IRAQ: Widow numbers rise in wake of violence
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Widows face tough times |
BAGHDAD, 26 Apr 2006 (IRIN) - More than 90 women become widows
each day due to continuing violence countrywide, according to government
officials and non-governmental organisations devoted to women’s
issues.
“Hundreds of households are losing their heads due to ongoing
violence, causing a drop in living standards,” said Mayada Zuhair, a
spokesperson for the Women’s Rights Association (WRA). “More women now have to
search for work to support their children.”
“In addition to being
widowed, these women don’t get any government support,” Mayada added, “nor are
their rights respected.”
Although few reliable statistics are available
on the total number of widows in Iraq, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs says that
there are at least 300,000 in Baghdad alone, with another eight million
throughout the country.
Officials point out that at least 15 police
officers’ wives become widows every day because police constitute major targets
for the insurgency. “Every married police officer is concerned about what he
will bequeath his family,” said senior police officer Major Khalid Maruf. “They
fear that death is around the corner.”
Thousands of Iraqi women lost
their husbands during the ten-year war with Iran in the 1980s. This number rose
further during the 1991 US-led war with Iraq following the latter’s invasion of
Kuwait.
Local NGOs say the situation has become even more critical since
the 2003 US-led invasion of the country, which has given rise to increasing
violence and sectarian killing. “Saddam Hussein was responsible for killing
thousands of men during his 25 years of brutal rule,” said Ibtissam Kamal, a
member of a local organisation that works on the issue but which prefers
anonymity for security reasons. “But more people have died during the past three
years, most of them men whose families are now without support.”
Ibtissam’s NGO, which has received threats more than five times in the
past three months, is devoted to empowering women by preparing them for
employment. “We’re looking for funds to support these women and try to
reintegrate them into society,” Ibtissam said. “We want to empower them by
getting them jobs, instead of having them rely solely on remarriage as a means
of raising their orphaned children.”
The Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs is also looking into ways of helping widows who have lost husbands as a
result of violence. According to a senior ministry official, projects currently
being studied include the creation of more job opportunities and the
establishment of free day-care centres.
As is common with many of the
government’s more altruistic plans, however, funding remains an overriding
concern. “A lot of investment is required to implement these projects, and the
ministry lacks funding for new initiatives,” said Sinan Youssef, an official at
the social affairs ministry’s strategy department.
Youssef added that
many marginalised groups were suffering from a lack of government assistance.
“We expect international NGOs to help us provide these widows with the necessary
support to raise their children,” he said.
Under the Saddam Hussein
regime, widows of “martyrs”, particularly during the Iran-Iraq war, were
provided with compensation and free education for their children. In some cases,
they were provided with free homes.
Under the current system, however,
no such safety net exists, and widows have few resources at their disposal. “I
lost my husband six months ago, and don’t have parents to help me, because they
died in the Iran-Iraq war,” said recently-widowed Yousra Ibraheem, 38. “My late
husband supported me, but left me with no means of sustenance.”
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