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Introduction
Women have played important roles throughout
Iraq's history. It was in the early years of secular Baathist
socialism and early in Saddam Hussein's rule that women's status and
rights were formally enshrined in legislation and treaties. In 1970,
a new constitution nominally made Iraqi women and men equal under
the law (although family law continued to favour men). Under Saddam
Hussein, women's literacy and education improved, and restrictions
on women outside the home were lifted. Women won the right to vote
and to run for political office, and they could drive, work outside
the home and hold jobs traditionally held by men. Before 1991,
female literacy rates in Iraq were the highest in the region, Iraq
had achieved nearly universal primary education for girls as well as
boys, and Iraqi women were widely considered to be among the most
educated and professional women in the Arab world.
However, the promotion of women’s rights was
in part due to necessity brought about by war. During the 1980s,
Iraq was engaged in a devastating war with Iran, and many of the
progressive reforms were instituted at that time because women were
needed to maintain civil society while men were at war. Thus while
Iraqi women were making gains in civil life, they were also
suffering the effects of armed conflict on the wider society —
politically, personally and economically. Thousands of men, women
and children perished in the chemical bombardments, mass executions,
mass expulsions and other indiscriminate methods of ethnic cleansing
employed by Baghdad during the 1987-88 Anfal campaign against Iraqi
Kurds. After Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 — when the Security
Council placed Iraq under economic sanctions (through resolution
661) - and the 1991 Gulf War, the country's economy plummeted. Women
were severely affected in all areas of their lives, including
physical and psychological health, the burden of their domestic
responsibilities, their economic status, and their marital life. At
the same time, the government in Baghdad brutally cracked down on
any signs of dissent to consolidate its hold on power, and women —
whether because they had family members suspected of dissent or
because they were oppositionists in their own right — were harassed,
imprisoned, "disappeared", tortured, beaten, raped and executed, or
lost their husbands, sons and brothers to similar treatment. Hussein
also attempted to maintain legitimacy after the Gulf War by
appeasing religious fundamentalists and other conservatives,
bringing in anti-woman legislation such as a 1990 presidential
decree granting immunity to men who committed honour crimes. More
than 4,000 women were victims of this law. In contrast, the
semi-autonomy of Kurds in Iraq's three northern governorates (Iraqi
Kurdistan) allowed women to take great political strides forward
during the 1990s. In 2003, two of the 26 cabinet members in the
Kurdistan Regional Government were women, and women occupied
numerous posts among ministry staff. more...
With the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the
Security Council reaffirmed, in the second paragraph of resolution
1483 (22 May 2003), its commitment to a "rule of law that affords
equal rights and justice to all Iraqi citizens without regard to
ethnicity, religion, or gender", recalling its pledge to promote
gender equality as outlined in Security Council resolution 1325.
However, the 2003 war ushered in a period of instability and
insecurity. Looters plundered major cities and unidentified
assailants attacked coalition forces, water and oil infrastructure,
and official targets. Iraqi women and girls became victims of
abduction and rape, as well as the climate of fear that such crimes
created in the society. more...
In that environment, hopes that
Iraq’s recovery and reconstruction would create new opportunities
for women and bring women to the peace table were at firstonly
minimally realized. While US government officials did meet with
women’s groups to hear their demands for a postwar Iraq, little was
practically done in the early days of the occupation to address the
needs of Iraqi women or include them in discussions of Iraq’s
political future. Few women participated in the April 2003 meetings
at which delegates discussed the creation of an interim government.
Only three women were nominated to the interim Iraqi Governing
Council in July 2003: Sondul Chapouk, Raja Habib al-Kuzaai and Aqila
al-Hashimi. Women were not included in either the nine-member
rotating presidential council or the committee working on
constitutional reform. Aqila al-Hashimi was later murdered by
unidentified assailants in front of her home. Many Iraqi women began
to fear that the “representational” system of government, in which
Shia clerics seemed increasingly likely to be given a large role,
would in fact install a more conservative interpretation of women’s
rights than they had known during much of Saddam Hussein’s rule. more... The unstable security situation, including
the August 2003 truck-bombing of United Nations headquarters in
Baghdad (which killed the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 others),
greatly hampered Iraqi women’s efforts to meet to and discuss their
roles and needs in the country’s recovery and reconstruction
process.
However, despite the difficulty and the very
real danger, Iraqi women persisted in striving to participate in and
influence the political process by holding regional meetings,
conducting concerted advocacy campaigns, meetings with UN envoy and
Elections Advisory team, and efforts to increase nominations by
women for posts in the transitional cabinet and the Independent
Electoral Commission. Positive results of their work included
overturning the Iraqi Governing Council’s controversial Resolution
137, (which would have "canceled" Iraqi family laws and moved family
issues from civil to religious jurisprudence, where they would be
governed by Sharia law), obtaining language on gender equality and a
25% goal for women’s legislative representation enshrined in the
Transitional Administrative Law, and in June 2004, having six women
named to the 30-member transitional cabinet and two to the
nine-member Electoral Commission.
The
Impact of the Conflict on Iraqi Women
I. AFTER
MARCH 2003
POLITICAL AND
SECURITY IMPACT
- From November 2002 through April 2003, the
United States dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets over Iraq,
claiming that the information they contained would "protect Iraqi
lives and deter Iraqi aggression by providing relevant, factual
information to both Iraqi civilians and military troops". The
leaflets used the threat of US military superiority to instill a
fear of "destruction" in whoever read them, and used images of
women and children to supplant any sense of duty to the nation or
the government with one of responsibility to the family. more...
"The attacks may destroy you or any location of
Coalition choosing."
"Coalition forces do not wish to harm the noble
people of Iraq... avoid areas occupied by military personnel."
"Nobody benefits from the use of weapons of mass
destruction."
"Soldiers are laying down their weapons and leaving
their posts to return to their families."
"We can see everything."
"Dumping oil poisons waterways, as well as your
family's future."
"Who needs you more? Your family or the regime?
Return to your home and family."
"The noble people of Iraq are not the target of
Coalition Military Operations!"
"Assist downed Coalition pilots. Help them return to
their families!"
"For your safety return to your homes and live in
peace."
- Iraq Body Count found that between 7390
and 9193 civilian deaths and at least 20,000 civilian injuries
resulting from US-led military action against Iraq had been
reported between 1 January and 29 September 2003. more... Other surveys have found mounting
evidence that the number of civilian fatalities in Iraq could be
as high as 10,000. more...
- Security Council resolution 1483 (22 May
2003) reaffirmed, in the second paragraph, its commitment to a
"rule of law that affords equal rights and justice to all Iraqi
citizens without regard to ethnicity, religion, or gender",
recalling its pledge to promote gender equality as outlined in
resolution 1325.
