WUNRN
This comprehensive report includes
multiple gender dimensions, as shown in individual country reports. Scroll down
after the country list below, to see an example of specific components of
the Colombia Report
and the Iraq Report,
directed to women. But, references throughout each country overview intersect
with the human rights of women and girls.
Gender-based violence (GBV) is widespread in Colombia, but studies show that it may be higher for displaced women and girls. The government has laws, policies, and programs to address such violence, and the particular risk to displaced women and girls. However, lack of training and poor implementation of protocols create obstacles for women and girls seeking post-violence care. These include the failure of health facilities to properly implement relevant laws and policies—with the result that women and girls may not be adequately screened for signs of GBV, may be mistreated, may face delays in accessing essential services or be arbitrarily denied medical care altogether.
Barriers to justice for GBV victims include mistreatment by authorities, evidentiary challenges, and fear of retribution. Women and girl victims of this kind of violence are at times not informed about their legal rights, including where and how to access services. Perpetrators of GBV crimes are rarely brought to justice.
Human rights defenders are routinely threatened and attacked by perpetrators who are virtually never brought to justice. On February 28, a pamphlet allegedly signed by the “Águilas Negras-Bloque Capital” paramilitary successor group threatened two United Nations agencies and numerous human rights organizations, including several women’s rights groups. Human Rights Watch documented several cases of rape of women human rights defenders in late 2011 and 2012.
The Ministry of Interior runs a protection program that covers more than 10,000 members of vulnerable groups, including human rights defenders and trade unionists. The program is unparalleled in the region, but its beneficiaries continue to report deficiencies in protection measures.
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Many Iraqi women have lost their husbands as a result of armed conflict, generalized violence, and displacement. The resulting financial hardship has made them vulnerable to trafficking for sexual exploitation and prostitution.
The parliament passed a countertrafficking law in April that outlines government obligations and provides for prosecution of traffickers. Iraqi authorities announced the arrest of a Baghdad trafficking ringleader in September, but little has been done to prosecute other people accused of trafficking, or to take measures to prevent it. Victims of trafficking continue to report having passports confiscated and being prevented from obtaining visas and new identification papers, leaving them vulnerable to arrest and unable to access health care.
In June 2011, the KRG parliament passed the Family Violence Bill, which
includes provisions criminalizing forced and child marriages; abuse of girls
and women; and a total ban on FGM. Implementation of the law is poor, and
dozens of girls and practitioners said that they had either undergone or
performed FGM since the law was passed. The authorities took no measures to
investigate these cases.
According to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, nearly 30,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Iraq since armed conflict began in Syria in 2011. Iraq closed the al-Qaim border to Syrian refugees in August. The government reopened the crossing in September but stated that it would not admit young Syrian men.
The Iraqi government has no adequate plan for the return of Iraqis who have been displaced internally or those who have fled to neighboring countries. In July, Iraq’s government assisted in returning thousands of Iraqis from Syria, providing flights and bus tickets to returnees, but the government has failed to assist them in finding housing or jobs. Thousands of displaced persons within Iraq continue to reside in squatter settlements without access to basic necessities such as clean water, electricity, and sanitation. Many are widows with few employment prospects.
In September, the UN nearly completed the transfer within Iraq of about 3,200 members of the exiled Iranian opposition organization, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) oversaw their transfer from Camp Ashraf, a refugee camp and former military base, where the group had resided since 1986, to Camp Liberty, another former military base. The United States secretary of state approved the removal of the group from the State Department’s list of designated terrorist organizations at the end of the same month.