WUNRN
UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL HOLDS
SPECIAL SESSION ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN IRAQ
The
Human Rights Council is holding its twenty-second Special Session
today, Monday, 1 September, entitled “the human rights situation in Iraq in
light of abuses committed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and
associated groups.” .......In order for a Special Session to be convened,
the support of one-third of the Council – 16 or more - is required. This
request was thus far supported by the following States Members of the Council
(29): Austria, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Czech
Republic, Estonia, France, Gabon, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan,
Kuwait, Maldives, Montenegro, Morocco, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Romania,
Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States......
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NGO Collective Statement to UN Human Rights Council
Special Session on
Serious Protection & Rights Needs of Women &
Girls in
Distinguished members of the United Nation’s
Human Rights Council,
As the Council debates the human rights
implications of the violence and displacement in Iraq, MADRE, the Organization
for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), the Women’s International League for Peace
and Freedom (WILPF), the IWHR Clinic, and the International Gay and Lesbian
Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), urges members to consider the particular
impact of the current situation on women, in particular in areas under the
control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
In recent weeks, Iraq has witnessed the takeover of
several major cities and a sharp increase in
sectarian violence in Baghdad. ISIL immediately moved to impose
its fundamentalist agenda directly on the bodies of women. Even as its jeeps
were still rolling into Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, ISIL fighters were
ordering women to cover themselves fully and stay at home. Within days,
credible reports began emerging of ISIL fighters abducting and raping women in
the territories they control. ISIL militants have performed grave human rights
violations including execution, cutting-off hands, rape, sexual slavery, and
flogging. Fatwas have been issued calling for sexual slavery in the form of
“gifting” women for the new Caliphate fighters, under the ISIL decree imposing “Jihad Al Nikah.” If the
occupiers’ mission succeeds, a large part of Iraqi society would be ruled by a
brutal Islamic state that uses murder, torture, and cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment, against those it deems as not adhering to a narrow
religious extremism.
As men have heeded calls to fight ISIL, women have become the heads of
hundreds of thousands of households. Women and the children in their care are
also the majority of the 500,000 people who have fled their homes in fear of
ISIL and airstrikes. While
political advocacy needs to expand, safety mechanisms for women and girls
fleeing violence must also increase. As gender-based violence (GBV) escalates
in the growing sectarian conflict, it is critical to establish and maintain
safe housing, and to promote women’s rights to physical security. Linking this
imperative to the creation of lasting positive change requires strengthening
the capacity of progressive Iraqi citizens and organizations committed to
ending GBV and building a rights- based society in which democratic norms,
including gender equality, can supplant sectarianism.
The threats to civilians, including women and girls posed by ISIL and
other militia groups should be understood as a continuing outgrowth of the
deterioration of women’s human rights over the last couple decades in Iraq. In
Iraq today, women contend with myriad forms of discrimination and GBV. While
all Iraqi citizens face daily insecurity due to terrorism and civil strife,
women and girls experience additional and unique forms of violence and
discrimination because of their gender. Despite numerous provisions under Iraqi
law that aim to protect women’s human rights, violence against women remains
egregious and widespread. Iraqi women and girls have
become increasingly vulnerable to rape and sexual slavery both within Iraq and
neighbouring countries. GBV remains pervasive within Iraq, including forced,
under-aged, and temporary marriages, and honor killings.
A. Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination
Reports from the region indicate that ISIL militia have gone door to
door, forcing their way into homes, killing the men and male children and
abducting women and girls in Mosul and Tel Afir. Once detained, women must
convert to ISIL’ extremist interpretation of Islam. They are then sold as
brides to Islamist fighters in an open marked held in former bazaars and cinema
buildings. Prices range from $100 to $1,000 USD. If they refuse to convert, the
punishment is daily rape---in some instances by dozens of men over the course
of only a few hours---and a slow death. Some women have managed to hide their
cellular phones and call family members while detained. Once sold, they are not
heard from again.
In the
absence of Government sponsored services and legal remedies to address GBV and
discrimination, local Iraqi women’s NGOs are at the forefront of providing the
necessary services for those escaping gender-based violence. However, even
before ISIL’ invasion, Iraqi NGOs and women’s rights defenders that seek to
assist women and girls have encountered regular harassment, arbitrary
surveillance, and warrantless searches. Many human rights organizations are
forced to operate illegally and clandestinely, especially those who shelter
women fleeing violence, which remains illegal for NGOs in Central and Southern
Iraq.
