01 · Summary The document in brief.
- How personal information is handled on kurds.global.
- Only what is needed is collected; nothing is sold or used for advertising or profiling.
- Rights under Canadian, Quebec, Swiss, EU, UK and US state law are honoured where they apply.
- Requests go to contact@kurds.global.
02 · Record Version 1.0, effective 20 October 2026.
| Record | Value |
|---|---|
| Document | Privacy Policy |
| Version | 1.0 |
| Effective date | 20 October 2026 |
| Last updated | 20 October 2026 |
| Publisher | The Kurdish Cooperation Organization (in formation) |
| Contact | contact@kurds.global |
03 · Section 1 Who is responsible.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Controller | The Kurdish Cooperation Organization (in formation), a not-for-profit organization in formation in Canada, operating primarily in Canada and the United States |
| Privacy Officer | The Privacy Officer of KCO, at contact@kurds.global |
| Representatives in the European Union and the United Kingdom | None appointed yet under Article 27 of the GDPR or the UK GDPR. Until one is appointed, write to the Privacy Officer at contact@kurds.global |
- 1.1 The Privacy Officer of KCO is accountable for its compliance with Canadian privacy law and answers privacy requests; no data protection officer under Article 37 GDPR is designated.
- 1.2 KCO is the controller of the personal information described in this Policy: it decides why and how the information is handled. Hosting, email and similar providers are processors acting on its instructions. No joint controllership is established with any other institution for the Site.
04 · Section 2 What is collected and why.
| Information | Purpose | Legal basis where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies |
|---|---|---|
| What you write to an address of the Site: name, email address, organisation, role, country and your message | Answering you and keeping a record of the exchange | Steps you ask for before an agreement, or the legitimate interest in answering correspondence and keeping an accurate record |
| Contributions you send: the material, the name you give for credit and, if you choose, your ORCID iD | Reviewing the contribution and, if it is accepted, publishing it with credit | Your consent to publication with credit, which you give when you contribute |
| Comments, consultation responses and nominations: the text, the name or organisation you choose and, for a nomination, the nominee's details given with the nominee's knowledge | Considering the response or nomination, publishing it where you agree, and recording the decision | Your consent to publication; for the assessment of a nomination, the legitimate interest in running a fair and recorded process |
| Registration for working groups, meetings and events: name, organisation, role, country, contact address and any access need you choose to share; images and voice in sessions announced as recorded | Organising the activity, meeting access needs, recording declared conflicts of interest and publishing recordings announced in advance | Steps you ask for, the legitimate interest in running the activity, and your consent for access needs and for appearing in recordings |
| Correction, complaint, conduct or security reports | Handling the report and recording the outcome | Legitimate interest, or a legal obligation where one applies |
| Technical data the web server processes, such as IP address, browser type, page requested and time | Delivering pages and protecting the Site against abuse | Legitimate interest in a secure, working site |
| Choices stored in your browser, such as the colour theme | Remembering a setting you asked for | Strictly necessary for a service you request; see the Cookie Policy |
Please do not send health, security-sensitive or other special-category information, or personal information about other people, in a first message. The pages of the Site have no user accounts and ask for no password; a feature that needs an account has its own notice. The Site does not use personal information for advertising, profiling or automated decisions.
05 · Section 3 Sources of information.
- 3.1 Personal information comes from you, when you write to the Site or contribute, and from your browser, when it requests a page. The Site does not buy personal information or combine it with data from other sources.
06 · Section 4 Consent and choices.
- 4.1 Where Canadian law applies, personal information is collected with your knowledge and consent for the purposes stated when it is collected, and is used only for those purposes unless you agree otherwise or the law permits or requires it.
- 4.2 You choose what to send. A contribution can be credited by name, with an ORCID iD if you wish, and no account is needed. You may withdraw consent at any time; the consequences, such as an enquiry that can no longer be answered, are explained when you do.
07 · Section 5 Who receives it.
- 5.1 KCO does not sell personal information or share it for advertising.
- 5.2 Providers that host the Site and its mailboxes process personal information on KCO's instructions under contract, for no purpose of their own. The providers and their locations are given on request to contact@kurds.global.
- 5.3 Services that maps and tools call from your browser, such as satellite imagery and open data services, receive your IP address and browser details directly from your browser and handle them under their own terms. They are listed in the Cookie Policy.
- 5.4 Personal information is otherwise disclosed only where the law requires it, or to protect the rights, safety or security of people or the Site.
- 5.5 A contribution accepted for publication becomes public with the credit you chose. Material you send is never published with your contact details.
