March 22, 2021
Stories
Mediation is one of the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms which is widely used around the globe. There are many house, land and property (HLP) disputes which had caused violent acts within the community. Shahir Chomar is one of the 14 mediators who had been chosen to be part of the HLP disputes mediation project in Telkaif district in Nineveh. He also attended a training on identifying and addressing HLP disputes that an international certified mediator conducted that CCR employed.
Shahir, a 24-year-old Yazidi, lost his house and land in Sinjar due to the aggressive acts of ISIL. All his siblings smuggled to Germany, except his sister and himself who chose to stay for a longer while in their home country in order not to leave their parents alone.
They all applied for asylum as a family, but only his mother and father were accepted.
He became the only responsible for the household. He had many new responsibilities, such as paying the house rent and tuition fees. He did not mind doing any job he could be offered although he is an undergraduate of Business Administration.
In the beginning of the mediation training, he said he was so scared and confused, especially that his Arabic is not so good. He says, ‘I didn’t know if I could do it. I kept on thinking if people would accept the mediation of someone who is at my age.’
However, when he started working on real mediation cases, he impressed everyone with his success in resolving the disputes. He says, ‘Not only I could resolve the HLP disputes that have been there for years, but I could also build very good relations between the disputed parties.’
He conducted mediation sessions in both languages, Kurmanji and Arabic. All the disputes he mediated in were resolved, and the parties were satisfied with the agreements they reached. ‘When I first applied for the mediator position, I just wanted a job to support my younger sister as I’m the one who is responsible for both of us. But now, I am so passionate about this job,’ he said.
He concluded that one day he might consider studying abroad but will definitely come back to Iraq.
‘Before, all what I was thinking about is how to leave Iraq and start a new life abroad. But now, I am considering having my own mediation office in my home country… who knows!’
In partnership with United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Caritas Czech Republic implemented the project of “Mediation and peaceful resolution of house-land-property disputes in Telkeif and Al Hamdaniya, Nineveh governorate.” The field mediators successfully addressed 356 cases. This gave the population, including different minorities, the opportunity to enhance HLP rights. This also strived to build a robust community-based structure for HLP dispute resolution with the involvement of various community structures.