Additionally,
the Penal Code in Iraq states that perpetrators of
crimes involving sexual violence may be exonerated if they marry their victim.
In cases where rape results in the death of the victim, the Penal Code does
permit a maximum sentence of life imprisonment,
though this is rarely enforced. At present, there
are no reliable estimates of the incidence of rape in Iraq or the effectiveness
of Government enforcement of the Penal Code.
B.
Honor Killings
Traditional notions
of “honor” have led to calls from some Iraqis for the government to bomb the
schools and hospitals that serve as makeshift ISIL prisons, and that are
holding women and girls who are raped, in order to kill the rape victims and
thus “save the honor” of the people from besieged towns. The Penal Code
furthermore permits honor considerations to mitigate sentences. This clemency
on the part of the justice system sends a message to Iraqi women and society at
large that such gross acts of violence are tolerated. In the absence of
protection mechanisms and legal remedies, people threatened with honor crimes
have limited recourse; some are forced to flee cities under siege with no
guarantee of safe haven. Additionally, the women fleeing from attempted honor
killings, trafficking, forced prostitution or forced marriage cannot obtain
legal identification in the absence of a male family member to verify her
identity. Without such identity women cannot travel, find housing, obtain
employment, get health care services, or enrol into education institutions. In
such cases, women become stateless and are left more vulnerable to violence and
discrimination. According to reports on the ground, thousands of stateless
women reside in every major city in Iraq.
C.
Forced, Under-Aged, and Temporary Marriages
Financial
desperation and the absence of breadwinners in households where men have gone
off to war has also led to a rise in forced, temporary and under-aged
marriages. Temporary marriages had previously been very rare in Iraq, but have
re-emerged under the growing influence of certain religious leaders. In these
controversial marriages, women and girls are “married” in the presence of a
religious figure for a fixed period of time, which can be as short as several
hours. In many cases, the marriage is a mere cover up for prostitution which
lasts a few hours or a few months, as the man is obliged to pay a “dowry” to
the woman. It does not protect women from honor killings if the relationship is
disclosed; neither does the man acknowledge his children who are born in such
an arranged “marriage.” Suicides, especially by self-immolation, have spiked as
young women protest forced marriage arrangements.
The
pending Ja’afari draft law threatens a number of women’s rights. It includes
provisions that would lower the marrying age for girls to 9 years old, and
would legalize marital rape by stating that a husband is entitled to have sex
with his wife regardless of her consent. The draft law would also prevent women
from leaving the house without permission from their husband, automatically
grant custody for children over two years-old to the father in divorce cases,
and significantly limit women’s rights in matters of inheritance. Justice
Minister Hassan al-Shimmari introduced the draft law to the Council of
Ministers on October 27, 2013 and it is still currently pending, despite strong
opposition from Iraqi civil society, including some religious leaders.
We
urge the Human Rights Council to make the following recommendations:
1.
Increase support to
grassroots Iraqi women’s NGOs. Local women’s Iraqi organizations
are mobilizing an emergency response to protect people at severe risk as the
threat of sectarian violence grows. They are in the best position to reach
displaced families and to provide shelter and aid.
2.
Call on the Government of
Iraq to amend the shelter law to allow
NGOs to run private shelters for displaced families
and individuals.
3.
Establish
an immediate, international and independent fact finding mission to investigate
ISIL for widespread and systematic use of rape and enslavement, which
constitute genocide under the Rome Statute and under the Genocide convention.
This body should also recommend urgent action to the UN Security Council,
including ensuring individual accountability before the International Criminal
Court.
4.
Withdraw the pending Ja’afari legislation that would change the legal
age of marriage for girls to 9 years old, allow marital rape to go unpunished and
limit women’s rights in custody, divorce and inheritance. Instead the
government should amend the Personal Status law to ensure that Iraq’s legal
framework protects women and girls in line with its international obligations.
5. Amend the honor crimes law to equate killings motivated by “honor” with all murder under law, in compliance with international law.
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