IRAQ PULSE

Protests bring to life a new generation in Iraq

Lujain Elbaldawi February 21, 2020


ARTICLE SUMMARY
Iraqis under the age of 18 have been participating in protests at higher rates than before.

REUTERS/Wissm al-Okili
A boy is seen near burning tires during a curfew, two days after the nationwide anti-government protests turned violent, in Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 3, 2019.

Parliamentary speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi expressed full support for protesters’ demands Feb. 17, meeting with a 13-year-old protester whose nickname, Hamid Daghethoum, translates to "pressuring them," as in, pressuring the government. Hamid is known for posting videos of himself on social media, reciting poetry that voices the demands of Nasiriyah's protesters. He posted a video challenging Halbusi to meet with him if he supported the protests.

Hamid is not the only youthful Iraqi who is active in the protests taking place in the squares of Iraqi cities throughout the country.

The current protests are different from ones in years past due to a large number of youths under the age of 18, and many even under the age of 13, calling for the restoration of an Iraqi national identity, something the country has lacked for decades given successive crises, wars and the US occupation, in addition to sectarianism.

Iraqi youths under the age of 18 have been killed, kidnapped and detained while participating in protests. Al-Monitor learned from medical sources that no less than 50 out of the 600 protesters killed in the protests were under the age of 18. These are violations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Iraq is a signatory. It states, “The child shall have the right to freedom of expression,” and provides for “the rights of the child to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful assembly." It adds, “No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference” and that “the child has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”


Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/02/iraq-nasiriyah-protests-identity.html#ixzz6EhKbyMZ2