bans were in place in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, and the southern city of Basra.

Side streets leading up to the square were blocked with security vehicles and helicopters buzzed overhead in Baghdad.Iraqi security forces around the country clashed last Friday with protesters in the most widespread and violent demonstrations the country has seen since a wave of unrest began spreading across the Middle East. At least 14 people were killed in those rallies.

Before those protests, Iraqi officials sounded a drumbeat of warnings about the demonstrations, saying they were being backed by supporters of Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. The warnings seemed designed to keep people away and paint those who did take part in a bad light.

Demonstrators this Friday took measures to protect themselves, evidencing the distrust many feel toward the security forces. Kamil al-Assadi, from Sadr city, formed a committee checking demonstrators entering the square because they were worried the security forces might plant people in the crowd to create problems.

"We do not trust the Iraqi security forces and formed a committee to check the demonstrators to make sure that no one is carrying a knife or any kind of weapon who aims at creating any problems during the demo."

In the southern city of Basra, about 1,000 people converged on the Basra provincial council building. Last week the protests in the city led to the resignation of the governor. This week they were demanding that the provincial council step down and essential services such as water and electricity be improved.

By BUSHRA JUHI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Bushra

Iraq sets vehicle curbs

Protesters streamed into central Baghdad on foot after authorities imposed vehicle bans on major cities ahead of rallies over corruption, unemployment and poor public services.The demonstrations come after nationwide protests in more than a dozen cities a week ago, which spurred Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to give his cabinet 100 days to shape up or face the sack.

Several hundred protesters had gathered in central Baghdad's Tahrir Square by 10:00 am (0700 GMT), with more on the way, chanting, "Liar, Liar, Nuri al-Maliki" and "Oil for the people, not for the thieves."The demonstrators, who were outnumbered by security forces, also carried banners which read, "Where has the people's money gone?" and "Yes for democracy and the protection of freedom."

Similar demonstrations, also with several hundred protesters, were taking place in the holy city of Najaf and the port of Basra."We are not Baathists, we are just Iraqis asking for simple rights like services," said finance ministry employee Ammar Ziad, who was protesting at Tahrir Square.

He was referring to comments by Maliki ahead of last week's protests in which he claimed they were organised by loyalists of late dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, and insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda.Vehicle curbs have been applied to all of Baghdad, with the capital's streets deserted but for a handful of cars attempting to evade checkpoints, and the centre of Basra.

Nasiriyah, in the south, barred anyone from entering.Complete vehicle bans were also placed on every non-Kurdish province north of the capital, with protesters not even allowed near provincial governorate offices in the city of Mosul, after five demonstrators were killed and one building set ablaze in rallies there a week ago.

Friday's rallies have been billed by some organisers as a "Day of Regret", to mark one year since parliamentary elections.It took politicians more than nine months to form a government after the poll on March 7, 2010, and even now, several key positions, such as the ministers of interior, defence and planning, remain unfilled.

"People will continue demonstrating until there is reform because the government has been built on a sectarian basis," said Faisal Hamid, a pensioner who walked to Tahrir Square from the nearby neighbourhood of Karrada.

"Officials only look for their personal interests."

Demonstrations have been taking place in Iraq for the past month, with protesters decrying a lack of improvement in their daily lives, eight years after the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam.The biggest such rallies took place last Friday, when Iraqis took to the streets of at least 17 cities and towns. A total of 16 people were killed and more than 130 wounded as a result of clashes on the day.

The spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiite majority has also added his voice to calls for the government to step up its performance, saying last week that ministers needed to make progress on improving power supplies, providing food for the needy, creating jobs and combating corruption.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is based in the central shrine city of Najaf and rarely wades into politics, also called on Iraq's leaders to "cancel unacceptable benefits" given to current and former politicians, and said they must "not invent unnecessary government positions that cost Iraq money."

The rallies have led to the resignations of four top officials -- three southern provincial governors and Baghdad's mayor.In response, Maliki told ministers on Sunday they would be assessed on their performance in the coming 100 days, with "changes" being made based on whether or not they improved.

He has also pushed measures to combat graft, cut politicians' pay and dedicate more money to providing food for the poor in a bid to head off the demonstrations.Maliki and parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi have also backed early provincial elections. The last such polls were conducted in January 2009.

By Ammar Karim (AFP)

Kurds send in militias

Tensions are high in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk as the head of Kurdish autonomous region has deployed new units of his Kurdish militias known locally as Peshmerga.

