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Activists call for legislative reforms to tackle honour killing and other forms of violence against women.
By Azeez Mahmood in Sulaimaniyah (ICR No. 246, 18-Feb-08)
Six
years ago, Hataw fled to a women’s shelter to escape her brother’s rage when
she refused to marry the man he chose for her.
Just a few weeks later, her brother ambushed her and her mother near the
shelter, opening fire with an automatic weapon.
Hataw, not her real name, was shot seven times; her mother twice. Miraculously,
they survived, but their physical and psychological wounds may never heal.
Hataw, now 26, whose brother escaped prosecution, lost one of her kidneys and
her mother has scars on one of her arms.
Although Hataw - still living in a women’s refuge - refused to speak to IWPR,
she gave permission for the head of the shelter to speak on her behalf.
“She doesn’t sleep all night long,” said the head. “She gets up and screams at
the slightest noise, fearing her brother will break in and kill her.”
Hataw is one of a growing number of women in Iraqi Kurdistan falling victim to
domestic violence, with honour killings, in particular, the focus of concern
among human rights groups.
The recent increase in cases has outraged activists who blame the Kurdish
government for not doing enough to protect women.
The region’s human rights ministry says that honour killings in Iraqi Kurdistan
rose from 106 in 2005 to 266 the following year. Figures for 2007 are not
available, but official sources say in Sulaimaniyah alone 30 women were killed
in the first six months of the year.
“Every day, more and more women are killed in Kurdistan while the authorities
watch and do nothing,” said Roonak Faraj, head of the Women's Media and
Cultural Centre in Sulaimaniyah.
In April 2007, an angry mob stoned to death a 17-year-old Yezidi girl, Duaa
Khalil Aswad, in Bashiqa, a small town east of the city of Mosul, while
bystanders applauded and filmed the killing on their mobile phones.
Duaa’s crime was that she had fallen in love with a Muslim boy. The footage was
seen by thousands on the internet, sparking massive condemnation by human
rights groups around the world.
Faraj said the male-dominated local culture is one of the reasons why women are
targeted in her region. “It is a patriarchal society,” she said, “Males control
everything. For example, they decide whom a girl should marry.”
There is also insufficient legislation to punish violence against women.
Article 111 of the Iraqi Penal Code - passed in 1969 and still valid in most of
the country - tolerates honour killings if the defendant has “honourable
motives”.
The maximum punishment is two years’ imprisonment, and, in most cases, the
sentence is commuted if the defendant has no criminal background.
In 2002, the Kurdish parliament amended the 1969 law to allow honour killings
to be treated in the same way as murder. However, critics say that the changes
were too weak.
Following the killing of Duaa, the Kurdish government formed two agencies to
deal with violence against women, one based in Sulaimaniyah and another in
Erbil.
Zhilamo Abdul-Qadir, an official in the Sulaimaniyah agency, said that since
July 2007 they have investigated 110 cases of serious threats against women,
successfully intervening on 70 occasions.
“We have rescued many women from death in the last few months,” said Twana Ali,
spokesman for the Sulaimaniyah agency. “We have arrested several suspects as
well.”
Recently, more than 20 women’s advocacy groups came together to pressure the
authorities to impose heavier punishments on perpetrators of violence against
women and have made recommendations to parliament on the matter.
They’ve also called on the regional assembly to pass other legislation tackling
discrimination against women, such as a ban on polygamy and forced marriage,
and to ensure equality between men and women in relation to inheritance law.
Pakhshan Zangana, head of the Women’s Caucus in the Kurdistan parliament in
Erbil, said, “The law is outdated and needs amendments that go along with the
current situation.”
The government has pledged reforms, but for Faraj actions speak louder than
words.
“When bird flu broke out, the government launched a huge campaign to make
people aware of the risks of the disease,” he said. “You wonder why they can’t
launch a similar campaign to put an end to the killing women.”
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