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Iraq - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Bagdad

 

CLIMATE

Mostly desert climate with mild to cool winters and dry, hot, cloudless summers. The northern mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows that melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive flooding in central and southern Iraq.

 

LANGUAGES

Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, and Armenian.

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Iraq’s legal system is based on Islamic law in special religious courts and civil law system elsewhere. Iraq has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.

 

CURRENCY

Iraqi Dinar (1 USD = 3,275.50 IQD as of May 1, 2002).

 

IRAQ - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

IRAQ - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

The United States does not have diplomatic relations with Iraq, and there is no U.S. Embassy in Iraq. While U.S. interests in Iraq are represented by the Embassy of Poland in Baghdad, that embassy's ability to obtain consular access to detained U.S. citizens and to perform other emergency services is severely constrained by Iraq's unwillingness to cooperate. In addition, the United States and the United Nations have imposed sanctions which severely restrict financial and economic activities with Iraq, including travel-related transactions. For more information see: http://travel.state.gov/iraq.html

 

Embassy of Poland - Baghdad

U.S. Interests Section

P. O. Box 2051 Hay Babel

Baghdad, Iraq

Telephone: [964] (1) 718-9267

Fax: [964] (1) 718-9297

 

Iraq does not have diplomatic relations with the United States and has no embassy in the U.S. However, Iraq has an Interests Section in the Algerian Embassy.

 

Embassy of Algeria – Washington, DC

Iraqi Interests Section

1801 P Street NW

Washington, DC 20036

Telephone: (202) 483-7500

Fax: (202) 462-5066

 

IRAQ - HOLIDAYS

IRAQ – LEAVE

Maternity Leave: 62 days – 100% of pay (paid by social security).

 

IRAQ - MINIMUM AGE

The employment of children under the age of 14 is prohibited, except in small-scale family enterprises. The law stipulates that employees between the ages of 14 and 18 work fewer hours per week than adults.

 

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Iraq – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

IRAQ - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

There is no known minimum wage in Iraq.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Iraq – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

IRAQ - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

IRAQ - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

There are no trade unions independent of government control. The Trade Union Organization Law of 1987 established the Iraqi General Federation of Trade Unions (IGFTU), a government controlled trade union structure, as the sole legal trade federation. The IGFTU is linked to the Ba'th Party, which uses it to promote party principles and policies among union members.

 

Workers in private and mixed enterprises, but not public employees or workers in state enterprises, have the right to join local union committees. The committees are affiliated with individual trade unions, which in turn belong to the IGFTU.

 

In 1999 Uday Hussein reportedly dismissed hundreds of members of the Iraqi Union of Journalists for not praising Saddam Hussein and the Government sufficiently. Also in 1999, Uday Hussein reportedly jailed at least four leaders of the Iraqi National Students Union for failing to carry out his orders to take action against students known for their criticism of the situation in the country.

 

The Labor Law restricts the right to strike. According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, such restrictions on the right to strike include penal sanctions. No strike has been reported for during the past 2 decades.

 

The IGFTU is affiliated with the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions and the formerly Soviet-controlled World Federation of Trade Unions.

 

In the Kurd-controlled northern region, the law allows persons to form and join trade unions and other organizations, and to use such organizations for political action. Dozens of trade groups have been formed since 1991.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

The right to bargain collectively is not recognized. The Government sets salaries for public sector workers, the majority of employed persons. Wages in the much smaller private sector are set by employers or negotiated individually with workers. Government workers frequently are shifted from one job and work location to another to prevent them from forming close associations with other workers. The Labor Code does not protect workers from antiunion discrimination, an omission that has been criticized repeatedly by the Committee of Experts of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

Compulsory labor is prohibited by law; however, the Penal Code mandates prison sentences, including compulsory labor, for civil servants and employees of state enterprises for breaches of labor "discipline," including resigning from a job. According to the ILO, foreign workers in the country have been prevented from terminating their employment and returning to their native countries because of government-imposed penal sanctions on persons who do so. There is no information available regarding forced and bonded labor by children.

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

The employment of children under the age of 14 is prohibited, except in small-scale family enterprises. However, children reportedly are encouraged increasingly to work in order to help support their families because of the country's harsh economic conditions. The law stipulates that employees between the ages of 14 and 18 work fewer hours per week than adults. Each year the Government enrolls children as young as 10 years of age in a paramilitary training program. There is no information available regarding forced and bonded labor by children.

 

The Government has not ratified ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

There was no information available regarding minimum wages.

 

Most workers in urban areas work a 6-day, 48-hour workweek. The head of each ministry sets hours for government employees. Working hours for agricultural workers vary according to individual employer-employee agreements.

 

Occupational safety programs are in effect in state-run enterprises. Inspectors ostensibly inspect private establishments, but enforcement varies widely. There was no information regarding workers' ability to remove themselves from work situations that endanger their health or safety.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

There was no information available regarding whether trafficking in persons is prohibited by law, or whether persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.

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1 The United States does not have diplomatic representation in Iraq. This report draws to a large extent on non-U.S. Government sources.

 

IRAQ - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

IRAQ - STANDARD WORKWEEK

Most workers in urban areas work a 6-day, 48-hour workweek. The head of each ministry sets hours for government employees. Working hours for agricultural workers vary according to individual employer-employee agreements.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Iraq – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)