under the patronage of the President of the Northern Technical University, Dr. Aliaa Abbas Ali Al-Attar, and under the supervision of Assistant Professor Dr. Ashti Mahdi Aref (Dean of the Institute). The Women’s Affairs Unit at the Technical Institute of Kirkuk organized an educational seminar entitled “The Phenomenon of Begging – Causes and Solutions.” The lecture was delivered by Dr. Emad Yousif Khurshid, a lecturer in criminal law. The seminar highlighted that the phenomenon of begging is a widespread social phenomenon in many societies, indicating deep-rooted social problems. Its causes include poverty, drug abuse, divorce, wars, and making begging a profession. The seminar aimed to highlight the treatment of the phenomenon of begging through the application of established humanitarian values to assist those in need, in order to alleviate poverty and need. This includes implementing Islamic Sharia rulings such as the obligation of charity and alms on the wealth of Muslims, and the prevention of poverty and the stability of life. The state has effectively intervened in addressing the problem by providing financial assistance to various categories of those in need, in accordance with the Social Protection Law No. (11) of 2014.A – Persons with disabilities and special needs.
B – Widows, divorced women, wives of missing persons, abandoned women, unmarried adult women, single women.
C – The incapacitated.
D – Orphans.
E – Families of prisoners or detainees.
F – Beneficiaries in state shelter homes.
G – Juvenile offenders.
H – Married students up to secondary school level.
I – Families with no income or whose income is below the poverty line.After people fulfill their duty by giving to those in need and the state assists people as indicated above, the Iraqi legislator has closed the door on those who take begging as a profession and criminalized it in the Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, as amended, currently in force in Articles 390 and 391. The first article stipulates that “any person who is 18 years old and found begging in public streets or places, or enters a house or its annex without permission for the purpose of begging, shall be punished with imprisonment for not less than one month and not more than three months. The punishment shall be imprisonment for up to one year if the beggar pretends to be injured or disabled or uses any other means of deception to gain public sympathy, or reveals an injury or disability, or persists in begging.”The symposium recommended the need to address the phenomenon through the combined efforts of the state, charitable institutions, and all people by searching for those in need and meeting their needs, arresting those who take begging as a profession, prosecuting them in court, and publicizing it to achieve general deterrence and prevent this negative phenomenon.
At the end of the symposium, the attendees’ questions and inquiries were heard and answered.