Massoud Barzani, in comments on his decision to send in his militias, said he wanted to protect the Kurds in the city. However, he did not say from whom.The presence of Kurdish militias has ignited harsh criticism from both Arab and Turkmen communities in Kirkuk who charge that the Kurds are intent to resort to force to annex the city.

The beleaguered Barzani faces tough choices as tens of thousands of Kurds have been shouting for the first time slogans demanding his departure.His decision to send in his militias to quell demonstrations in the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya was met with a barrage of criticism and further defiance by the protesters.

The heavily armed Kurdish militias arrived in Kirkuk shortly before the city authorities had decided to clamp a 24 hour curfew early this week.Some 5,000 Kurdish militiamen were sent to the city by Barzani.Kirkuk is part of the so-called disputed territory over which Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen are battling

Hassan Surhan of the Turkmen Front, a political umbrella, denounced the deployment of Kurdish militias in Kirkuk, and asked from their withdrawal."We the Turkmen reject the presence of Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk because it clearly violates paragraph 121 of the constitution," Surhan said.

Reports from Kirkuk say Barzani sent in additional militias as his opponents were preparing for a protest against Kurdish practices in the city and the deteriorating conditions of public services.Barzani controls the city through his militias and has so far turned down calls by Arabs and Turkmen for them to be replaced by Iraqi troops.

Both Arabs and Turkmen fear that Barzani "has political objectives behind his decision to deploy Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk," Surhan said.But Surhan said he and his Arab allies were trying their best not to let the situation escalate.

By Nidhal al-Laithi, Azzaman

Iraq 'violence and bribes'

Authorities in Iraq are using a mixture of strong-arm tactics and financial persuasion to prevent anti-government protests gaining momentum.

The political stakes escalated significantly when thousands of people took to the streets of Baghdad and other major cities last week to demand reforms, improved services and an end to the corruption associated with Iraq's new political elite.Those demonstrations, the largest yet in Iraq, were met by force, as riot police opened fire on protesters with live ammunition. At least 29 people were killed, including a 14-year-old boy.

Since then, army and police units have beaten, arrested or threatened scores of political activists and journalists, their colleagues say. Meanwhile, government security and intelligence agencies are trying to root out the organisers of the protests, especially those who are using the internet in an attempt to organise another mass protest.

Hussein Abdul Hadi, a blogger who helped to arrange the "Day of Rage" march in Baghdad, said: "The intelligence services are collecting information about activists and after the demonstrations they have been making arrests and detaining people."

According to Mr Hadi and other activists, the number detained in the past three days runs into the dozens. Abul Razzq Nouri, a blogger from Anbar province who helped to organise last week's demonstration, said protest organisers and demonstrators were being "hunted down". The security services deny any systemic effort to silence demonstrators and have promised to carry out a wide-ranging probe into allegations of abuse.

Qassim Attar, spokesman at the Baghdad Operations Command centre, which oversees security of the Iraqi capital, said he believed some soldiers had "overreacted" and behaved "stupidly" during the protest. "We have opened an investigation into the claims of damage against journalists and protesters and if we find evidence that laws have been broken by members of the security services, they will be punished," he said.

With more demonstrations contemplated, Mr Nouri said Iraq was entering a "dangerous time", with the prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, apparently insistent on quashing dissent on the streets."Al Maliki doesn't want any future demonstrations and he is doing all he can to stop us, he is coming after us," he said.Even before the Friday protests, the prime minister had moved to defuse them, imposing a curfew and a vehicle ban.

Another success for the government in tamping down the protests has been its management of the media. In the months running up to the demonstrations, the government has given Iraqi journalists gifts including plots of land, low-interest loans for car purchases and cash handouts, all of them officially sanctioned and distributed under the auspices of the journalists' union.

Sabah Khadim Hamza, office director at the journalist's syndicate, was adamant the land allocations and car loans were not bribes, but instead perks the union had struggled to get for its members. "Many government employees in the ministries enjoy such benefits and we wanted to win them for hard-working journalists," he said. "It does not mean reporters will stop being independent."

But critics were not so sure. "Most of the domestic media didn't cover the protests in detail and really downplayed them. They didn't interview protesters or ask them why they were marching," said one journalist for a leading Iraqi television channel.

"Basically, al Maliki has found out how to control journalists. He's given them money and land, and on Friday they paid him back by not covering the protests. Only the reporters working for outside media did their jobs properly that day," he said.

The government repression, plus payments to journalists to spin public opinion in the government's favour, have so far been effective in limiting the size and frequency of protests in Iraq."The government has bribed and beaten journalists to stop them covering the demonstrations," said Nasir al Shalal, a leading human rights activist. "The police and army in Baghdad, Mosul and Anbar were targeting reporters who were trying to film the protests or cover them properly."

