Iraq fails to implement disability employment laws - HRW

Shafaq News/ Iraqi authorities have failed to implement national laws on employment rights for people with disabilities, leaving hundreds of thousands out of work, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

Both the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have legislation mandating a 5% quota for people with disabilities in public sector jobs. However, HRW's investigation found this quota is not being met.

"Iraq has legal promises to employ people with disabilities, but these aren't translating into real opportunities," said Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at HRW. "The gap between law and practice is leaving many Iraqis with disabilities struggling to find work."

Iraq's 2013 law allocates 5% of public sector jobs and 3% of private sector jobs to people with disabilities. The KRG has a similar law in place.

Between December 2023 and March 2024, Human Rights Watch interviewed three disability rights activists, six Iraqis with disabilities, one sign language interpreter, one business owner who employs people with disabilities, and three government employees about the right to employment for Iraqis with disabilities.

In 2019, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which monitors the international treaty, estimated that Iraq had one of the largest populations of people with disabilities in the world, at around 3 million people, a result of decades of armed conflict. The 2019 protests have also left some 25,000 people wounded, of whom some 5,000 live with permanent disabilities.

In federal Iraq, Law No. 38 of 2013 allocates 5 percent of public sector and 3 percent of private sector jobs to people with disabilities. In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), Law No. 22 of 2011 also allocates 5 percent of public sector jobs to people with disabilities and encourages private sector employment of people with disabilities by covering half of the employees’ salary for 3 months. The Iraqi government does not collect statistics on the number of people with disabilities living in the country or their employment rate.

Local disability rights groups in federal Iraq told Human Rights Watch that they blame the lack of implementation of Law No. 38 of 2013 on the inaction of the Commission on the Care of People with Disabilities and Special Needs, a body under the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs tasked with ensuring the law’s implementation. While the Commission bears the primary responsibility for implementing Law No. 38, it is unable to do so alone.

Dhikra Abdel Rahim, the director of the Commission, told Human Rights Watch that the Commission and the Federal Public Service Council lack enforcement authority and have to depend on government ministries to allocate and fill the required number of jobs for Iraqis with disabilities. Some ministries are not carrying out their obligations or making them a priority, she said, though the Commission is considering pursuing legal action against ministries that fail to comply.

In the private sector, employers who fail to comply with the 3 percent employment quota are subject to a 500,000 Iraqi dinars (approximately US$382) fine, under article 20 of Law No. 38. However, no fines have ever been issued, Abdel Rahim said.

The KRI has 77,065 people registered as having a disability, 13,249 of whom are employed in the public sector as of the end of 2022, according to a document shared with Human Rights Watch by Dindar Zebari, the KRG’s coordinator for international advocacy. That is only 2 percent of the total 658,189 government employees, well below the 5 percent quota mandated by Law No. 22 of 2011.

In the KRI private sector, too, compliance with Law No. 22 is inadequate. Dileer Koy, an advocate and human rights defender for people with disabilities in the KRI, told Human Rights Watch that he tries to persuade companies and private project managers to hire people with disabilities but often without success.

"Employers are often reluctant to integrate people with disabilities into their workforces due to perceived higher costs in creating accommodating work environments," Koy said. "Additionally, there is a lack of governmental pressure to compel these companies to hire people with disabilities."

Quotas themselves are often insufficient to dismantle or address barriers to employment faced by people with disabilities, and as such should be paired with enforcement of other nondiscrimination and equality legislation as well as support and funding for creating accommodating work environments, Human Rights Watch said.

"Despite having one of the largest populations of people with disabilities in the world, Iraqi authorities are failing to meet their needs," Sanbar said. "The government should make sure their commitment to providing job opportunities for Iraqis with disabilities isn’t an empty promise."