Executive Summary
The political process in Iraq is altering. The country still suffers from the repercussions of the sectarian policies of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The harsh security response to peaceful Sunni protests against al-Maliki in 2013 gave various Sunni armed groups a pretext for action. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also called ISIS or Daesh) harnessed Sunni frustration and seized major parts of al-Anbar province, followed by Mosul and other areas of Nineveh and Salaheddin provinces. By the end of June 2014, ISIL had announced the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in territories under its control and renamed itself the “Islamic State” (IS). The other issue facing the country is that the federal government in Baghdad refused to release the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) share of the 2014 federal budget (17%), which has reduced trust between central government and the Kurds. The legitimacy of the federal government is now questioned in the KRG region.
On 24 July 2014, Fuad Masum assumed office as Iraq’s new president, succeeding Jalal Talabani. A few months later, al-Maliki stepped down in favor of fellow Islamic Dawa Party member Haider al-Abadi, who was sworn in as prime minister on 8 September 2014. The election of a new president as well as a new prime minister gave a semblance of stability to Iraq after a turbulent summer. Al-Abadi’s more inclusive and collegial leadership has raised hopes, though the new prime minister is facing many challenges. He reached an agreement with the KRG over distribution of oil revenues, introduced a plan for security sector reform and a national reconciliation project (through the establishment of the National Guard Force and the amendment of the De-Ba’thification Law), and launched a military response to re-capture territories under IS control. Yet the government’s legitimacy is still in question, as it has no jurisdiction over huge areas that are now under IS control.
Citizens’ rights violations have soared since 2013. Following the IS offensive in June 2014, the Iraqi Media and Communication Commission sent a restrictive list of directives to be respected by the media, and internet was disconnected in several provinces, such as al-Anbar and Nineveh.