New York Convention Roadshow in Baghdad, Iraq
Report written by Mohamed Abdel Raouf, Sophie Tkemaladze, and Hayder Hameed.
The Baghdad New York Convention Roadshow, held on 30-31 May 2025, brought together 22 judges, 15 from the Federal Judiciary and 7 from the Kurdistan Region. The group included 18 male and 4 female judges, comprising judges of commercial and civil courts, appellate judges, and members of the Cassation Court.
On Day 1, Dr. Mohammed Abdel Raouf, ICCA Judiciary Committee’s Middle East Liaison, introduced ICCA to the participants, following which Dr. Ismail Selim, Director of CRCICA, delivered a presentation covering the interpretation of the key provisions of the New York Convention relevant to its interpretation, material and territorial scopes of its application, reservations, arbitration agreements, court referrals to arbitration, the procedure for enforcement (Articles I, II and III).
Thereafter, Judge Hassan Fouad, Deputy of the President of the Court of Cassation of Iraq spoke on the Iraqi judiciary’s approach to applying the New York Convention, and shared with the participants recent decisions of the Iraqi courts related to referral of the dispute to arbitration Article II NYC.
At the end of Day 1, Dr. Ali Fauzi, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Iraq Muhammad Al-Sudani, shared with participants the path of Iraq towards ratifying the New York Convention and the government’s support to promotion of the practice of arbitration in Iraq.
On day 2, Dr. Mohammed Abdel Raouf addressed the conditions to be fulfilled by the petitioner, and the grounds for refusal of enforcement by national courts (Articles IV and V(1)). Dr. Ismail Selim focused on the non-arbitrability and public policy grounds (Article V(2)) especially the distinction between domestic mandatory rules and international public policy. Dr. Selim and Dr. Abdel Raouf also discussed recent developments concerning the enforcement of arbitral awards in the Arab region including under the Riyadh Convention.
Both Dr. Abdel Raouf and Dr. Selim actively engaged the participants, encouraging judicial dialogue and offering opportunities for judges to raise questions and share their perspectives, ensuring a comprehensive and interactive learning experience.
As part of the Workshop, participants were introduced to the Arabic version of the Second Edition of ICCA's Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention. Judge Hassan Fuad emphasized that he had familiarized himself with the Guide in December 2024 and underscored its importance encouraging all participants to utilize this valuable resource. He also requested that the copy of the Arabic translation of the Guide be distributed, if possible, to all civil and commercial judges of Iraq.