Mr al Maliki's office has said it would investigate allegations of improper use of force. But it insists that any abuses were an overreaction by a handful of security personnel, not a matter of policy.Officials have also long brushed off allegations that Iraqi journalists receive government bribes. They say gifts of land and cheap loans are designed to support poorly paid reporters who would otherwise have to find another profession, not to buy their silence or complicity.

Mr Shalal dismissed such assurances. "It was not an accident. It was all quite deliberate. A decision was taken at the highest level about how to handle this."In Mosul, a traditional centre of opposition to the central authority, protesters have accused the government of sending out hit squads, armed with silenced pistols, to sow chaos among the demonstrators.

Omar Majid, a blogger from Mosul, said: "The emergency security forces arrested and beat tens of activists, and gangs working for the government, dressed in civilian clothes, shot and injured people here during the Friday protest, to spread fear. Now these gangs are after us and anyone connected with the movement. They are trying to stop us."

Shaker Kitab, an MP from Iraqiyya, said there were indications the government was acting illegally to suppress demonstrations."It was a very modern and peaceful protest, in accordance with people's constitutional rights, I don't understand why some of the security forces were violent in their response. This must stop. People are allowed to campaign peacefully for their rights."

Andrew Raine, The National.

UN worried over Iraq violence

The United Nations says it's concerned about reports of human rights violations during nationwide protests in Iraq.

U.N.'s Special Representative to Iraq Ad Melkert said in a statement on Wednesday that reported violations included "disproportionate" use of force by security forces against protesters.Melkert has also voiced concern over restrictions on the media and arrests of journalists across the country.

Thousands of Iraqis have been taking to the streets in protests fueled by anger over corruption, chronic unemployment and shoddy public services.At least 14 people were killed during protests last Friday billed as the "Day of Rage."Many protesters clashed with authorities, set fire to government buildings and toppled concrete barriers.

The Associated Press

Where are the tourists?

Nayef Hajwal still dreams of the day when he will see tourists flowing through the ancient city of Babylon, as he did in the 1970s and '80s when he took pictures of thousands of foreign visitors."Tourism was flourishing in Babel. Tourists from all nationalities used to visit," said the 69-year-old retiree, who worked as a guard and photographer at Iraq's most famous tourist site. "Now tourism in Babylon is not so good."

Tourism is considered a potential gold mine for a nation widely known as the cradle of civilization but still fighting a stubborn insurgency and trying to recover from decades of war.The sector has been badly neglected and needs huge investment to spruce up sites and build hotels and services.On a recent rainy day, Babylon, whose historical importance ranks with Egypt's pyramids, looked forlorn and empty.

Before being reopened to visitors in 2008, it was used by U.S. and coalition forces as a base and suffered the ravages of war. Troops parked tanks and weaponry at the site and used earth containing ancient archaeological fragments to fill sandbags.

Fabled home of the "Hanging Gardens," one of the wonders of the ancient world, Babylon has suffered from looting through the years and from "renovations" by the late dictator Saddam Hussein, who used bricks that bore his name for restoration.

Government entry fee data show 23,777 locals and only 70 foreign tourists visited Babylon last year."I expect the number will increase in 2011 and the following years," said Mariam Omran Musa, general inspector of the site.

Rich in history

The site of ancient Mesopotamia and known by some as the birthplace of writing, agriculture and codified law, Iraq is steeped in history.It boasts 12,000 discovered historical sites, chief among them Babylon, 85 miles south of Baghdad, Namroud in northern Mosul, the medieval Islamic city of Samarra and the ancient Sumerian city of Ur in southern Nassiriya province.

Tourism began to die with international sanctions imposed against Saddam's regime in the 1990s and screeched to a halt with the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.As violence ebbed in recent years, tourism officials began to hope. But since the first Westerners visited ancient sites in March 2009, Iraq has counted only 165 foreign visitors.

"I believe the tourists are thirsty to visit the archaeological sites. Nothing stops them but the security situation," said Qais Hussein Rasheed, head of the Antiquities and Heritage Board.Far more successful is religious tourism. Pilgrims have flocked to important sites, mainly Shi'ite shrines in the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala, putting faith over security.

Abdul-Zahra al-Talagani, the spokesman of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, said the numbers of foreign religious tourists increased from 360,000 in 2006 to 1.5 million in 2010."The religious tourism has not been stopped by the security situation. This is an ideological issue," Rasheed said.

Renovating infrastructure

The ruins of Babylon — temples, theaters, parade ground, gates and other buildings — are in serious need of investment.

