Source: European Parliament
The EU supports the different Iraqi institutions in strengthening democratic and inclusive governance, with the full participation of all components of the Iraqi society, including women and youth, as well as ethnic and religious minorities.
The need to protect and improve the situation of minorities is raised regularly by the EU on its interactions with the authorities, notably in the ongoing electoral period ahead of the 11 November 2025 legislative elections.
Most recently, this was also conveyed by the EU side at the recent 8th EU-Iraq Inter-Parliamentary meeting held on 14 May 2025 in Brussels.
The EU supports, empowers and is in regular contact with Iraqi civil society organisations and human rights defenders as important components of the society. In recent weeks, the EU Delegation in Iraq has held conversations with Christian, Yazidi and Mandaean-Sabaean representatives from all across Iraq.
These discussions revealed some degree of frustration about the current minority quota seats process not resulting in better representation.
The concrete outcome of EU engagement with civil society representatives is to improve their capacity and political participation as well as understanding of the positions of the different communities to better tackle and raise their case when interacting with both the national and regional authorities.