- Along with the general insecurity that has
taken hold in Iraq since April 2003, at least 400 women and girls
as young as eight years old were reported to have been raped
during or after the war. Underreporting due to the stigma against
victims of sexual violence likely means that the real figure is
much higher. Insecurity, and especially the actual and the
perceived dangers of sexual violence, have created a climate of
fear that prevents women and girls from participating in public
life - going to school, going to work, seeking medical treatment,
or even leaving their homes. Iraqi women are thus prevented from
fully participating in the crucial early phases of the country's
postwar and post-dictatorship recovery and reconstruction. more...
- By July 2003, the nascent Iraqi police
force did not yet have the means or expertise to investigate
crimes committed in the current insecure environment - the
combined result of de-Baathification measures, which have removed
all senior police officers from their posts, and of the
destruction that occurred both during the war and in postwar
looting. As well, the all-male Iraqi police force had not received
training on the legal and procedural rights of women. Police
officers often reacted with indifference or outright hostility to
female victims of rape or sexual assault when they attempted to
report the crimes, and often refused or were unable to investigate
their cases. more...
- Prior to the 2003 war, Iraqi women and
girls were able to move about independently. Due to postwar
insecurity, many were unable to leave their homes without a male
family member to escort them, through their own or their families'
reluctance. The stigmatization of victims of sexual violence was
such that if a woman or girl required medical attention for this
reason, informing a male family member so as to be escorted to the
hospital could put her at risk of retaliatory violence from her
family. However, except in the three northern governorates under
semi-autonomous Kurdish rule, there were still no centers or
shelters where victims of sexual violence could go for help by
July 2003. more... more...
- 2003 surveys and available data indicate
that Iraq is the most mine-affected country in the world. In the
three northern governorates, 24 of 25 regions are mine-affected,
and 1 in 5 people live in a mine-affected community. There are
30-40 new mine victims per month in the north, nearly 95 percent
of them male. In south and central Iraq, urban and rural
populations were placed at increased risk, after the 2003 war,
from hundreds of munitions storage containers, Explosive Ordnance
(EO), and fresh mines and cluster munitions used during the war.
Casualty rates increased dramatically following the end of the war
because many Iraqis, and especially children, disturbed ammunition
stockpiles. The risk of mine-related injury in the south was also
highest for men and boys. Women thus take on an extra burden of
care for male family members who have been injured by mines, as
well as extra responsibility that had been the purview of men
prior to their injuries. UN humanitarian operations could be
impeded or even prohibited by the presence of EO, unexploded
ordnance, and mines. more...
- On 20 September 2003, Aqila al-Hashimi,
one of the three women on Iraq's Governing Council and the only
Council member to have served in the former government of Iraq,
was fatally wounded by gunfire from unidentified assailants when
leaving her home, dying from her injuries five days later. more...
- In a postwar 2003 survey by Physicians for
Human Rights, the most significant problems identified by
respondents (over 16,000 people, male and female) were physical
safety/security. more...
- Although there is yet no generally
accepted estimate of the number of civilians killed during March
and April 2003, hospital records and other reports obtained by
journalists indicate that many women and girls were killed and
wounded as a result of Coalition fire. However estimates may not
include deaths that doctors indirectly attribute to conflict,
including women who died due to complications during home births
when they could not reach a hospital, or chronically ill people
unable to obtain necessary care. The Project on Defense
Alternatives estimates that 11,000-15,000 Iraqis were killed
during the 2003 war, about 30 percent of them noncombatants. more...
- CPA officials said in November 2003 that
there may be as many as 260 mass graves in Iraq--of which 40 had
so far been confirmed--containing the bodies of at least 300,000
people. Some of the mass graves already examined contained the
bodies of women and children with bullet holes in their heads.
Others contained the bodies of disappeared men. Most of the
remains that had been found by November were those of ethnic Kurds
and Shia Muslims killed between 1983 and 1991. more...
- In mid-May, an assessment of three Baghdad
schools by Save the Children UK found that attendance was less
than 50%. The survey attributed non-attendance by girls mainly to
insecurity and fear of kidnapping. By the first week of June,
attendance had increased to 75% as arrangements were made for
girls to travel to school in groups or to have male family members
escort them. However, fear of abductions remained widespread and
many parents chose not to take chances with their daughters'
safety. more...
- According to Iraq's official news agency,
two female suicide bombers (one of them pregnant) carried out an
attack against coalition soldiers at a checkpoint near Baghdad on
3 April 2003. more...
- According to a report by MedAct assessing
the impact of the 2003 war on Iraqis, since the end of the war, a
combination of increased unemployment and decreased social welfare
has led to a rise in sex work and other dangerous occupations. The
report notes that the lack of law and order has led to the
creation of organized networks in human trafficking, and that the
exploitation of children for sex or slavery is likely because more
children live on the streets without the protection of family and
community networks. more...
- According to an article in "Women's
E-News", in January 2004, it was made public that at least 37
American women who served in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan
have reported being sexually assaulted by fellow US soldiers. more...
- In February 2004, Yanar Mohamed, a
prominent women's rights activist and founder of the Organization
for Women's Freedom in Iraq, received a death threat for
campaigning to repeal the Governing Council's decision to place
family law under religious rather than civil jurisdiction. more.. Mohamed received an e-mail threat after
appearing on television to defend women's rights. The e-mail read:
"Stop speaking out for women's rights, or we will kill you," and
was signed by the Army of Sahaba. As a result of the threat,
Mohammed and her colleagues hid for a week, wearing bullet-proof
vests and canceling all appearances. more...
- Women's Rights activist Fern L. Holland,
an American civilian working with the CPA to advance women's
rights in Iraq, was killed in Iraq on 9 March 2004 when the car in
which she was traveling was attacked by four gunmen dressed as
Iraqi police officers. Two more civilians were killed in the same
attack: an American man who had worked for the CPA and a female
Iraqi interpreter. Ms. Holland's work in Iraq included
investigating human-rights violations, opening women's centers
around Iraq and working to ensure that women's rights were
enshrined in the interim constitution. more... It has been suggested that she was
targeted specifically because of her work on behalf of women's
rights. more...
