Baghdad, The House of Representatives, in its third session of its first term for the second legislative year, within the fifth electoral session held today, Saturday, headed by Muhammad al-Halbousi, Speaker of the Council, and in the presence of 199 MPs, finished reading and discussing five draft laws.

The media department of the House of Representatives stated: “The parliament completed, at the beginning of the session, the first reading of the draft law on Iraq’s accession to the international agreement regarding the establishment of an international fund for compensation for oil pollution damage for the year 1992, which was submitted by the Foreign Relations Committee in order to provide compensation for pollution damage within the range of the protection provided by the Civil Liability Convention of 1992 is insufficient and the ship owners are relieved of the additional financial burdens imposed on them by the Civil Liability Convention.

The Council completed the first reading of the draft law ratifying the agreement to avoid double taxation with regard to taxes imposed on income and prevent tax evasion between the governments of Iraq and the Netherlands, submitted by the Foreign Relations Committee in order to develop economic relations and prevent tax evasion between the two countries.

In another matter, Al-Halbousi announced that tomorrow, Sunday, the parliamentary committees will begin electing their heads and deputies.

The House of Representatives completed the first reading of the draft law for the Institute of Police Commissioners, submitted by the Security and Defense Committee, to advance the status of the Ministry of Interior’s institution by establishing an institute that undertakes the preparation of qualified police commissioners for the Internal Security Forces and to raise the scientific, training, security and legal level of the students of the Institute, in line with developments in the military and security institutions.

On the other hand, Al-Halbousi indicated that the House of Representatives presented a letter of thanks to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Prime Minister, the government cadre, the Governor of Basra and the President of the Football Association for their distinguished role in preparing for the Arab Gulf Football Championship that was held in Basra Governorate and for their efforts in its remarkable success.

The Council completed reading a report and discussing a draft law ratifying the Basic Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Iraq and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), submitted by the Foreign Relations Committee.

In the interventions of the MPs, the demands focused on defining and clarifying the privileges that will be granted to the United Nations Organization or its employees, and requesting the hosting of those concerned in the Ministry of Industry in the House of Representatives to learn more details about the agreement.

The Council also completed reading a report and discussing the draft law on Iraq’s accession to the Hague System of Private International Law submitted by the Foreign Relations Committee.

The interventions of the MPs on the draft law focused on the need to review the systems adopted by the Hague International System and to know the feasibility of joining it, since Iraq has legislation related to family, childhood, adoption and personal status based on Islamic law and not in conformity with international laws.

The Council requested to read the report of the fact-finding committee on the presence of chemical radiation in al-Dab fertilizer, submitted by the Committees of Economy, Industry, Trade, Agriculture, Water and Marshes.

MP, Farouk Hanna read a statement on behalf of the Christian quota MPs, in which he condemned the Swedish extremist citizen’s act of disgraceful and contrary to human values and the feelings of Muslims by burning the Holy Qur’an, pointing out that these actions do not represent the teachings of Christ and do not represent the Christians in the Middle East, but are political goals that call for provocation hate speech and discrimination between peoples who are in harmony with each other at a time when we need a discourse that emphasizes peaceful coexistence and fights extremist ideas, and the civilization of Mesopotamia bears coexistence of all Iraqi components.

After that, it was decided to adjourn the session to next Monday.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency