Iado

Since 2010, BTD has been working with the leadership of the Iraqi Alliance of Disability Organizations (IADO) to strengthen the association’s management, outreach, and programming capacity. IADO is the first and only national umbrella organization to emerge from post-Saddam Iraq with the distinct goal of uniting the voices of Iraq’s vast population of persons with disabilities (PWDs).

(Some answers translated from Arabic by Paul Butler)

Azadeh Meshkaty: You are the Managing Director and considered the “father” of the Iraqi Association of Disability Organizations (IADO), what motivated you to develop this organization?

A delegation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) along with Moaffak Alkhafaji, Director of the Iraqi Alliance for Disability Organizations (IADO) met with representatives of UNAMI Bureau of Human Rights at the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

Discussions were mainly focused on the assessment of the difficult conditions of Iraqi PWDs and the need to speed up legislation of laws guaranteeing the rights of disabled in Iraq in accordance with article 32 of the Iraqi Constitution - including the establishment of an independent national body to guarantee PWDs’ rights in Iraq.

On October 4^th, the President of the Republic of Iraq, Jalal Talabani received in his office in Baghdad, a large delegation of people with disabilities and Moaffak al-Khafaji, Head of the Iraqi Alliance of Disabilities Organizations (IADO). Mr Al-Khafaji reiterated the priorities for PWDs in Iraq, and more precisely the necessity to ratify the International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and the creation of a national committee for the disabled.

BAGHDAD - 09/22/2010

The Iraqi Alliance for Disability Organizations (IADO) organized, in cooperation with Mercy Corps International, the fourth conference for the ratification of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (ICRPD) and for the establishment of a National Authority for Disabled in Iraq.

From a statement released by Moaffak Al-Khafaji, the President of the Iraqi Alliance of Disability Organizations (IADO)

BAGHDAD – 8/29/2010

On 8/21/2010, one of the days of the holy month of Ramadan, the Iraqi Alliance of Disability Organizations (IADO) held an evening iftar dinner event for the disabled citizens of Iraq to prove that they actively take part in social initiatives, as well as to affirm their commitment to their causOn 8/21/2010, one of the days of the holy month of Ramadan, the Iraqi Alliance of Disability Organizations (IADO) held an evening iftar dinner event for the disabled citizens of Iraq to prove that they actively take part in social initiatives, as well as to affir

8/11/2010 – BAGHDAD, Headquarters of the Iraqi Ground Forces Leadership.

BAGHDAD – Office of the Minister of Health Salih al-Hasanawy.

Translated by: Ali Hamdan

To fulfill his generous promises, His Honor the Minister of Health met with a number of disabled persons and children from the Iraqi Alliance of Disability Organizations (IADO) in his private office in Baghdad. He performed a series of immediate medical examinations and provided those present with newer, easier ways to treat their symptoms, based on the specialization and level of need.

BAGHDAD - August 1st, 2010 marks the global day of entry into the Oslo treaty banning the manufacture, sale and stockpiling of cluster bombs worldwide. The Iraqi Alliance of Disability Organizations (IADO), member of the International Alliance against Cluster bombs, held a national celebration for the event, as did much of the world, out of which 107 countries signed and 37 approved the treaty, Iraq having signed on 12/12/2009.