Baghdad: Member of the Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee, Othman al-Shibani, announced the completion of the draft of the second amendment to the Internal Security Forces Service and Retirement Law No. (18).

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the new draft includes several significant changes. One of the primary amendments proposed is the reduction of the optional retirement age for officers and enlisted personnel from 45 to 40 years, provided they have at least 15 years of active service. Another major change is the abolition of the Command Department and the practice of referring officers to it, which is expected to streamline administrative processes.

The draft amendment also proposes the inclusion of food allowances in the base salary of the personnel. It retains the existing provision for calculating higher degrees as seniority, continuing to award two years for PhD holders and one year for Master’s degree holders, as per the original law. Additionally, the service extension period is fixed to one year only.

Further modifications include regulating officer promotion conditions, which will now be based on a law or regulation proposed by the Minister of Interior and approved by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. This change removes the requirement of holding a specific position for promotion. The proposal also aims to treat contract employees in the Ministry of Interior as permanent staff members upon martyrdom.

The draft grants the rank of lieutenant to any member martyred or totally disabled, and promotes wounded personnel with a disability rating of 50% or higher to a higher rank. Also, it eliminates the term “police officer” from the law, replacing it with “affiliated” to encompass all officers and ranks, while adopting the term “civil servant” where applicable.