- Iraqi women working for American forces,
for example as laundry women and translators, have been targeted,
threatened and killed. in late January 2004, four Iraqi women who
worked as cleaners and laundry women for the US Army were killed
in a gun attack on the minibus in which they were traveling. more... In late February, two sisters who worked
at a US Army base in Baghdad were shot--and one of them
killed--when returning home. In early March a translator for Voice
of America was killed in Baghdad. And on 11 March, two sisters who
did laundry work for US soldiers in Basra were shot to death:
their taxi was surrounded by gunmen who ordered the driver out of
the car and shot the women at point-blank range. On 10 March, a
translator for a US news organization found a handwritten note
under her front door that read: "Warning: Those who deal with the
atheists and the infidels on the soil of the homeland deserve but
death and destruction. Thus, we warn you to stay away from the
infidels and the blasphemists, the followers of Satan, otherwise
your killing shall be a mercy for Muslims. Those who heed the
warning shall be excused." Such events renewed fears that Iraqi
support staff, and particularly women, working for Americans were
easy targets. more...
- Women and children were among the 140
people killed in coordinated bomb attacks in and around Karbala on
2 March 2004. Millions of Shiite pilgrims had traveled to Karbala
to mark the Ashoura holy day for the first time in more than two
decades. 75 people were killed in simultaneous suicide bombings of
a Shiite Mosque near Baghdad. more...
- On 16 March 2004, two non-Iraqi women were
killed and one was injured when the vehicle in which they were
traveling was attacked with automatic weapons in Mosul. The women
worked for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board,
reportedly on water purification projects. The two male coworkers
with whom they were traveling were also killed in the attack. more...
- In March 2004, activists noted that
threats against women's rights groups in Iraq were increasing. more... As of March 2004, the CPA reported that
more than 100 Iraqi women had been trained as police officers. more...
- More than 40 foreign nationals from 12
countries were reportedly abducted in Iraq, most of them civilians
and at least one of them female. Some of the abductors threatened
to kill their hostages unless their demands are met, and on 14
April, an Italian hostage was executed. However many of the other
hostages were freed by their captors unharmed. more... According to Iraqi Culture Minister
Mufid Muhammad Jawad Al-Jaza'iri, several groups of hostage takers
compete with one another over which of them can abduct the most
foreigners. more...
- In April 2004, US forces sealed off
Falluja and launched a massive offensive against the city after
four US contractors were killed and mutilated there on 31 March.
The offensive included aerial bombardment by US forces and
reported strikes by US aircraft against residential
neighbourhoods. more... According to the director of Falluja's
general hospital, Rafa al-Issawi, more than 600 people were killed
and around 1,200 were injured in the fighting. A group of five
international NGOs placed the number of people killed in Falluja
at 470, and said that 243 women and 200 children were among the
1,200 injured, but warned that these estimates might be too low.
Tens of thousands of women and children fled the city for safety
after a shaky ceasefire was reached on 11 April. more... US troops reportedly announced over
loudspeakers that women, children, and elderly could leave the
city, but not "military age men," although men have been reported
among the thousands who have fled. US military officials said the
majority of the Iraqis killed were fighters, but contradictory
reports--including from al-Issawi--claim that many of the dead
were women, children and elderly. more... It has also been reported that many more
Iraqis--perhaps tens of thousands--have been inspired by recent US
behaviour to join the insurgency, including one woman interviewed
by the BBC and her sister. more...
- 68 people were killed in Basra when
suicide bombers staged coordinated attacks on three police
stations. Among the dead were nine schoolgirls and eight
kindergarteners who were incinerated nearly beyond recognition
when the minibuses in which they were traveling were caught in the
car-bomb blasts. more... The girls, aged 14 and 15, were on their
way to the Amjad intermediate school for girls. Only one girl who
was about to board the bus survived the blast. Some 240 people
were injured in the near-simultaneous attacks. more...
- Allegations emerged in April 2004 of
sexual and other abuse by US soldiers of Iraqis held in Abu Ghreib
prison, notorious for the abuses that were carried out there under
Saddam Hussein. more... Photograhps of the alleged abuses sparked
outrage after they were aired around the world. An investigation by
US Major General Antonio Taguba in January 2004 described
"systematic and illegal abuse" of Iraqi detainees, which included
"videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees,"
"a male MP [Military Police] guard having sex with a female
detainee" and "forcing naked male detainees to wear women's
underwear".
- US officials have acknowledged detaining
Iraqi women in order to convince male relatives to provide
information. It has been reported that many of the women detained
by US forces are the wives or relatives of senior Baath Party
officials or suspected militants, and that interrogators have
threatened to kill detainees. Five former detainees told their
lawyers they had been beaten while in custody. One said she had
been raped and knifed by a US soldier. more... According to Professor Huda Shaker,
several women detained in Abu Ghraib were sexually abused and one
was raped, became pregnant, and later disappeared. In May 2004,
the US Colonel in charge of the prison's detention facilities said
that the five women remaining there were kept in solitary
confinement for 23 hours a day with only a Koran. more... A former detainee of Abu Ghraib also
alleged that a 12- or 13-year-old girl was brought into the
prison, stripped naked and beaten while her brother and other
prisoners heard her screams from their cells. more...
- At least four US women have been
implicated in the prisoner abuse scandal: Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, the former military police
commander at Abu Ghreib, was suspended; Lynndie England was demoted from the rank of
specialist to private first class, detained and faces charges; and
criminal charges were filed against Spec. Megan
M. Ambuhl and Spec. Sabrina D. Harman (among others). (BBC,
Washington Post)
- Similar photographs of abuse by British
soldiers—and the allegation by some British soldiers that there
were hundreds of such photographs and that soldiers routinely swapped them amongst themselves—led to an
investigation by the UK Ministry of Defense into allegations of
torture of Iraqis by British troops. more... Other photographs, whose authenticity is
in doubt, circulated on Arabic-language websites depicted two
Iraqi women being raped at gunpoint by men described as wearing US
Army uniforms. more... (BBC)
- Tony Blair's human rights envoy to Iraq
said after the prisoner abuse scandal broke that for months she
has been pursuing the case of an elderly Iraqi woman who alleged
that she was mistreated while in a Baghdad detention
centre—including being made to kneel on the floor pretending to be
a donkey while a man got on her back. (BBC) more...
- A May 2004 report by Amnesty International
raised questions about the shooting death of an eight-year-old
girl by a British soldier in Karmat 'Ali on 21 August 2003.
According to one eye witness, the girl was standing in an alley
about 60 to 70 meters from an armoured vehicle when a soldier
suddenly aimed and fired a shot that hit her in her lower torso.
more...
- According to the US Department of Defense,
six women were among the 20 people killed by US forces on 19 May
2004. The circumstances of the attack created controversy: media
reports suggested that US forces had attacked a wedding party,
while the US military insisted that they “insurgents using a
smuggling route for foreign fighters and weaponry entering Iraq”
and that there were no indications that a wedding party was taking
place. (American Forces Information Service) more...
