Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - 12 February 2022 - How would you describe yourself in a couple of sentences? I'm someone who cares about the human side of things. I see myself in others. I'm happy to work in a place where I deal with people based on that concept. I always want to improve myself. I have a PHD in Political Science. Overall, I want to be a good human, a good father to my children and a good husband
Who inspired you? My father, he was patriotic; he was part of the revolutions. He was always concerned about humanity and helping others. My father also had a very positive relationship with my mother. He went against patriarchal structures and the thinking that surrounded him. He treated all my sisters the same way he treated his sons. In fact, he was probably more supportive of the concept of true gender equality than my mother. He taught me to make sure that I'm a good and reliable person.
When you were young, what did you want to be? I always said I wanted to be a governor. I tried to work in politics, but my father really discouraged me, despite him having been involved in politics in one way or another. He didn't like it. He believed that it's impossible to become a good man with integrity if you are involved in politics.
When I came back from Europe, my father's friend worked at the Ministry of Interior and encouraged me to join the police.
In your current work, what are some of the biggest challenges you face? Apart from the obvious logical challenges (staffing, vehicles etc), it's really difficult to get people to understand what human trafficking is. We get sent many cases from other departments that are not trafficking cases, but these officers think they are. We also really need to address our challenges with judicial investigators and judges. More awareness and understanding of what human trafficking is and our law needs to be developed, so that more cases will be prosecuted according to our TIP law.
Another key challenge is that I’m the only one who speaks English. Yet, most of our cases involve foreigners, and they can only communicate with us in English.
We also don’t have an appropriate shelter in Sulaymaniyah – for severe cases, we have to send victims to Erbil. All this is really not ideal.
What are your main takeaways from the recent UNODC training you attended? Although I've attended countering human trafficking and migrant smuggling training before, the UNODC training was beneficial and quite different. The lecture on what exactly is Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants and how they are separate crimes but can overlap was excellent. Even though we don't have a law on migrant smuggling in Iraq, which needs to change.
Another aspect of the training that was very useful was the focus on body language during the victim/perpetrator interview skills training. The group interview sessions and the role-role play were eye-openers. The way the actors acted was so close to reality. It reminded me of a human trafficking case involving an African girl. I could see that some of my colleagues found it quite challenging because the victim (played by an actor), for example, didn't behave as they expected.
Many of my colleagues just don't know how to deal with victims appropriately. They deal with them brutally and in an inhumane manner. I could see that this type of training can change how they approach victim interviews.
What are your thoughts on improving female representation and/or progression in operational roles that seek to address human trafficking and migrant smuggling? I would welcome it. We have women working in this office, but we need more. Two are police officers but not investigators. We need to provide more skills and training as we need more women in these roles. We need to advocate on these issues.
Would your male colleagues accept them? Yes, I think they would, and they already accept them working here, but we need more qualified women to be trained and to be allowed and willing to apply for the roles.
Looking ahead, what must be done to address human trafficking and migrant smuggling in the KRI? We need to teach all relevant criminal justice actors about the Iraqi law on Trafficking in Persons and explain what migrant smuggling is. The police need to understand the nature of trafficking and smuggling and how to deal with victims and vulnerable people politely and humanely. They just don’t understand this, and we need to train them.
International organizations play a significant role. We need help; they need to train us and advocate on issues, for example, with the judges. They need to help us create opportunities for exchange. I also see that we can support the international organization. We know UNODC is advocating for a law on smuggling; as officers and Iraq nationals, we should also lobby and demand a law. Without a law on migrant smuggling, my office cannot do anything about the smugglers.
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