[JURIST] Twelve NGOs representing Iraq's minority ethnic groups have promised to work together with the transitional government to ensure that minority rights will be protected under the permanent Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive] to be drafted by the new National Assembly. The groups concluded a two-day conference in Baghdad Tuesday called "to highlight the fact that Iraqi minorities have the right to be involved in the preparation and writing of the new constitution to ensure our rights are the same as other groups such as the Muslims and Christians." Citing concerns that there has been little follow-through on promises of government participation given by larger parties, conference participants said if they did nothing they were "afraid that we will lose our rights when they write the constitution." IRIN News has more.