- On 27 May, gunmen attacked the convoy in
which Salama al-Khafaji was travelling as she returned from Najaf,
where she had been part of a Governing Council delegation
negotiating a deal between US forces and the militia of Shia
cleric Moqtada al Sadr. Al-Khafaji’s 18-year-old son and three of
her bodyguards were killed in the attack. (BBC) more...
- The Iraqi interim government decided to
reinstate the death penalty in August 2004. According to Amnesty
International, the Iraqi policy contrasts the global movement to
abolish the death penalty and would not result in greater security
for Iraqis. The Iraqi government said it would resume executions
for specific crimes such as murder, drug trafficking, and
endangering national security. more... Iraqi women may be affected not only by
being subject to capital punishment, but by the loss of a male
bread-winner or head of household as a result of the policy.
- Insurgents who have abducted and executed
hostages in Iraq have co-opted women’s rights and freedom to
justify their actions. In August, two French journalists were
abducted along with their Syrian driver. The hostage-takers
threatened that the men would be killed unless the French
government repealed the 15 March 2004 law banning overt religious
symbols from state schools, which includes the hijab worn by some
Muslim girls. more... In September, two Americans and a Briton
(all male) were taken hostage by insurgents demanding the release
of all women from Iraqi jails. Both Americans were beheaded later
that month. The UK said it had no Iraqi women in custody. The US
military said it was holding only two female weapons scientists
(Dr. Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash and Dr. Rihab Rashid Taha) and that
it had no plans to release them. more... See BBC News for profiles of Dr. Ammash and Dr. Taha.
- BBCArabic.com interviewed six Iraqi women on the impact war
has had on their lives. Their responses mixed positive and
negative reactions to the conflict and its aftermath. Improved
economic security, the end of sanctions and freedom of thought and
expression were contrasted with hampered mobility and the
continued lack of security that still plague the country.
Political
Participation
- With the fall of the Baathist government
and its repressive one-party totalitarianism in April 2003,
numerous political parties began to emerge. These parties,
however, were run almost entirely by men - as was the Coalition
Provisional Authority.
- Early reconstruction efforts led by the
United States and Britain in 2003 failed to adequately include
women either in leadership positions or as participants in the
postwar reconstruction process. The US Office for Reconstruction
and Humanitarian Affairs had only a part-time gender focal point.
The 30-member Iraqi reconstruction group organized by the UK
government included only five women. more...
- The legal team that was appointed by the
coalition soon after the fall of Baathist Iraq in 2003 to remove
Saddam Hussein's human and civil rights-violating amendments to
Iraq's 1969 legal code was made up exclusively of male lawyers and
judges. more... more... more...
- On 15 April 2003, Iraqi opposition groups
met in Nasiriyah to discuss postwar self-rule. Of the approx. 120
delegates, only four were women and all of them were exiles. The
meeting's delegates outlined 13 principles for forming a new Iraqi
government and included among them building the country on respect
for diversity, particularly respect for the role of women. more...
- On 28 April 2003, Jay Garner, the first
US-appointed interim administrator of Iraq, met with 250 Iraqis
representing various groups to discus the creation of an interim
government. Only six women attended the meeting, mainly as
representatives of Iraqi exile working groups set up before the
war by the US State Department's "Future of Iraq" programme. One
representative, Zainab al-Suwaij, suggested including more women
in the new leadership and giving more support to grassroots
organizations. According to al-Suwaij, many delegates were
receptive to her suggestions. US Deputy Richard Armitage
acknowledged to the BBC that the participation of women in postwar
reconstruction process had been inadequate. more...
- On 3 July 2003, hundreds of women
demonstrated in Baghdad, demanding to be included in shaping the
political future of the country. more...
- On 9 July 2003, the International Alliance
for Justice initiated a conference in Baghdad to discuss the
status of women in the constitution, in the legislation, in the
democratic process, in education, in the health system, the
economy and social and cultural affairs. More than 80 women from
all parts of Iraq attended the conference. The main conference
also brought together Iraqi women who had remained in Iraq under
the dictatorship, women from the diaspora, and women from the
three Kurdish governorates who, for over ten years, were able to
promote the participation of women in the emerging civil society.
Representatives of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and
several United Nations agencies also attended the conference
discussions. more...
- Ms. Zakia Hakki, who was a lawyer and
judge in Baghdad until 1996 and in 2003 became an advisor to the
Ministry of Justice from the Iraqi Reconstruction Development
Council, has written position papers outlining her vision for a
new (decentralized) government in Iraq, and will be involved in
plans to organize the convention that will draft a constitution to
be put before the Iraqi people in a referendum before elections.
As of mid-2003 she was overseeing the selection of new judges in
Iraq and the staffing of the Ministry of Justice, and was working
to revitalize Iraqi courts and laws. more...
- Only three women were included in the
Iraqi Governing Council, chosen in July 2003 by the US
administration in Iraq, none of them from the diaspora: Sondul
Chapouk, an engineer, teacher, and women's activist; Raja Habib
al-Kuzaai, a southern tribal leader who is in charge of a
maternity hospital in southern Iraq; and Aqila al-Hashimi, a
foreign affairs expert and former diplomat who worked in the
foreign ministry under Saddam Hussein. Aqila al-Hashimi was
murdered two months later. more... Although with 3 of 25 seats women
represented only 12 percent of the Governing Council, this was
nonetheless an increase in women's political representation over
what it had been in recent years under Saddam Hussein. more...
- As of July 2003, women's organizations in
postwar Iraq were still receiving little support from the CPA or
from Islamic organizations. Apart from indigenous support, they
were only receiving aid from international NGOs. more...
- When the 25-person interim Iraqi cabinet
was selected in August 2003, only one woman was nominated to a
post: Nesreen Mustafa al-Barwari (a Kurd) was named Minister of
Municipalities and Public Works. As the top Iraqi official in
charge of water treatment, waste management, environmental
sanitation and municipal facilities, she is one of the most
important figures in the Iraqi civil administration. Ms.
Al-Barwari, the youngest member of the cabinet, worked as an
administrator with UNHCR in the Kurdish autonomous area as of 1991
and later became Minister of Reconstruction and Development in the
Kurdistan Regional Government. more...
- The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
was tasked with supporting women's rights. more... The Minister for Labour and Social
Affairs, Mr. Sami Azara al-Majun, is head of the National Reform
Movement and was formerly a member of the Iraqi National Congress
(of which he was critical because of its lack of coordination with
tribal leaders). He worked in the justice ministry in Saudi Arabia
from 1971-1980.more...
