Eleven Local Peace Committees have taken the initiative to protect their communities from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by sterilizing public spaces in Iraq’s Anbar governorate.

Markets, streets, residential areas, schools, government institutions, mosques, and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in major areas in Anbar are being disinfected by the committees through trained response teams in coordination with Anbar’s Defense, Health and Municipalities directorates.

Established in 2018 by UNDP Iraq to promote peace and stability post-ISIL, the committees are made up of security officers, local authority personnel, civil society organization representatives and tribal sheikhs. Each committee is led by their local Mayor, who, since the onset of the pandemic, has been working to instruct the public to adhere to health protection measures, and have shifted the committees’ focus to managing the outbreak.

Mayor of Habbaniyah district, Ali Dawood Suleiman, discusses the measures taking place in his local community. “We carried out many campaigns, including visits to hospitals and emergency rooms late at night to monitor the readiness of medical personnel to receive urgent cases,” he said. “We will also monitor prices in the markets in coordination with security agencies to ensure the price of goods does not rise,” he added.

While the Anbar governorate is currently under curfew, basic food shops are open to residents during defined time periods. Local Peace Committee members in the areas of Ramadi, Habbaniyah, Fallujah, Amiriyat al-Samoud, Qarma, Rawa, Anah, Haditha, Rutba, Tuaim, and Heet continue to implement sterilization and communication campaigns to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

About UNDP Iraq’s peace committees

Twenty-four Local Peace Committees were formed in Anbar, Ninewa, and Salah al-Din, three governorates liberated from ISIL’s occupation in Iraq, as part of a project undertaken by UNDP Iraq’s Integrated Reconciliation Programme, funded by Denmark.

Under the programme, Local Peace Committees were developed to promote community cohesiveness in liberated areas by facilitating dialogue, mediating, and brokering local peace agreements between communities of different backgrounds. They are also responsible for advocating for the basic needs of their communities. Due to the current pandemic health situation, Local Peace Committees are now using their resources to help protect communities from the spread of COVID-19 and its effects.