Representatives of the Warsaw Human Rights House-based Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) have just returned from Iraq on a trip to investigate the possibility of establishing a permanent HRHF mission there. Their conclusion is that this will probably happen already in the spring of this year. If so, HFHR will be the second Polish NGO represented in Iraq, following the Polish Humanitarian Organisation´s permanent mission, which has been operating there since the middle of July 2003. (27-JAN-04)

 The more exact purpose of HFHR´s trip was to get a sense of the local realities, with particular emphasis on possible human rights violations by the provisional international authorities. The HFHR envoys met with local and international NGOs already operating within Iraq, with the country´s occupying authorities and with representatives of the Polish army, in Iraq as part of the international military mission. Due to the Polish military engagement, the HFHR representatives concentrated particularly on the south-central region of Iraq, which is where the Polish army is currently in charge. The HFHR headquarters will be established in Al Hillah, a city located in what has come to be known as the Polish zone.

The main aim of the mission will be to support the rapidly developing local NGOs, open to co-operation and expecting such help. This will primarily be given in the form of training programmes on human rights and the functioning of human rights organisations. The Foundation´s mission, which will consist of two to three people from Poland and one or two local activists, will also advise local NGOs on how to go about routine NGO business. The other task of the mission will be to monitor the condict of the Polish Army. Also in this area, rather than acting on their own behalf, the HFHR employees will be more apt to support the local NGOs´ activities, especially if they have difficulties in dealing with the Polish soldiers.

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