Iraq is failing to implement its national laws ensuring employment rights for people with disabilities, leaving job quotas for Iraqis with disabilities unfilled and hundreds of thousands unemployed, Human Rights Watch said today.
Both federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have laws setting a minimum quota of 5 percent of public sector jobs for people with disabilities. A representative from the Iraqi Federal Public Service Council, the governmental body that regulates public employment, told Human Rights Watch that the public sector has not met the quota. Figures on public sector employment for people with disabilities provided to Human Rights Watch by a representative of the KRG show that the authorities there are also not meeting this quota in the public sector.
"Legal promises to employ people with disabilities in Iraq are not translating into real job opportunities," said Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The gap between law and practice leaves hundreds of thousands of Iraqis with disabilities struggling to earn a living."
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, 5,762 of whom are employed in the public sector, according to a document shared with Human Rights Watch by Dindar Zebari, the KRG's coordinator for international advocacy. That is only XX percent of the total YY 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 work forces 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."
Zebari did not share numbers with Human Rights Watch on the number of people with disabilities employed in the private sector.
The Iraqi government should take appropriate steps to employ people with disabilities in the public sector and promote their employment in the private sector, for example through affirmative action programs, incentives, and initiatives to foster meaningful employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The government should establish monitoring mechanisms for ministries to periodically report on their performance in meeting the employment quota and their other obligations under Law No. 38 and Law No. 22.
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."
Law No. 38 in Federal Iraq
Several ministries are failing to fill their obligations under Law No. 38, Human Rights Watch said. For example, the Iraqi Ministry of Planning does not regularly collect statistics on the number of people with disabilities living in the country, despite being required to under article 15(9) of Law No. 38, and despite repeated requests from the Commission to do so, Abdel Rahim said.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs does not collect statistics on the employment rates of Iraqis with disabilities in the public or private sector, either. About 5 million Iraqis, or 39 percent of Iraq's workforce, are employed by the public sector. To meet the legally mandated 5 percent quota, at least 250,000 of those jobs should be held by people with disabilities.
Though there is no exact figure on how many Iraqis with disabilities hold public sector jobs overall, no ministry had met the 5 percent quota, according to a document shared with Human Rights Watch by a representative from the Federal Public Service Council. The Commission on the Care of People with Disabilities and Special Needs began tracking appointments in 2019, and since then just 1,434 people with disabilities have been hired for positions in the public sector, Abdel Rahim told Human Rights Watch.
"When we request the Federal Public Service Council to employ more people with disabilities, they often respond that there aren't enough job opportunities," Muwafaq Al-Khafaji, head of the Iraqi Alliance of Disability Organization (IADO), told Human Rights Watch.
In September 2023, the Commission opened a direct employment platform in cooperation with the Council to facilitate hiring university graduates with disabilities. The Council also allocated a field in the general public sector electronic application form where candidates can indicate their disability status.
Nobody has yet been employed through this platform, Abdel Rahim said.
Activists' Role: A Success Story
Absent strong government action, local disability rights activists have taken it upon themselves to push for more employment opportunities for Iraqis with disabilities in the public and private sectors.
Muwafaq al-Khafaji, head of the Iraqi Alliance of Disability Organization (IADO), runs workshops to educate public and private sector employers on employment rights for people with disabilities, and to encourage them to hire people with disabilities.
Following one such workshop, Muhammed Ali al-Mayahi, chief executive officer of the Bab al-Agha Bakeries company in Baghdad, decided to heed al-Khafaji's call to action. "In the beginning, we hired five deaf employees, and they worked continuously. We saw they were doing very well, so we hired five more employees to make it ten. Now we've almost reached 30 deaf employees, and we're still hiring," Al-Mayahi told Human Rights Watch. "Their competence and energy are very high. We must ensure that these people can live their lives just as everyone else here in Iraq. I hope that all companies will follow our example."
Al-Mayahi also hired Fatima Mohammed, 22, to work as a sign language interpreter for the employees. Fatima learned sign language from her deaf parents, inspiring her advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities. "In the beginning, there were communication challenges between the hearing and deaf people," Fatima said. "But they [hearing people] began to learn sign language, and now they communicate with the deaf employees even when I am not around!"