- According to an interview with Rajiha
Kurzai, published in the “Middle East Times”, women on Iraq's
Governing Council were not initially recognized as bona fide
members of the predominantly male governing body by some of their
male counterparts, who would not look them in the eye or tried to
ignore their presence. According to Kurzai, the women councillors
insisted on their right to speak and be heard, and over time the
climate in the meetings improved and the women were accepted
within the group. For instance, Kurzai successfully proposed to
the Governing Council the creation of regional commissions to
revise the framework of the de-Baathification campaign. Kurzai's
constituents have called for an inquiry that will clear the
innocent and punish the guilty, instead of tarring all members of
the Baath party with the same brush. more...
- A Physicians for Human Rights survey in
southern Iraq found that although the vast majority of respondents
felt that women's human rights were important to the health and
development of the community, men indicated less support than
women for certain political freedoms, including free expression
and association, and many supported restrictions for women outside
the home. According to PHR, this suggests that women's views are
not being adequately represented in government, since there all
but one of the Shia representatives on the interim Govering
Council are men. more...
- In October, the Higher Council for Women
was launched to increase women's participation across all levels
of government and monitor progress on the Iraqi women's agenda.
The council will give a crucial voice to Iraqi women, who make up
55% of the population. more...
It will also seek to improve health care and education for women
and girls and provide advice for women entrepreneurs. The idea for
the council, which is led by co-founder Ala Talabani, was the
result of an Iraqi women's conference held in Hilla earlier in the
month, and its actualization was made possible by British
funding.
- Raja Habib Khuzai and Songul Chapouk, the
two women on the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), published an Op-Ed
piece in the New York Times on 3 December 2003. They noted that
women "are severely underrepresented in the leadership established
for the transition [to democracy]" and called for the IGC and the
CPA to "ensure women their rightful place at the decision-making
table". They asked the United States to help them ensure that the
IGC set quotas for women in all levels of government and in the
constitutional drafting process in proportion to their percentage
of the population; that the IGC live up to its promise to appoint
at least 5 women as deputy ministers; that the IGC increase the
number of women among its own members and in the successor
provisional government, and ensure that these women have real
decision-making power. They also called for the new constitution
and all related laws to grant equal rights and opportunities for
women, and for the creation of a strong gender advisory council,
reporting to the head of state and with real authority and
responsibility, to represent women's concerns. more...
- Seven women were among the 28 new Deputy
Ministers appointed by Paul Bremer in April 2004: Dr Sawsan Ali
Magid Al-Sharifi (Ministry of Agriculture), Maysoon Salem
Al-Damluji (Ministry of Culture), Ms. Hamdia Ahmed Najif (Ministry
of Displacement and Migration), Baraka Mahdi Salih Al-Jiboori
(Ministry of Electricity), Manal Kamil Elyas Aziza (Ministry of
Environment), Dr. Beriwan Abdul-Kareem Khailany (Ministry of
Higher Eductation), and Mitha Al-Alami (Ministry of
Transportation). more...
- As of December 2003, six women were among
the 37 members of the Baghdad City Advisory Council. more...
- In early December 2003, Shiite members of
the IGC selected Dr. Salama al-Khafaji to replace the late Aqila
al-Hashimi as the 25th member of the Council. Khafaji, a professor
of dentistry at Baghdad University and one of four candidates
nominated for the position, is reported not to be affiliated with
any political party. more...
- Only a handful of women were appointed by
the IGC as Deputy Ministers. Maysoon al-Damluji is Iraq's Deputy
Minister of Culture. more...
- Many Iraqi women's rights activists argued
ng for the use of a quota system to ensure that women are
represented in the post-war government. The British government
proposed a 25% quota, but did not gain the support of the United
States. Press reports quoted CPA officials and US government
officials, including Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, as saying that
while they support women's rights in Iraq, they either have no
plans to establish a formal quota system or do not support the
establishment of such a system. more...
- Songul Chapouk, one of the three female
members of the IGC, was not present when the recent decision to
cancel the Personal Status Law was discussed. She said that she
had "left the council for a meeting and when I came back, it was
over." more...
- In April 2004, Lakhdar Brahimi met with a
group representing women's NGOs, and separately with a group of
human rights advocates, as part of his talks with Iraqis on the UN
role in political transition and elections, seeking their ideas
about UN assistance with the formation of an Iraqi administration
to take over from US-led occupation forces on 1 July, and with
preparations for elections early next year.
- The joint UN and World Bank Iraq needs
assessment recommended that steps be taken early in the
reconstruction process to ensure women's participation in shaping
the country's future and to enshrine gender equity in
constitutional processes. The assessment said unequivocally that
security and access to basic services for Iraqi women were needs
that must be addressed. The assessment also recommended that a
Women's Forum be convened so that Iraqi women could identify and
articulate their particular needs and priorities; that women's
networks should be mobilized and linked with regional women's
groups and networks to facilitate effective political
participation by Iraqi women; and that the media be effectively
used to raise awareness and advocate for key transitional issues.
more...
- In his 27 April 2004 statement to the Security Council, Lakhdar
Brahimi outlined his plan for the political transition process in
Iraq. He told the Council that "virtually every Iraqi with whom we
met urged that there be no delay in bringing an end to the
occupation, by 30 June at the latest. They maintain that view,
even though they understand that a democratically elected and
therefore fully legitimate government will not be in place by that
date." Two key documents call for the dissolution of the Iraqi
Governing Council by 30 June 2004. The majority of Iraqis who
spoke to the assessment team (these included representatives of
women's groups) favour the establishment of a Caretaker Government
to tend to day-to-day administration until elections are held in
January 2005. Brahimi told the Council that the Iraqi people
should select this Government, and that "it should not be
difficult to identify extremely qualified candidates--men and
women--for every single position, who are representative of Iraq's
diversity." Brahimi also suggested that an Iraqi Preparatory
Committee be formed to organize a National Conference in July to
bring together "1,000 to 1,500 people representing every province
in the country, all political parties, tribal chiefs and leaders,
trade and professional unions, universities, women's groups, youth
organizations, writers, poets and artists, as well as religious
leaders, among many others". The Security Council strongly
supported Brahimi's statement and welcomed the provisional ideas
he submitted. (UN News) more...
- The UN Electoral Advisors Team, headed by
Carla Perelli, made several visits to Iraq in 2004 to assess the
possibility of holding elections in Iraq. In the spring, the team
undertook work to create the Independent Electoral Commission,
with the appointment of Commissioners scheduled for 31 May.
Women’s groups and other civil organizations expressed strong
interest in the nomination process. Five thousand nomination forms
and 6,000 leaflets advertising the process had been distributed
across Iraq by 11 May 2004 with plans for another 5,000 soon
thereafter. (UN News) more... Of the 1,878 nominations received by the
UN electoral assistance team, 111 (6 per cent) were female
nominees. (UN Press Briefing) more...
