WUNRN
Center for Women's Global Leadership
- CWGL
Iraq - Women Around the World Condemn
Attack on
Peaceful Protesters in Iraq
________________________________________
June 10, 2011 - To add your organization or individual name to the list of signatories, email madre@madre.org.
We, feminist activists from 12 countries, stand in support of our sisters and brothers peacefully demonstrating for basic rights in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square.
This morning, June 10, demonstrators were brutally targeted with sexual violence and beatings by men who were reportedly bussed in by the thousands to disrupt the weekly protest. Protesters suffered broken bones, knife wounds and beatings. Several women were severely beaten and violently groped; armed attackers attempted to forcibly strip off the women’s clothing. The activists, who work with the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, report that their attackers were organized and paid by government security forces who used the un-uniformed men to avoid accountability for the violence.
As feminists, we strongly condemn assaults against peaceful protesters and the specifically gender-based violence against women. As in so many of our countries, the use of sexual violence against Iraqi women is designed to terrorize, shame and silence those women who dare to exercise their fundamental rights as citizens and raise political demands in the public sphere. We stand with our sisters who exercise their rights to political participation and dissent.
Today’s attacks represent a noted escalation of violence against protesters in Iraq as well as a crime and a fundamental violation of human rights. We call on the government to uphold its obligations to guarantee freedom of peaceful assembly and to respond to the demands of demonstrators.
Organizations
World March of Women
Individuals Representing Organizations
Christine Ahn
Global Fund for Women
USA
Maha Abu-Dayyeh Shamas
Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling
Palestine
Radhika Balakrishnan
Center for Women’s Global Leadership
USA
Maria Butler
PeaceWomen, A project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
USA
Rindai Chipfunde-Vava
Zimbabwe Election Support Network & Zimbabwe Peace Project
Zimbabwe
Patricia Guerrero
Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas
Observatory for Gender, Democracy and Human Rights
Colombia
Isabelle Geuskens
IFOR-Women Peacemakers Program
Netherlands/International
Cristina Hardaga
Tlalchinollan Human Rights Center of the Mountain of Guerrero
Mexico
Taida Horozovic
CURE Foundation
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Lindora Howard-Diawara
West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP-Liberia)
Liberia
Juliet Were Oguttu
Isis-WICCE
Uganda/International
Hisako Motoyama
Asia Japan Women’s Resource Center
Japan
Jasmin Nario-Galace
Center for Peace Education
Philippines
Sameena Nazir Potohar
Organization for Development Advocacy
Pakistan
Yifat Susskind
MADRE
International
Andrea Smith
Incite! Women of Color Against Violence
USA
Individuals
Amanda Weibel
Switzerland
Brian Heilman
USA
Sarah Masters
UK
Zaynab Nawaz
USA
