Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“In the coming days, Iraq will do something extraordinary in a Middle East where identities are often anchored by tribe, religion, or ethnicity. It will release detailed results of its first national census in decades – without any of those pigeonholing categories. In other words, data collated from a two-day, door-to-door survey conducted last November will not break down people by labels such as Shiite or Sunni, Kurd or Arab. Aimed at simply helping officials divvy up elected seats and spread resource wealth equally to everyone, the census will not reduce individuals to demographic stereotypes. ‘Iraqis should be citizens first and foremost and be treated as such by government strategy,’ Joost Hiltermann, an Iraq expert at the Crisis Group think tank, told Deutsche Welle. Iraq has learned this lesson the hard way …” (02/07/25)