- On 1 June 2004, six women were among the
30 ministers named to the new, sovereign Iraq Interim Government:
Dr. Sawsan Al-Sharifi as Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Mishkat
Moumin as Minister of Environment, Ms. Pascale Isho Warda as
Minister of Immigration and Immigrants, Layla Abd AlLateef as
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Ms. Nesreen Berwari as
Minister of Municipalities and Public Works and Ms. Narmeen Othman
in the newly created Cabinet post of Minister of Women's Affairs.
30 June 2004 was the date set for the full transfer of power from
the CPA to the Interim Government, at which time the CPA will
cease to exist. The Interim Government is expected to serve for
seven months, until a new Transitional Government is chosen
through democratic elections to be held as soon as possible and no
later than 31 January 2005. Biographies of the Interim government and other
information.
- In June 2004, two women, Hmdia Abbas
Muhamad Al-Hussaini and Souad Mohammed Jalal Shalal al-Jabouri,
were named to the nine-member Independent Electoral Commission.
The autonomous body is responsible for preparing Iraq for
elections come January 2005. (UN News) more...
- The Secretary-General reported to the
Security Council in September 2004 (S/2004/710)
that women’s groups had participated in the National Conference to
select an Interim National Council and promote national dialogue
and consensus-building on the country’s future, held 15 – 18
August 2004.
- "Windows of Opportunity: The Pursuit of
Gender Equality in Post-War Iraq", a report released in January of
2005 by Women for Women International (WWI) is based on a 2004
survey conducted in seven Iraqi cities in Baghdad, Mosul and
Basra. The survey’s goal was to assess the perceptions of women
after the war and to identify their main needs. The report
stresses that although security and loss of life remain critical
issues in Iraq, the country has entered an early reconstructive
period which is vital for creating a foundation for women’s rights
and participation in the future of the country. more... According to a 13 January 2005 article
about the report, WWI warns that low levels of participation by
women in the government will hurt the country. The article also
said the “results of the survey of 1,000 Iraqi women showed that
94% of women surveyed want to secure legal rights for women and
84% want the right to vote on the final constitution.” WWI’s CEO
Zainab Salbi stated, "History has shown that when women are
involved in the formation of new governments, those nations are
more successful in the long run.” “This survey shows that women
overwhelmingly believe they should have a seat at the table,” she
added. Unexpectedly, the survey showed that despite increasing
violence, 90.6% of women reported that they are hopeful about
their future. more...
- " We have to ensure that the divorced
women are not left homeless.” Amal Kashif al-Ghita is one of
hundreds of women who ran in the Iraq's national elections. By law
women had to make up 30 percent of each list of candidates.
Al-Ghita also stated that she wants better schools for girls and
new laws to protect children's rights and prevent rape. According
to an Associated Press news report from 28 January 2005, the
optimism of the candidates belies the sometimes-rough path they
have had to follow. “Not all Iraqis accept the idea of women in
politics – whether for cultural or for other reasons”, the report
said. One of the women interviewed for the story had a posted in
her office depicting three women and a child - one of them
Margaret Hassan. Written in Arabic, Kurdish and English, were the
words: "No for terror and violence against women." more...
- At the end of January, women candidates in
Najaf took to the streets to campaign for election. Among them was
Abdul Radha who said about their campaigning, "Now we are going to
people, talking to them about our programs." "I talk to them and
say I am going to provide job opportunities, I'm going to help
widows and poor people”, she added. Unlike the majority of other
candidates, many of the women have been willing to be named and
photographed. "This kind of election is not going to happen every
day," says Batoul Farouk, a candidate on the Dawa provincial list
who holds a master's degree in Islamic Science and is head of a
Najaf women's association. more...
- According to the International
Organization for Migration’s Out-of-Country Voting Programme,
“265,148 expatriate Iraqis, representing 93.6 percent of
registered Iraqi voters in 14 countries around the world went to
the polls in Iraq's Transitional National Assembly Election
between 29-31 January.” They did not give a gender breakdown of
those expatriates who voted through their programme. more...
- In a 30 January 2005 New York Times
article, Muhammad Abboud, a journalist said he had written a play
about the difficulties faced by rural Iraqi women with regard to
the elections. Abboud said , “The old ties of tribe, family and
religion will determine how many women cast their votes.” Ahood
al-Fadhly, director of an organization aimed at supporting rural
women in the southern part of Iraq also indicated that because of
illiteracy levels, rural women were at a disadvantage in asserting
themselves in the election process. “The goal is just to get them
to vote, regardless of what influences come to bear on the actual
choice,” she said. more...
- According to Zainab Al-Suwaij and Ala
Talabani Iraq's national elections will determine the fate of
women's rights if they will really become equal citizens. In a
recent Women's eNews article, the two women “expressed profound
concern that candidates with an extremist religious agenda could
prevail and usher in an era on suppression of women's rights.” On
an optimistic note, Talabani said "We, the women, are building
bridges among cultural, ethnic, and religious divides." more...
HUMANITARIAN
IMPACT more...
- Many Palestinian families were hosted in
Iraq since 1948, and under Saddam Hussein's rule they were
provided with free housing and other benefits. After the ouster of
Saddam Hussein, with no means of support and unable to pay their
rent, more than 350 Palestinian families were evicted from their
homes. Many were unable to find affordable housing and had no
other option than to live in the streets and in makeshift tent
camps. more...
- After the fall of Saddam Hussein's
government, Iranian Ahwazi refugees in the camps of Duraila,
Al-Kumeit, and Ali Gharbi (located between Basra and Baghdad)
have, at the hands of the local population, suffered harassment,
threats of eviction, looting of homes and property, theft of
farmland, farm produce, and livestock, the destruction of their
school, and by 16 May 2003 had had water and electricity suspended
for more than two months. more...
- Tens of thousands of women and children
fled the city for safety after a shaky ceasefire was reached
during an offensive by US forces against the city of Falluja in
April 2004. US troops reportedly announced over loudspeakers that
women, children, and elderly could leave the city, but not
"military age men," although men have been reported among the
thousands who have fled. more...
Impact on Food, Water
and Sanitation Infrastructure
- Electricity in Baghdad was cut on 3 April
2003, and three weeks passed before it was restored to some areas
of the city. Baghdad's water supply was also disrupted during the
2003 war, and had been only partially reconnected by the end of
March. Women's ability to provide food and potable water for
themselves and their families was thus severely impaired.
