Iraq: Increase in 'Honor Killings' of Kurdish
Women
AFP
April 25, 2007
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POTENTIAL VICTIMS: A
United Nations report on the human rights situation in Iraq has criticized
the Kurdish provinces for a poor record in addressing acts of violence
towards women. (REUTERS)
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BAGHDAD -- Iraq's
relatively peaceful northern region of Kurdistan is witnessing a large number of
so-called "honor killings" of women, the United Nations Assistance Mission for
Iraq (UNAMI) said Wednesday.
In its 10th report on the human
rights situation in Iraq, covering three months to March 2007, UNAMI said Iraq's
three Kurdish provinces of Dohuk, Arbil, and Sulaimaniyah have reported dozens
of women killed for "immoral conduct.
"Between January and March, UNAMI
received information on some forty cases of alleged honor crimes in Arbil,
Dohuk, Sulaimaniyah, and Salaheddin where young women reportedly died from
accidental burns at their homes or were killed by family members for suspected
immoral conduct," the report said.
Citing examples, the report said in
January the charred remains of a woman were found on the outskirts of a town in
Arbil, while a woman and her married boyfriend were reportedly shot dead by her
brother in February.
The report criticized the Kurdish regional
government for its slow response to these acts of violence against women.
The United Nations also expressed concern over the treatment of
detainees in prisons run by Kurdish Asayish (security) forces, and over attacks
on press freedom by the same shadowy organization.
"UNAMI continues to
receive allegations of torture or ill-treatment of detainees in Asayish
detention facilities," it said.
"The Kurdistan Regional Government
continued to subject journalists to harassment, arrest, and legal actions for
their reporting on government corruption, poor public services, and other issues
of public interest."
Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region largely runs its
own affairs and has enjoyed relative peace and growing prosperity since the US
invasion of March 2003, while Arab areas of Iraq have plunged into sectarian
warfare.