Shafaq
News
As
temperatures in Iraq routinely soar above 50°C during the summer months, a
silent humanitarian crisis is playing out in the country’s bakeries, fish
markets, and traditional kitchens.
Far from
air-conditioned offices or shaded infrastructure, thousands of informal and
daily-wage workers are enduring prolonged exposure to life-threatening
heat—without protective regulation, legal enforcement, or viable alternatives.
This
environmental-labor emergency is considered a chronic public health and
governance failure, exacerbated by climate change and the state’s inability to
protect its most vulnerable citizens.
Iraq’s
Escalating Climate Extremes
Iraq is
already one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. In 2025,
Baghdad and other provinces recorded several consecutive days between 48-50°C,
and the Iraq Meteorological Organization forecasts longer and more intense
heatwaves in the coming months.
According
to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Iraq is facing “a critical
convergence of rising temperatures, declining water availability, and growing
urban vulnerability.” The country’s urban centers—already burdened by poor
infrastructure and weak public health services—are especially ill-equipped to
handle prolonged extreme heat events.
The
problem is not simply environmental, but systemic: climate change is
interacting with weak labor protections and economic precarity to create
conditions of extreme risk for Iraq’s working class.
Health
Hazards in Iraq’s “Indoor Outdoors”
Despite
the assumption that extreme heat is primarily a concern for outdoor laborers,
indoor workers in unventilated, fire-adjacent environments face a parallel—and
often more intense—threat. In kitchens, bakeries, and grill stations, workers
labor directly beside open flames and gas-powered ovens, often for 12-hour
shifts.
“The sun
is not our problem—the fire is,” said fish griller Hossam al-Din Abbas,
explaining to Shafaq News that heat exposure is not only constant but
intensified by the close-range proximity to high-temperature cooking stations.
“Halting work during dangerous heat is entirely up to employers. If we stop, we
don’t eat.”
“I’ve been
doing this for 15 years. Every summer it gets worse. I’ve passed out, burned
myself more times than I can count,” said bakery worker Kareem Farhan. “We
stand facing the fire for seven, sometimes ten hours straight. I’ve had to take
weeks off because my body gave out—but I come back, because I need the job.”
“Many
workers quit during the summer. It’s just too much. But I’ve gotten used to
it,” Farhan added. “Used to being sick. Used to being tired. It’s survival.”
Medical
professionals have verified these hazards, warning that prolonged heat exposure
without ventilation causes circulatory strain, joint inflammation, muscle
cramps, and chronic fatigue.
The World
Health Organization (WHO) confirms that occupational heat stress can lead to
“serious health outcomes, including cardiovascular and kidney diseases,
especially when combined with poor air quality and lack of rest periods.”
Yet in
Iraq, these risks are normalized. Workers return to stifling stations day after
day, often without contracts, health insurance, or even access to basic first
aid.
Legal
Protections on Paper, Not in Practice
Iraq’s
2015 Labor Law technically mandates essential safety provisions: proper gear,
medical checks, and visible health instructions. But enforcement is virtually
nonexistent, particularly in the sprawling informal sector, where inspections
are rare and employment terms are unregulated.
Legal
expert Nour al-Din Mahdi confirmed to Shafaq News that the absence of
institutional oversight allows employers to “violate basic safety requirements
with impunity.”
“The Labor
Law includes clear instructions for providing first-aid kits, protective gear,
and regular health check-ups,” he added. “But without inspections or penalties,
these laws mean nothing in the informal sector.”
Restaurant
owner Abdulaziz Abdelwahid told Shafaq News that closing during summer isn’t
feasible when the business is the only livelihood. “Injuries and resignations
happen, but we can’t stop—this is how we feed our families.”
In
essence, employers and employees alike are trapped in a mutual vulnerability:
owners can’t afford to close, and workers can’t afford to stop—leaving no room
for safety, even as conditions become lethal.
Culture of
Silence
One of the
most troubling dynamics is the near-total absence of complaints. Despite
widespread suffering, no formal reports have been submitted by bakery or grill
workers to Iraq’s General Federation of Trade Unions.
According
to the union representative, Sattar al-Danbous, the federation has received no
formal reports from bakery or grill workers, even during peak heat.
“This
silence reflects not acceptance but fear—of losing jobs, of being uninsured,
and of institutions that workers don’t trust to protect them. Many simply view
suffering as part of survival.”
For many,
physical harm becomes part of the job—baked into a labor culture where enduring
risk is the price of economic survival.
No Heat
Limits, No Central Authority
Across the
Gulf, countries like the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have implemented
mandatory midday breaks or outright bans on outdoor labor during peak summer
hours. These policies are informed by rising global awareness of occupational
heat stress as a health hazard and economic risk.
In
contrast, Iraq has no such laws. There is no national heat index system, no
binding protocol for temperature-based work stoppages, and no centralized body
responsible for monitoring thermal conditions in workplaces.
Labor
unions occasionally issue safety advisories, but without inspections or
consequences, most recommendations go ignored.
The
International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned that without regulatory
frameworks to protect against heat exposure, countries in the Middle East face
“increased rates of occupational illness, productivity losses, and premature
mortality.”
The
Intersection of Climate, Poverty, and Neglect
At its
core, this crisis is not only about temperature. It is about inequality,
deregulation, and environmental neglect. The state’s failure to prepare for and
respond to climate-induced labor risks is not an oversight—it is a structural
issue deeply tied to Iraq’s broader challenges: unstable governance, weakened
public institutions, and reliance on an informal economy that employs over 60%
of the workforce.
Climate
change has not created this vulnerability, but it has exposed and magnified it.
If Iraq
continues on this trajectory—without national heat standards, without
enforcement of labor laws, and adaptation plans—the human toll will grow
exponentially.
Climate
scientists warn that Iraq’s average summer temperatures may rise by 2–3°C by
2050, making current conditions not an anomaly—but a baseline.
Written and edited by Shafaq News staff.
