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rights of hashd members

Tags: Knight et al - Honored, Not Contained

Fighter Registration

  • Initial registration started in late 2014 and was on temporary rolling contracts
  • Hashd fighters had no clear expectation of permanent employments
  • Volunteers were haphazardly placed into units, with little influence, units would take new volunteers
  • registration windows swapped constantly between reigstered and unregistered
    • salaries were often distributed and redistrubted between registered and unregistered fighters
  • unit commanders had almost complete discretion on how to disburse the money with few accountability
    • often 30% skimmed on salaries as “unit funds”

Right-sizing and Auditing

  • 2016 - ~122k registered with maybe 40-50k unregistered
  • haider al-abadi wanted to audit all claimed registered individuals and record names and personal identification
    • hawiyah
    • shahadat al-jinsiya
    • bataqat al-sakan
    • al-tamwiniya
    • also biometrics (photos and fingerprints)
    • abadi ended up failing twice
  • 2018 - hashd finance director qassim dahif al-zubaidi assassinated
    • may 12, 2018 - iraqi election law actually requires security forces to vote before the public does (so that they can be on site to preotect the elections), but the hashd voted the same time as the public in theri own bases

Biometrics

  • Iraqi gov slowly moving towards a tawtin al-rawatib (“settling of salaries” -> automated payment system)
    • idea was to distrupt the commander based disembursement model
  • March 25, 2019 - hussein ismail khalil announces fingerprinting and enrolled 80k/160k by March 2019
    • many hashd still paid with cash, those with widows and disabilities are testing electronic payment system
  • payments are still authorized by the hashd commission

Registered and Unregistered

Military Service and Retirement Rights

  • executive order 85 (2018) was the clearest statement of rights
  • Until 2018, hashd fighters were paid less than other ISF members
    • junior pay was between 600k to 800k dinars per month
    • equalized in 2019, now 1.1 million dinars (~$923) per month for junior volunteers, and more for higher ranks and men with families
  • some hashd receive less because of unit taxing their fights by up to 30%
    • some may be spreading the pay out between registered and unregistered
    • some sunni tribes have not been paid in two years due to holdups
    • lack of continous payment drives illicit activities
  • hashd has continually had “better” leave policies
    • ISF members service in rotations of 20 days on, 10 off
    • hashd units can serve as little as 10 days on, 10 off
      • hashd members have also stepped away to fight in syria while getting paid
  • hashd regularly flout the promotion requirements
    • no hashd member has ever attended professional military educational courses
    • iraqi law also provides for out-out
  • retirement, martyrdom, and incapacitation laws only loosely apply
    • some have noted that martydom benefits are harder to secure for non-muhandis groups
  • hashd initially used local hospitals but this proved too disruptive
    • hashd now developing field hospitals, 30 basic by Jan 2018, although poorly equipped and lacked supplies
    • seriously wounded fighters may be sent to iran or lebanon for urgent or long-term care

Training and Equipping the Hashd

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