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Equality
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An identity that quells Mideast wars

In a democracy where young people are demanding equality, Iraq will hold its first nationwide census after decades of war without asking people to identify themselves by sect or ethnicity.

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A young man performs a stunt on his bicycle in Baghdad, Iraq.
  • By the Monitor's Editorial Board

Sitting at the heart of the Middle East – where ancient hatreds are again driving war across the region – Iraq is taking an extraordinary step to quell such hatred. In an agreement with the United Nations in July, it formally decided to conduct a population census without asking Iraqis to identify themselves by religious sect or ethnicity – “to avoid any division within the society,” the government stated.

The move was endorsed by Iraq’s highest court earlier this year. It reflects a rising sentiment among Iraqis to be treated as individual citizens after decades of violent conflicts driven by ethnic and sectarian stigmas.

A survey of Iraqis in 2022 found that fewer than a third feel they experience social and economic equality. In 2019, mass youth-led protests took aim at Iraq’s democratic power structure in which top positions are divvied out to Sunnis, Shiites, or Kurds, creating an inherently corrupt system of patronage. “Yazidis, Sunnis, Christians, we are all here to just be real Iraqis and support each other for freedom and for a good life,” said one protester.

The coming population census, which starts Nov. 20, will be the first nationwide count since the 1980s. The long delay is a result of wars, political differences, and the COVID-19 pandemic. A pilot census took place in May in the Kurdistan region and saw a 98% participation rate.

The census will focus mainly on collecting data to enhance the economy and ensure a fair distribution of government resources. Yet by not dividing people by personal identity, it also supports Iraqis who see citizenship based on broad ideals. The words equal and equality are mentioned eight times in the 2005 constitution.

Societies are best organized around an identity of civic rights based on the view of each individual being capable of self-rule, says scholar Francis Fukuyama. “Unless we can work our way back to more universal understandings of human dignity, we will doom ourselves to continuing conflict,” he wrote in his book “Identity.”

Many Iraqis are looking forward to a census-taker showing up at their door. “It is in everyone’s interest to be counted and not to erode anyone’s rights, as in the past,” Zaki Niyaz, a resident of Kirkuk, told Rudaw Media Network.

Wars may still be raging around Iraq in November. But the hatred that drives them may have started to wane.

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