ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region needs a “more inclusive and robust law” to tackle the alarming increase in femicides, an NGO advocating for women’s rights urged Kurdish authorities on Monday, commending their recent work towards amending the current domestic violence law.
According to the latest press release by Erbil-based NGO, SEED Foundation, at least 24 women were killed in the first six months of 2022 as a result of gender-based violence, calling the figure an “explosive and terrifying increase.” It added that almost half of the women living in Iraq reported “experiencing intimate partner violence in the past 12 months” and that over 40 percent of women say they feel unsafe in their communities.
The foundation also welcomed recent efforts by the Kurdistan Parliament to amend the existing domestic violence law, the same day as a parliamentary session convened to discuss the amendments.
The Iraqi constitution prohibits the use of violence within the family, but only the Kurdistan Region has a law on domestic violence. The NGO has called for a revision of the current law to ensure that it “promotes and protects the rights of all survivors, and those at risk, from all forms of gender-based violence,” their recent press release read.
"We are now in a crisis in Kurdistan with a dramatic rise in reported honor killings as well as suicides, many of which are likely linked to honor-based violence, and violence against women,” SEED Foundation President Sherri Kraham Talabany said in an exclusive quote sent to Rudaw English on Monday.
“If politicians and government officials are really committed to addressing these senseless murders of women, then they need to have a strong and robust response to all forms of gender based violence, ensuring that all women have access to protective and social services,” Talabany added.
Discussions on the revision of the law took place on Monday between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) interior ministry and the parliamentary committee on the protection of women’s rights. Rudaw English reached out to the committee’s chair for information on the parliamentary session but she was not immediately available for a response.
Law number 8 of 2011 entitled “the act of combating domestic violence in Kurdistan Region-Iraq” defines domestic violence as a gender-based act, speech, or threat within a family which may “harm an individual physically, sexually, and psychologically.”
According to the law, whoever commits an act amounting to domestic violence is “imprisoned for no less than six months and no more than three years” however in reality, many perpetrators roam freely.
The Kurdistan Region has implemented the law and has maintained a special police force aimed at investigating cases of gender-based violence but, according to the US State Department’s report on human rights in 2021, local NGOs claimed that this was not effective in preventing domestic violence.
Despite female genital mutilation (FGM) being banned by the Kurdistan Region’s law, the practice persists in the Region, particularly in rural areas of Erbil and Sulaimani, the report added.
SEED has called on the revised law to expand its scope of protection “within and outside the scope of the family,” adding that victims of domestic violence are not only women, despite them being the most affected. It also stated that “the revised law should adopt a survivor centered approach guaranteeing safety, confidentiality, respect and non-discrimination.” Furthermore, in order to ensure the efficacy of the law, it must be supported by resources, a budget, and “actionable and comprehensive implementing regulations.”
“While indeed shocking, honor killings are not sudden. They follow a long history of violence against the woman, marked by failures in the family, community, and in government to adequately protect her safety and rights. To strengthen the government's ability to respond to this unprecedented assault on women, we need an even stronger law,” Talabany said.
Forty-five women were killed in the Kurdistan Region in 2021, up from 25 the previous year, AFP reported in March. The spike in gender-based violence and so-called honor killings comes despite the recent efforts to combat them.
This year has seen an alarming rise of women killings across the Kurdistan Region, with at least 11 women being killed by male members of their families in the first two months of the year alone.
On Saturday night, the lifeless body of a 22-year-old woman was found in Erbil, the same day as her wedding anniversary. Last month, a woman was strangled to death with a wire in Duhok, leaving behind a child. These are only two examples in a series of brutal killings that recently shook the Region.
“I’m deeply troubled by recent violence towards women in the Kurdistan Region. I reiterate what I have said; there’s no honor in honor killings,” said Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in a statement in February.
"This must stop. We must all vehemently condemn these crimes, and as a government impose the heaviest possible penalty on perpetrators,” noted PM Barzani, saying he will meet with grassroot organizers in the near future to "understand what more we can do together. This scourge must end.”
So-called honor killings, domestic violence, sex, and gender-based violence remain on the rise in the Kurdistan Region’s patriarchal and conservative community. When committed in families run by tribalism, they often settle matters with their own moral and judicial codes, often involving a large sum of money given as compensation for taking someone’s soul.
Despite arrests being conducted at times of individuals suspected to have carried out the crimes, it is unclear what happens to the detainees after the arrests.
