Implementation Agreement: Social Security Law Courts Work Stream (Federal Iraq). Court cases regarding private sector social security benefits.

Iraq's social protection framework rests on the Pension and Social Security Law for Private Sector Workers (Law No. 18 of 2023) and, for decided case law, its predecessor Law No. 39 of 1971. Iraq ratified the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) on 22 March 2023, accepting Parts II to X, all nine benefit branches.

The European Union funds the EU-UN Joint Programme on Social Protection in Iraq, delivered with national counterparts and the social partners. This assignment addresses the point at which an entitlement becomes enforceable.

ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND

The ILO holds an analytical draft report classifying social security court cases in Federal Iraq and identifying systemic barriers to access, and provides it at signature. The assignment strengthens that draft to publishable quality, extends it to the mechanisms through which workers pursue complaints and appeals, secures its validation, and converts the validated findings into training. It is not a new study, and bidders shall not price one.

The Implementing Partner coordinates the work stream end to end: it contracts the expert resources each component requires, manages convening and event logistics, funds the supporting activities, and provides project management, monitoring, quality control, financial administration and reporting. The ILO supervises technically, secures counterpart engagement and accepts deliverables. The ILO alone assesses the conformity of Iraqi law with ratified Conventions.

Judicial engagement runs through the Higher Judicial Council, whose prior agreement is a precondition for activities involving sitting judges; the ILO secures that agreement and access to the case records. Inception fixes the case-extraction template and anonymisation protocol; where a source institution cannot anonymise, the Implementing Partner's experts work on its premises and extract only anonymised data. If access is not secured by week 8, the parties agree an adjusted sample frame from published cassation decisions and key informants. If the Council's agreement to activities involving sitting judges is not secured by week 20, they agree in writing an equivalent substitute for the judicial training stream, deliverable through the judicial training institution or to court administrative staff. Neither adjustment changes the agreement value. Engagement with administrative counterparts is coordinated with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The geographic scope is Federal Iraq. The Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which operates a separate scheme and court structure, is out of scope.

3\. ASSIGNMENT OBJECTIVES