Violence against women: KRG launches awareness campaign

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Gender-based violence is all too prevalent in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Every year, on November 25, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) launches a 16-day campaign to help raise awareness.

The National Campaign to Combat Violence Against Women in the Kurdistan Region coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls.

Pakhshan Zangana, head of the government’s High Council of Women Affairs, used the occasion to demand action.

“We are calling on the ninth cabinet of the government to send the Women Affairs Supreme Council bill to the parliament before the end of this year in order for this institution act as an active department in the government,” Zangana told an audience at the launch of the campaign in Erbil.

“Secondly, laying the groundwork for more female involvement in decision-making bodies, as the government has recently started re-organizing its organs and bodies,” she said.

The third demand is to “strengthen gender equality across government institutions in order for them to act as crucial pillars across the ministries and department, as well as paying more attention to the government offices tasked with combating violence against women by providing the necessary tools and supports they need in order for them to succeed in their work”, Zangana added.

Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region, said the campaign has been held since 2007 to “step up activities in order to uproot gender-based violence and bring about justice.”

“Despite the hardships, especially after the emergence of Daesh and the genocide atrocities committed against Yezidis which led to massive humanitarian crisis, the Kurdistan Region managed to deal with the situation in the right way,” Barzani said in a statement Sunday night, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group (ISIS).

“Every crisis and conflict affects society, delays development, and leads to violence with women being the main victim.”

The 16-day campaign will “emphasize continued coordination between the Kurdistan Region Presidency and executive authorities, civil society, clerics, UN agencies, and international organizations”, he added.

Qubad Talabani, KRG deputy prime minister, shared photos of himself wearing a t-shirt which reads “Be a man, stop violence against women” in Kurdish and English.

Despite progress in improving women empowerment and protection, Iraq still faces significant challenges.

The Law to Protect Families from Domestic Violence is yet to be endorsed by the Iraqi parliament, hindering further work on gender equality and women’s rights.

Kurdo Omer, head of the Combating Violence Against Women Directorate at the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of the Interior, has previously told Rudaw English that their seminars and programs designed to raise social awareness have helped reduce “honor killings” and other types of violence against women in the Kurdistan Region.

Most of the violence stems from improper use of modern communication technology like social media, she said.

“According to our data, 80 percent of violence committed against women comes from the misuse of communication tools. By communication tools, I mean the current advanced technology, especially social media, which has become a deadly weapon against women,” Omer said.

According to data from the combating violence against women office, in the first nine months of 2019, 30 women were murdered, 46 committed suicide, 125 were burned, 81 self-immolated, 8,602 lodged complaints, and 93 reported sexual assault.

In central and southern Iraq there has been a shocking spate of murders targeting women, including beauticians, models, and social media celebrities.

The United Nations and the Iraqi government have previously launched joint campaigns to take action on preventing violence against women and protecting victims of violent assault.

However, social conservatism, economic inequality, and displacement continue to contribute to a toxic culture of violence against women.

The challenge is not merely confined to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, but a phenomenon observable across the Middle East.

Iran is one of six countries that have not ratified the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Iranian women face systemic discrimination both in private and public life, some of which is enshrined in Iranian law based on the state-sanctioned interpretation of Shiite Islam.

“While perpetrators of violence against women, including police, have enjoyed a high level of impunity, demonstrators advocating for an end to the mandatory wearing of the hijab and other issues have faced physical attacks, detention and prosecution, with some high-profile activists handed lengthy sentences in prison,” a report by Minority Rights Group International said in September.

There is no official data on the prevalence of domestic violence against women in Iran, but some reports indicate at least two-thirds of women in Iran have been subjected to some form of domestic violence in the first year of their marriage.

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