Experience of the High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq - Presented by Dr. Ali Al-Bayati & Dr. Anas AlAzzawi, members of the High Commission for Human Rights a. Triage of the crisis In order to gauge the gravity of the situation and determine priorities, the Commission of Iraq conducted monitoring of the health status to identify community health concerns in general and those relating to vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. As an oversight institution, they worked at first on the evaluation of the response and later focused on how to deal with the epidemic and other key issues such as the right to health. Keeping in mind that conducting a situational analysis and then proceeding with a plan is very important, especially to take into consideration the context and pressures that the NHRI and country are facing. To overcome the challenges and monitor the situation properly, the commission had to work with many partners to provide access and data where they cannot, thus, shifting the modality for collecting information. b. Adjusting to an already challenging context following political demonstrations The Commission expressed concerns regarding the general situation in Iraq, which was tense at the beginning of the pandemic due to the demonstrations that brought down the regime and led to absence of general government powers. The challenge lied in the decentralization of power caused by its transference from Parliament to the government, and vice versa. This resulted in poor decision-making, and thus, a weak health sector system. In turn, there was a shortcoming from the side of the Ministry of Finance in terms of the budget disbursements. To this day, a 2020 budget has not been established. The lack of a budget along with the imposed curfew, has caused many challenges that the Commission is facing; however, through their power granted by law and their partnership with civil society organizations, they were able to offset some of these challenges. 9