Nisrin Barwari

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Nesreen Barwari (born 1967) became Iraq Minister for Municipalities & Public Works in September 2003, the only woman minister on the interim Iraqi Governing Council. In June 2004, she was reappointed minister in the Iraqi Transitional Government. In January 2005 she was elected to the Iraq National Assembly, but resigned her membership to continue as minister.

A Kurd, Berwari was a political prisoner and a refugee. She graduated from Baghdad University in 1991 with an undergraduate degree in architectural engineering and urban planning. She served with the United Nations in Iraqi Kurdistan from 1991 to 1998. In 1999 she completed a graduate degree in public policy and management at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government after which she served as Minister of Reconstruction & Development in the Erbil-based Kurdistan Regional Government until 2003.

Berwari has displayed concern for the rights of women in Iraq. In January 2004, she joined protests against Resolution 137 of the Iraqi Governing Council that would have curtailed women's rights by making Iraq's personal status law subject to religious doctrine.

As minister in Baghdad she survived assassination attempts.

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