"Babylon needs a huge amount of money," Musa said. "We need to renovate the whole site, to build hotels, a parking lot, restaurants and other tourism establishments."Heritage and tourism officials said the government is allocating little money to historic sites. Only a few — including the National Museum in Baghdad and the Malwiya Minaret in Samarra — have been renovated.

The museum, a key to Iraq's strategy to bolster tourism, has 23 halls of millennia-old artifacts from Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian cultures, and more recent Islamic history.Yet it has attracted few visitors, foreign or Iraqi, since it was partially reopened in 2009. The rest may reopen by June.

While the sites are legendary, there is little to support tourists who venture to Iraq. Border crossings, airports, railways and roads were neglected during decades of war."The archaeological sites are without real services," Talagani said. "When the tourist comes, he needs a rest house, a restaurant. None of these is available."

By MSNBC

the arithmetic of austerity

Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Idaho ... these are the latest fronts in the battle of budgets, with the larger fight over a potential shutdown of the US government looming. These fights, radiating out from the occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol building, are occurring against the backdrop of the two wars waged by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. No discussion or debate over budgets, over wages and pensions, over deficits, should happen without a clear presentation of the costs of these wars – and the incalculable benefits that ending them would bring.

First, the cost of war. The US is spending about $2bn a week in Afghanistan alone. That's about $104bn a year – and that is not including Iraq. Compare that with the state budget shortfalls. According to a recent report by the nonpartisan Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities, "some 45 states and the District of Columbia are projecting budget shortfalls totalling $125bn for fiscal year 2012."

The math is simple: the money should be poured back into the states, rather than into a state of war.President Barack Obama shows no signs that he is going to end either the occupation of Iraq or the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Quite the opposite: he campaigned with the promise to expand the war in Afghanistan, and that is one campaign promise he has kept. So how is Obama's war going? Not well.

This has been the deadliest period for civilians in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion began in October 2001. Sixty-five civilians were reportedly killed recently in Kunar, near Pakistan, where mounting civilian casualties lead to increasing popular support for the Taliban. 2010 was the deadliest year for US soldiers as well, with 711 US and allied deaths in Afghanistan. Soldier deaths remain high in 2011, with the fighting expected to intensify as the weather warms.

The Washington Post recently reported that Obama's controversial CIA-run drone programme, in which unmanned aerial drones are sent over rural Pakistan to launch Hellfire missiles at "suspected militants", has killed at least 581 people, of whom only two were on a US list of people suspected of being "high-level militants". Ample evidence exists that the drone strikes, which have increased in number dramatically under Obama's leadership, kill civilians, not to mention Pakistani civilian support for the United States.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, the democracy that the neocons in Washington expected to deliver through the barrel of a gun with their "shock and awe" may be coming finally – not with the help of the US, but, rather, inspired by the peaceful, popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. However, Human Rights Watch has just reported that as people protest and dissidents organise, "the rights of Iraq's most vulnerable citizens, especially women and detainees, are routinely violated with impunity."

Protests have erupted in another Tahrir Square, in Baghdad (yes, it means "liberation" in Iraq and Egypt), against corruption, and demanding jobs and better public services. Iraqi government forces killed 29 people over the weekend; and 300 people, including human-rights workers and journalists, have been rounded up.

Yet, the US continues to pour money and troops into these endless wars. Rolling Stone's Michael Hastings, whose reporting exposed the crass behaviour of General Stanley McChrystal, has just exposed what he calls an illegal operation run by Lt Gen William Caldwell in Afghanistan, in which a US Army "psy-ops" operation was mounted against US senators and other visiting dignitaries in order to win support and more funding. One of Hastings' military sources quoted Caldwell as saying: "How do we get these guys to give us more people? … What do I have to plant inside their heads?"

The recently retired special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (Sigar), Arnold Fields, just reported that $11.4bn is at risk due to inadequate planning. Another group, the US Commission on Wartime Contracting, "concludes that the United States has wasted tens of billions of the nearly $200bn that has been spent on contracts and grants since 2002 to support military, reconstruction and other US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Which brings us back to those teachers, nurses, police officers and firefighters in Wisconsin. Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, told me in the Capitol rotunda in Madison why the unionised firefighters were there, even though their union was one not targeted by Governor Scott Walker's bill: "This is about an attack on the middle class."

By shutting down the attacks on the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, we can prevent these attacks on the poor and middle class here at home.

• Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column. Follow Democracy Now!, the daily news and current affairs TV/radio show hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales, online here

By Amy Goodman, 2011