Compensation for those injured in terrorist operations: who hears the claim, and what is examined?
Injury compensation under Law No. 20 of 2009: claims usually go to the sub-committee, which examines the incident link and the medical report.
Read →A claim for compensation after an injury in a terrorist operation
Amendments to Compensation Law No. 20 of 2009
In briefThe First Amendment, Law No. 57 of 2015, widened the law’s aims, created a directorate in the Martyrs Foundation, and set a thirty-day period for each stage of challenge before the Administrative Judiciary Court and the Supreme Administrative Court. The Second Amendment, Law No. 2 of 2020, made the central committees three in number, expanded the subcommittees, and set a sixty-day period to object to the central committee from the day after notification.
“Compensation for those harmed Law No. 20 of 2009, as amended”, and the first and second amendments. The original law was published in Al-Waqa’i Al-Iraqiya No. 4140 of 28/12/2009. It has been amended twice by texts that can be checked in the Iraqi legislation database: Law No. 57 of 2015 (the First Amendment, Al-Waqa’i No. 4395 of 25/1/2016) and Law No. 2 of 2020 (the Second Amendment, Al-Waqa’i No. 4571 of 13/1/2020). Reading only the 2009 text misses what later changed in the committees, the time limits and the forum for challenge.
The main changes made by the two amendments follow; the detail is on the pages on the subcommittee and the central committee, time limits or objection before the Administrative Judiciary Court. Cash compensation amounts that appear in some articles are read from the text in force at the time of payment.
What did Law No. 57 of 2015 change?
Article 1 was replaced. The law’s aim is to compensate every Iraqi natural or legal person harmed by war operations, military errors or terrorist operations, and the wounded of the Popular Mobilization Forces and the Peshmerga, and to determine the gravity of the harm, the bases of compensation and how it is claimed. Care, programmes and facilities in several fields were added. A directorate was created in the Martyrs Foundation, named the Directorate of Martyrs of Victims of War Operations, Military Errors and Terrorist Operations.
In Article 7 — as replaced by this amendment — the injured person, their family or the Ministry of Finance could object to subcommittee decisions, and to decisions of committees formed in ministries and bodies not attached to a ministry, before the central committee within thirty days from the day after notification. Law No. 2 of 2020 later amended paragraph First, as set out below. Paragraph Second of Article 7 was not amended in 2020, and remains as the First Amendment drafted it: a person harmed by a central-committee decision may challenge it before the Administrative Judiciary Court, and the court’s decision may be challenged before the Supreme Administrative Court. The period for each of those two stages is thirty days from notification of the decision or of the judgment — or from being deemed notified, in the challenge before the Supreme Administrative Court. The official wording uses the phrase “after (30) thirty days”; the first day of the count should be calculated carefully, and it is wiser to file early, before the last day. The route is explained on the time-limits and objection pages.
What did Law No. 2 of 2020 change?
Article 3, paragraphs First and Second, were replaced: there are now three central committees, one of them for the Kurdistan Region, based in Baghdad and attached to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. They work in coordination with the Directorate of Martyrs of Victims in the Martyrs Foundation only in respect of files of martyrs, kidnap victims, missing persons and the injured. The Secretariat may issue the instructions needed for these committees’ work. The first and second committees are explained in The first and second central committees.
As to subcommittees: one or more may be formed in Baghdad, in the Kurdistan Region and in every governorate not organized in a region, and three subcommittees in governorates that have witnessed, or are witnessing, the operations mentioned in the law. A committee may, as needed, open offices in administrative units, districts and sub-districts.
In Article 4, the central committee’s membership was amended: its chair is a judge of the first or second class nominated by the President of the Supreme Judicial Council; its members include a representative of the Ministry of Housing and Construction (the name used in the amending text), with the title of engineer, and a representative of the Martyrs Foundation.
Article 5 of the 2020 law amended paragraph First of Article 7: an objection to the central committee is now within sixty days from the day after the date of notification, and may be based on new documents that become available. The right to object belongs to the injured person, their family, the Ministry of Finance, the Martyrs Foundation, the National Pension Authority (Hay’at al-Taqa‘ud al-Wataniyya) or any person with an interest. It was also added that the committee formed under Article 9(1) of Martyrs Foundation Law No. 2 of 2016 audits the files of those covered by Law No. 20 of 2009 by the same mechanism.
Practical additions include facilitating the issue of investigative papers in cases of death that the family could not complete for reasons beyond their control (paragraph Ninth added to Article 6); placing subcommittee recommendations and decisions before the public prosecutor for an opinion, so as to safeguard public funds; and priority of payment by the date the decisions were issued, with priority for cases of martyrdom, under Article 16 of the 2020 law, explained in Priority of compensation payments.
Article 12 of Law No. 2 of 2020 was later repealed by Article 20 of Martyrs Foundation Law No. 23 of 2024. It is no longer a basis after that repeal.
Instructions No. 4 of 2018 for facilitating implementation — issued under Article 18 of the law — remain a procedural reference for transfers between governorates, medical re-examination and documents, so far as they do not conflict with the Second Amendment. They are discussed in a separate article.
Legal basis and sources
- Law No. 20 of 2009 (Al-Waqa’i Al-Iraqiya No. 4140 of 28/12/2009)
- Law No. 57 of 2015, the First Amendment (Al-Waqa’i No. 4395 of 25/1/2016)
- Law No. 2 of 2020, the Second Amendment (Al-Waqa’i No. 4571 of 13/1/2020)
- Law No. 23 of 2024 — Article 20, repealing Article 12 of Law No. 2 of 2020
Frequently asked questions
Should the law be read only as it was enacted in 2009?
No. It is read in the text now in force after the two amendments, together with implementing instructions still in force so far as they do not conflict with them.
What is the period today for objecting to the central committee?
Sixty days from the day after the date of notification, under Article 7(1) as amended by Law No. 2 of 2020.
And the period for a judicial challenge?
Thirty days from notification before the Administrative Judiciary Court, then thirty days from notification — or from the judgment being deemed notified — before the Supreme Administrative Court, under Article 7(2) after the First Amendment.
Where are the three committees found?
The central committees are based in Baghdad under Article 3. See the page on the central committees and Where to file an application.
Related topics and articles
- 01The compensation sub-committee and the Central Committee: who decides what?The governorate compensation sub-committee, the Central Committee in Baghdad and ministry committees under Iraq's Law No. 20 of 2009.
- 02Time limits in compensation files for victims of terrorist operationsTime limits under Iraq's Law No. 20 of 2009: sub-committee decision, sixty-day objection period, and five-yearly disability re-examination.
- 03Objecting to a compensation committee decision and challenging it before the Administrative Judiciary CourtObjecting to an Iraqi compensation sub-committee decision before the Central Committee within sixty days, then challenging it in court.
- 04Military errors and war operations: who else does the Law compensate besides victims of terrorism?Iraq's Law No. 20 of 2009 also compensates people harmed by war operations and military errors, not only terrorism victims. How proof differs.
- 05Medical report and disability percentage in a terrorism injury compensation fileHow the medical committee sets the disability percentage for terrorism injuries in Iraq, how it shapes entitlement, and the five-yearly re-examination.
Injury worsened after the decision: what are the options?
Injured in a terrorist operation and the injury worsened after the compensation decision? When to request reconsideration and what papers it takes.
Read →Practical scenarios in compensation files
General practical scenarios under Law 20 of 2009, as amended: missing documents, a deed of death, a timely objection, a transfer, and payment priority.
Read →