VZCZCXRO0620
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHMOS
DE RUEHKUK #0086/01 1021041
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 121041Z APR 06
FM REO KIRKUK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0607
RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO PRIORITY 0001
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHKUK/REO KIRKUK 0635

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BAGHDAD FOR POL, POLMIL, NCT, ROL COORDINATOR, USAID, ECON 
BAGHDAD ALSO FOR IRMO, PAO FOR BATES AND CAPLES 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  4/12/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM KISL KWMN IZ
SUBJECT: DRL VISIT TO NORTHERN IRAQ:  TREATMENT AT LAST FOR THE 
MENTALLY ILL, TORTURED AND IMPRISONED, (#2 OF 2) 
 
REF: REFTEL KIRKUK 85 
 
KIRKUK 00000086  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Dean, Acting Regional Coordinator, REO 
Kirkuk, DoS. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  A DRL site visit to Northern Iraq revealed that 
implementing partners are providing Iraqis for the first time 
with treatment for the mentally ill, legal services for women in 
jail, and a major effort to record the stories of victims of 
torture, imprisonment, and the genocide campaigns under the 
regime of Saddam Hussayn. Also, victims testified in a public 
forum and requested adult education programs, health care, 
vocation and literacy training, and employment opportunities as 
compensation for their losses.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Department of Human Rights and Labor (DRL) Program 
Officer Vitessa Del Prete visited Northern Iraq March 24 - 29 to 
assess recipients of over $100 million in DRL grants in Kirkuk, 
Erbil, Dahuk, and Sulaymaniyah.  This is the second of two 
cables covering the visit. (REFTEL) 
 
Treatment for the Tortured and Mentally Ill - An Iraqi First 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Del Prete and IPAO met in Sulaymaniyah with Dr. Ari 
Hasan, Program Director for DRL-funded Heartland Alliance (HA). 
Hasan explained that HA was treating Iraqis suffering from the 
effects of torture, imprisonment, chemical weapons, and civil 
war. According to Hasan, over 90% of Iraqis suffered from Post 
Traumatic Stress (PTS) disorder.  The mentally ill, he said, 
typically spent their lives in hospitals for the criminally 
insane or prison. 
 
¶4. (U) Hasan said HA had developed a system for implementing a 
mental healthcare program in Iraq.  In the first stage, 
community mental health workers were trained in case management, 
medical referrals, and culturally appropriate counseling 
services for rural torture victims.  In partnership with the 
Ministry of Health, HA was also training physicians and 
psychologists to provide improved healthcare services for 
torture victims and integrate treatment of the mentally ill into 
Iraq's national healthcare system. 
 
A Visit to the Kirkuk Detention Center 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Del Prete and IPAO visited the Kirkuk Women and Juvenile 
Detention Center of Kirkuk to assess the program run by local 
NGO, ASUDA, an HA member.  Salah Sadiq, a programming officer 
with HA, said ASUDA provided legal services to women in jail and 
established safe houses for women escaping domestic violence. 
 
¶7. (U) A lawyer working with ASUDA, Srwa Sharif, said the women 
she represented were typically victims of domestic violence, 
often forced into prostitution by family members or guardians. 
She said the women often committed crimes in self-defense or 
were wrongly accused of crimes in retaliation for not 
prostituting themselves. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Sadiq and Sharif accompanied Del Prete and IPAO to the 
Kirkuk Juvenile Detention Center, a temporary location for women 
detainees until a dedicated facility is found for them.  At the 
time of the visit, 7 women and 8 juvenile males were living in 
the facility.  Colonel Kamaran, Director General for the 
facility said detention was supposed to be for only two weeks to 
a month; however some inmates stayed at the facility for over 9 
months awaiting trial. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Conditions at the detention center were simple.  The 
women lived in one room, with an attached bathroom. Beyond a 
hole for an air-cooling system, there were no windows.  The boys 
were divided between two similar rooms, sleeping on bunk beds. 
Each bed had sheets, blankets, and pillows.  A male government 
doctor regularly visits the boys once a week and a female 
doctor, supplied by ASUDA, visits the women once every two 
weeks. For entertainment, each room had a small TV.  Kamaran 
told Del Prete that no books, sewing, or other activities took 
place. He said that the women "told each other stories" to pass 
the time. 
 
¶10. (SBU) NOTE: The detention center was given one-day's notice 
of the visit, but according to Saddiq, besides tidier-than-usual 
rooms, no other accommodations were made.  Del Prete and IPAO 
did not speak to the women; however Saddiq said that one of the 
women present had been brought to the facility the day before 
after being beaten by the Iraqi police.  End Note. 
 
KIRKUK 00000086  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
Victims Ask for Action on Promises 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) DePaul University and the International Human Rights 
Law Institute held a forum for Del Prete to hear first-hand 
testimonies by victims of crimes committed by Saddam Hussayn's 
regime.  Project director Kurdastan Daloye said testifiers were 
part of an Iraq history reconciliation project, marking the 
first major effort to talk to the victims and record their 
testimonies.  She said they have already documented 700 cases. 
 
¶12. (U) Testifiers expressed their frustration over continuing 
problems, including lost education and economic opportunities, 
the death of family members who were the primary breadwinners, 
the inability to support extended families because of a lack of 
job opportunities, and physical disabilities and chronic health 
problems. 
 
¶12.  Participants repeatedly asked for adult education programs, 
health care, jobs and vocational and literacy training as 
compensation for their losses.  One testifier suggested the 
companies that provided the chemicals for the Anfal campaign be 
made accountable for their role.  Foremost, participants said, 
they needed the government to act on promises already made for 
assistance and redevelopment. 
 
COMMENT: 
-------- 
 
¶13. (C) The DRL visit highlighted the need to continue to 
monitor human rights in the Kurdish regions.  DRL funds seem to 
be addressing critical areas that need the attention of U.S. 
programs.  These local implementing partners are significant in 
that they are for the most part alone in their endeavors, 
tackling issues that the greater Iraqi society ignores. 
Unfortunately, some of these programs are scheduled to end in 
the next few months due to a lack of DRL FY06 funding. End 
Comment. 
ORESTE