Deaf employees at Bab al-Agha told Human Rights Watch that their employment has had a tremendously positive impact on their lives. "Since I was hired here, my life has changed," Shaima, 24, told Human Rights Watch. "Today, I can communicate with people, make a living, and rely on myself."
"We hope to break open all the barriers in front of us," Shams, 28, said. "We know we are smart and can do all types of work, but many people think we are incapable of work. We are grateful to Bab al-Agha for seeing that we are diligent and capable of working and achieving our goals."
To promote greater private sector compliance with this law, Khafaji suggested fining employers who fail to meet the quota, linking the issuance or renewal or business licenses to compliance with the 3 percent employment quota, and awarding benefits and incentives to the private sector for hiring people with disabilities, such as tax exemptions.
Law No. 22 in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)
People with disabilities in the KRI are registered by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and issued an ID card that allows them to apply for a monthly payment of 100,000 Iraqi dinars (approximately US$76) if they are employed or 150,000 Iraqi dinars (US$115) if they are unemployed. As a result of ongoing budgetary disputes with Baghdad that have inhibited the Kurdistan Regional Government's ability to pay out salaries and social benefits, people with disabilities in the KRI do not consistently receive this monthly payment.
During a significant public employment initiative in 2013, Koy urged the Ministry of Planning to respect the 5 percent quota, which would have meant allocating about 250 of those new jobs to people with disabilities.
Koy said the Ministry of Planning told him that fewer than 10 people with disabilities were ultimately hired. Absent enforcement measures, nothing more could be done to require the Ministry of Planning to comply with the quota, he said.
Farhan Shamo, a 34-year-old with a physical disability living in a displacement camp in Dohuk, told Human Rights Watch that that after completing high school in 2007 he enrolled in the political science college at Mosul University, but was not able to complete his studies because of challenges including accessing university buildings.
Despite applying for numerous jobs in both the private and public sectors since then, Shamo has been unsuccessful. "I know there is a law guaranteeing access to employment for people with disabilities," Shamo said. "But when public sector vacancies arise, I apply like any other person."
Failing to fill employment quotas means hundreds of thousands of Iraqis with disabilities, like Shamo, struggle with unemployment.
Enforcing Employment Quotas
The Iraqi constitution provides that all citizens have equal rights and duties, and guarantees everyone with a disability the right to freedom from all forms of discrimination, providing them with opportunities to develop their capabilities and engage in the development of society.
Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), ratified by Iraq in 2013, mandates state parties to recognize the right of people with disabilities to work on an equal basis with others, including the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labor market and work environment that is open, inclusive, and accessible. To achieve this, governments should take appropriate steps to employ people with disabilities in the public sector and promote their employment in the private sector. These may include affirmative action programs, incentives, and various initiatives to foster meaningful employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
Employment quotas may be used as a form of affirmative action to promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities and their right to work. However, quotas themselves are often insufficient to dismantle or address barriers to employment faced by persons with disabilities and should be paired with enforcement of other nondiscrimination and equality legislation, to avoid tokenism and segregation of people with disabilities in the workplace.
Recommendations
To the Commission on the Care of People with Disabilities and Special Needs
- Establish, in coordination with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, a monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure that working conditions and wages of employees with disabilities are on par with other employees.
- Establish a monitoring and reporting mechanism for government ministries to periodically report on their performance in meeting the employment quota.
- Enforce fines against private companies failing to meet the 3 percent employment quota.
- Consider giving preference to companies that fulfill their obligations to employ people with disabilities in granting public procurement tenders.
To the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
- Provide technical assistance and support to employers in placing and providing for the needs of employees with disabilities.
- Ensure reasonable accommodation is provided at both private and public workplaces when required by people with disabilities.
- Assess whether the monthly benefit provided to people with disabilities is sufficient to meet their needs and revise upward as needed.
- Collect statistics on the employment rates of Iraqis with disabilities.
To the Ministry of Justice
- Provide training to Iraqi judges on the enforcement of disability-based antidiscrimination provisions.
To the Ministry of Planning
- Regularly collect statistics on the number of people with disabilities in Iraq, and their employment rates.
To the Ministry of Education
- Increase accessible education opportunities and vocational trainings for people with disabilities.
To the Ministry of Trade
- Consider linking the issuance or renewal of business licenses to compliance with the 3 percent private sector employment quota, and issue fines against companies failing to meet the quota.
