In Baghdad, 30 parliamentary staff attended a workshop organized by ESCWA in cooperation with the Parliamentary Development Institute of the Iraqi Council of Representatives from 22 to 24 September on development-oriented and conflict-sensitive legislative drafting.
Participants explored the technical role of parliamentary staff and the stages of the legislative cycle, improved their skills in good legislative drafting and in integrating development and conflict prevention considerations into legislation, including through the “do no harm” principle and impact analysis tools.
The workshop also examined the review of government-sponsored draft legislation as a public policy instrument, and drew on relevant international experiences, including those of Bougainville and the Niger Delta, Aceh and Colombia, North Macedonia and Rwanda, and strengthened participants’ skills in communication, negotiation and mediation.
The workshop adopted an interactive methodology combining group work, role-play, case studies and practical exercises based on hypothetical draft laws. Participants developed and applied a set of practical tools that can be used in their day-to-day work, including a briefing note, a technical accuracy checklist, a case-tracking register, conflict impact analysis and legislative impact assessment matrices, a “draft law dissection” tool, a draft law review matrix, and a post-enactment law monitoring card.
Participants agreed on organizing a joint workshop bringing together parliamentary committee staff and members of parliament to establish a common understanding and shared expectations; developing a methodology for conflict-sensitive and development-supportive legislative drafting that promotes balanced development; expanding the comparative analysis of international experiences through the examination of relevant constitutional and legislative provisions; and organizing a dedicated workshop on the oversight role of the Council of Representatives.