08 · Section 6 Where it is processed and international transfers.
- 6.1 Personal information may be processed outside the country where you live, including in Canada, the United States and the other countries in which the publisher's providers operate.
- 6.2 Where the GDPR, the UK GDPR or the Swiss Act applies, a transfer to a country without an adequacy decision uses a safeguard the law recognises, such as standard contractual clauses. Information processed in another country is subject to its laws, including lawful access by its authorities.
09 · Section 7 How long it is kept.
- 7.1 Personal information is kept only as long as needed for the purpose for which it was collected and as the law requires, then deleted or anonymised.
- 7.2 Server and security logs are kept for a short operational period and longer only while a security incident is investigated. Correspondence is kept for as long as needed to answer it and to keep an accurate record of the exchange, and then deleted or anonymised. Records of rights requests, complaints and legal notices are kept for the period in which a claim could arise.
- 7.3 Event registrations are kept until the activity and its follow-up are complete; recordings are kept for the period stated in the notice of each recorded event.
- 7.4 Published contributions and the credit attached to them stay on the public record, because open publication is permanent; a correction or a withdrawal notice is added where needed.
10 · Section 8 Security.
- 8.1 KCO applies administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information: encrypted connections, restricted access to the systems that publish the Site, and processors bound by contract. No system is free of risk.
- 8.2 Where a breach creates a real risk of significant harm, or a risk to rights and freedoms, affected people and the competent authorities are notified as the applicable law requires, and the breach is recorded.
11 · Section 9 Your rights.
| Where you are | What you can ask |
|---|---|
| Canada (PIPEDA and provincial law) | You may ask for access to the personal information KCO holds about you, ask for it to be corrected, challenge its accuracy, and withdraw consent, subject to legal and contractual limits. You may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada where PIPEDA applies, and the provincial privacy authority where substantially similar provincial law applies (the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec, and the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Alberta and British Columbia). |
| Quebec (Law 25) | Residents of Quebec may also ask for their personal information in a structured, commonly used technological format, ask that dissemination of their information cease or that a hyperlink be de-indexed where the law allows, and complain to the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec. The Privacy Officer named above handles these requests. |
| European Union and United Kingdom (GDPR, UK GDPR) | Where the GDPR or the UK GDPR applies to the processing, you may ask for access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and portability, withdraw consent at any time without affecting earlier processing, and complain to the data protection authority where you live or work. No representative under Article 27 of the GDPR or the UK GDPR has been appointed yet; one is being appointed. Until then, write to KCO directly at contact@kurds.global, and you may complain to your supervisory authority at any time. |
| California and other US states | KCO does not sell or share personal information as those terms are used in the California Consumer Privacy Act, and does not use it for targeted advertising or profiling. Where the CCPA or another US state privacy law applies, KCO honours the rights it provides, such as to know, correct, delete and appeal a refusal, and treats a Global Privacy Control signal as a request to opt out of any sale or sharing. |
Send a request to contact@kurds.global and say which request you are making. Your identity may be verified before a request is acted on, and you are told of any legal reason a request cannot be met. The acknowledgement gives a reference and names the next step.
12 · Section 10 Complaints.
- 10.1 Please raise a concern with the publisher first, at contact@kurds.global; it will answer in writing and say what it has done.
- 10.2 You may always complain to a data protection authority. You may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada where PIPEDA applies, and the provincial privacy authority where substantially similar provincial law applies (the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec, and the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Alberta and British Columbia). Residents of the European Union and the United Kingdom may complain to the authority where they live or work, and residents of other places to the authority that applies the law there.
13 · Section 11 Children.
- 11.1 The Site is not directed to children under 16 and does not knowingly collect their personal information. Information found to have been sent by a child is deleted. A parent or guardian who believes a child has written to the Site may ask for its deletion at contact@kurds.global.
14 · Section 12 Signals, cookies and changes.
- 12.1 The Site does not track you across other sites, so a Do Not Track signal changes nothing about how it operates. A Global Privacy Control signal is treated as described above.
- 12.2 Cookies and browser storage are explained in the Cookie Policy.
- 12.3 Changes to this Policy are published on this page with a new version and effective date.
15 · Document Status of this document.
Prepared for review by legal counsel before adoption.
16 · Questions Questions and answers.
Will my enquiry be added to a mailing list?
No. An enquiry is used only to answer you and keep a record. A mailing list would be described separately and would need your consent.
Can I contribute without giving my name?
You may contribute with the name you choose for credit, and an ORCID iD is optional. An email address is needed only if you want an answer.