- The 2003 war created serious impediments
for the delivery of safe drinking water in Iraq. In addition to
the destruction of relevant ministries and the attendant
disruption of their programmes, lack of personal security proved a
major obstacle to water delivery in Baghdad. Women manage many
water treatment plants in the Iraqi capital and throughout the
country, and water delivery was disrupted as a result of their
inability to leave their homes due to increased sexual violence.
In addition, a high incidence of car-jackings impedes work and
affects both male and female staff in this sector. more...In a postwar 2003 survey conducted by
Phyicians for Human Rights in southern Iraq, respondents
identified lack of clean water and lack of medical care as the
second and third most important problems, after lack of security.
95 percent of respondents identified infrastructure rebuilding as
either "very important" or "extremely important" for the health
and development of the community. more...
- According to a presentation by Nesreen
Berwari, Iraq's Minister of Municipalities and Public Works, at
Washington's Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars on 26 February
2004: "For the first time in Iraq's history, it is the education,
water and health sectors that are getting the highest allocation
in the Iraqi budget." The United States has allocated more than $4
billion to address the problem of contaminated drinking water
since April 2003. more...
- According to a June 2004 IRIN briefing
paper on food security, citing data from the Iraqi Ministry of
Trade, the World Food Programme and the Public Distribution System
(PDS), an estimated 60 percent of Iraqi women and their families
still depended entirely on monthly food rations distributed under
the Public PDS (managed by the Ministry of Trade). The briefing
noted that despite efforts at reducing the effects of poverty,
chronic malnutrition stands at 28.8 percent and acute malnutrition
at 6.7 percent. more...
Impact on Health
- According to the
United Nations/World Bank Joint Iraq Needs
Assessment, conducted over the summer of 2003, "in the
aftermath of conflict, general insecurity and gender violence have
prevented women from seeking health care for themselves and their
children". The Assessment found health outcomes in Iraq to be
among the poorest in the region. These include high maternal and
infant mortality and malnutrition, the reemergence of certain
communicable diseases adding to the burden of non-communicable
conditions and the presence of risk factors for increased rates of
transmission of HIV/AIDS (which, they noted, was still relatively
low).
- It was reported
that between the fall of the Hussein administration in April 2003
and November of that same year, prostitution had become widespread
in Baghdad as a result of increasing poverty among women. As well,
sexual violence and consensual extramarital sex were reported to
have increased. The result was a rise in unwanted pregnancies and
illicit abortions, often conducted using unsafe procedures.
Although abortion has long been illegal in Iraq, a number of
backstreet abortion clinics were reported to have opened in the
laxer post-Hussein climate. Although some clinics claimed to be
equipped to provide "medical quality" services, the Baghdad Al
Aliya Women's Hospital alone admitted one or two septic abortions
every week. According to one of Al Aliya's emergency room doctors,
illicit abortion had already become a major problem in postwar
Iraq, with as many as 500 illicit abortions performed from August
to early November 2003. more...
Impact on Health
Services
- During the 2003 war, there was a lack of
emergency reproductive health care as hospitals, which were
difficult to reach, struggled to handle casualties of war with
diminishing supplies. Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, pregnant
women in Baghdad were reported to have rushed to hospitals
demanding cesarean sections before their due dates rather than
risk giving birth in the midst of war. more...
- After April 2003, widespread looting, the
erratic supply of water and electricity, and the lack of security
weakened an already struggling health care system and created an
extremely inhospitable work environment for all health workers,
especially women. more... Postwar UN needs assessments of the
health sector found that looting had destroyed 30 percent of
health facilities that offered family planning services.
- Insecurity and the threat of sexual
violence against women and girls prevented many Iraqi women from
seeking health care for themselves or their children in the months
after the 2003 war.
- In the unstable period following the fall
of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi women and girls who were victims of
sexual violence were refused both forensic examinations - even
when they had a police referral - and medical treatment. more...
- An August 2003 reproductive health
assessment by UNFPA found that during the last decade more Iraqi
women were giving birth at home, often without any skilled help,
because they lacked access to functioning medical facilities.
Security had broken down in many areas and communication and
transport networks were poor, while many medical clinics had been
damaged or looted. The assessment called for the rehabilitation of
health-care infrastructure, the supply of appropriate equipment
and drugs, as well as refresher courses for health personnel who
have missed international scientific advances over the last decade
because of sanctions.
- A study released by Physicians for Human
Rights (PHR) on 23 March 2004 (and conducted in July 2003)
documented past human rights abuses in southern Iraq and
unaddressed health needs, particularly for women. The study found
a high rate of domestic violence, and suicide rates of 5,000-7,000
for every 100,000 in the past year. PHR also found that fewer than
half of the women interviewed had a health care provider during
childbirth or received prenatal care for all of their pregnancies.
More than a quarter of women reported that they were delivered by
unskilled birth attendants primarily at home. The study found
Iraq's maternal mortality rate to be 292 per 100,000. more...
IMPACT ON HUMAN
RIGHTS, INCLUDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
- The postwar 2003 rise of conservative
Islamist organizations put Iraqi women at risk of losing still
more of the rights and freedoms that they had enjoyed during much
of Saddam Hussein's rule, such as the right to receive an
education, work, drive, vote, and hold political office (women's
rights did not have constitutional protection under Saddam
Hussein, however, and many were withdrawn during his last years in
power - see below). more... more... more...
- 85 new publications had appeared in Iraq
by 1 May 2003, taking advantage of the freedom of expression
brought about by the ouster of Saddam Hussein's government. A few
women were among the newspaper editors, among them Ashtar Jassim
al-Yasari, founder and editor of the satirical weekly Habez Bouz,
and Ni'ma Abdulrazzaq, senior editor of the As-Saah newspaper. As
well, a number of new women's magazines and an English-language
Internet newsletter by and for women began to be published. more...
- The appointment in 2003, by the US
military commander of the Shiite city of Najaf, of the city's
first-ever female judge was met with protest by some of the city's
lawyers — men and women both — and with negative fatwas from
senior Shiite clerics. The swearing in of Nidal Nasser Hussein,
who became the first female lawyer in Najaf in 1987, was
indefinitely postponed due to the resentment against her
nomination. A few of Najaf's judges supported the nomination of a
woman judge, arguing that nothing in Iraq's legal code barred
women from the judiciary. Opponents of the nomination claimed that
Islamic law forbids women to be judges. more...
- The World Bank Group’s January 2004 Interim Strategy Note of the World Bank Group for
Iraq outlined Iraq’s status vis-à-vis the Millennium
Development Goals. Regarding Goal Number Three—the promotion
of gender equality and the empowerment of women—the report
confirmed that the ratio of young literate females to males (ages
15 to 24) was about 50 percent, compared to 100 percent in Jordan
and 60 percent in Yemen. Likewise, maternal mortality rates were
exceedingly high at about 300 per 100,000 live births compared to
Jordan and Yemen’s 41 and 350, respectively. Sixty-five percent of
births took place without trained medical assistance and outside
of health facilities. The report estimated an increase in these
delivering conditions by as much as 30 percent in urban areas and
40 percent in rural areas.
- The Iraqi governing council voted, in
resolution 137, to "cancel" Iraqi family laws and to move family
issues from civil to religious jurisprudence, where they would be
governed by sharia law. The vote, allegedly sponsored by Shia
members of the Council, was narrowly won in a closed-door session.
The decree could scale back legal protections that Iraqi women
enjoyed even under Saddam Hussein, including prohibitions on child
marriage, arbitrary divorce and male favouritism in child custody
and inheritance disputes. more... However, the Coalition Provisional
Authority refused to endorse the Council's decision because it
would deprive women of their rights. more...
- In early February 2004, the Iraqi
Governing Council agreed to put its controversial changes to the
Personal Status Law on hold, after vocal and united opposition
from Iraqi women's rights activists. more... Later that month, resolution 137 was
repealed altogether. more...
- In February 2004, many women in Basra said
they had been forced to wear a veil or to restrict their movements
in fear of harassment from men. According to female students at
the University of Basra, after the war ended in April 2003, groups
of men began stopping them at the university gates and harassing
bare-headed women, telling them they are violating Islamic law.
The men also harassed female students who were not dressed in
loose-fitting clothes or who wore make-up. As of April 2004,
nearly all women at the university were wearing a veil, including
Christian Iraqis. Some students complained about the harassment to
the CPA, but little was done to end it. more...
- Clauses protecting gender equality were
included in Iraq's interim constitution (the "Temporary
Administrative Law"), signed 8 March 2004. Of particular note are
the following articles: Article 1 (B): "Gender
specific language [in the document] shall apply equally to male
and female" (Note: the masculine tense is used
throughout). Article 12: "All Iraqis are equal in
their rights without regard to gender, sect, opinion, belief,
nationality, religion, or origin, and they are equal before the
law. Discrimination against an Iraqi citizen on the basis of his
gender, nationality, religion, or origin is prohibited."
Article 20 (B): "No Iraqi may be discriminated
against for purposes of voting in elections on the basis of
gender, religion, sect, race, belief, ethnic origin, language,
wealth, or literacy." And Article 30 (C): "...The
electoral law shall aim to achieve the goal of having women
constitute no less than one-quarter of the members of the National
Assembly..." more..
- However the interim constitution was
criticized by the New-York based Human Rights Watch because it
"offers no explicit guarantee that women will have equal rights to
marry, within marriage, and at its dissolution. It does not
explicitly guarantee women the right to inherit on an equal basis
with men. It fails to guarantee Iraqi women married to non-Iraqis
the right to confer citizenship to their children." more...
- In April 2004, US officials announced
plans to open a shelter for women who are victims of violence in
Baghdad. The shelter, which will receive funding from the Ministry
of Labour and Social Affairs, will be the first of its kind in the
capital. The shelter will be able to assist 15-20 women at a time,
and will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Both male and
female staff members are being trained to work at the shelter, and
are already receiving calls every few days about women who have
been subjected to abuse. more...
- According to IRIN, interim Minister of
Human Rights Baktiar Amin, plans to create a special department
within the ministry for women’s rights (as well as special
departments for children’s rights, missing persons and prisoners
of war from the Iran/Iraq War) in an effort to address the massive
human rights abuses committed under former President Saddam
Hussein. Amin’s other plans to promote and protect human rights
include improving human rights training for the army, police and
Civil Defense Corps and to open “healing centres” for victims of
torture and shelters for victims of domestic and other violence.
more...
- According to an article in “Women’s
E-News”, Iraqi Shi’ite mosques in Baghdad are hosting religious
classes for women, something that was unthinkable under former
President Saddam Hussein. Once barred from religious education,
Iraqi female students of varying ages now attend bi-weekly
lectures at neighborhood mosques which provide them an opportunity
to do in-depth Islamic study. more...
- The Iraqi interim government decided to
reinstate the death penalty in August 2004. According to Amnesty
International, the Iraqi policy contrasts the global movement to
abolish the death penalty and would not result in greater security
for Iraqis. The Iraqi government said it would resume executions
for specific crimes such as murder, drug trafficking, and
endangering national security. more... Iraqi women may be affected not only by
being subject to capital punishment, but by the loss of a male
bread-winner or head of household as a result of the policy.
- A recent article in the American
Prospect details the stories of women held at Abu
Ghraib. According to a US Department of Defense statement, 42
women have been held in the prison, although none are currently
interned there. Barry Johnson, a public-affairs officer of the US
led forces in Iraq, stated that 90 women gave been held in Iraqi
detention centers since August 2003 and there are two “high-value”
female detainees currently being held. In this article, Johnson
has said , “Some women and children are picked up because they're
a ‘security threat'.” Johnson says. According to the article, some
women are also detained because they are wives and sisters. The
article outlines a potential class-action lawsuit being filed on
behalf of some of the women detainees, which claims that human
rights violations were committed by two private companies
operating in the detention centers. more...
- In a 23 January Human Rights Watch report
on the Iraqi elections, they cautioned that security concerns and
violence might have prevented Iraqi women from going to the polls.
They stated “although all citizens will take a risk by exercising
their right to vote, women are particularly vulnerable to attacks,
abductions and sexual violence.” more...
ECONOMIC
SECURITY AND RIGHTS
- According to a 2003 needs assessment by
UNESCO, general insecurity in postwar Iraq made life difficult for
working women. The Department of Antiquities reported that it was
not recommended for female personnel working at architectural
sites and museums to return home after 4pm without an escort. The
short-term solution was to continue hiring UN buses to transport
female museum staff to and/or from work so they could complete
their work on the inventory of looted items.
- During the 2003 war, technical and
vocational education (TVE) schools in south and central Iraq
suffered extensive damage, the vast majority of which was due to
looting and arson: 80% of laboratory equipment was looted or
destroyed. Women made up less than 20% of student enrollment in
vocational and technical schools between 1990 and 2001, and the
extensive damage to TVE resources in 2003 further reduced women's
chances of developing wage-earning skills. more...
- Under the sanctions regime of the 1990s,
Iraq had a complex system of controlled prices. Morevoer, 60% of
Iraqis had become dependent on the food rations of the
Oil-for-Food Programme and did not have sufficient purchasing
power in absence of food aid. The phasing out of the Oil-for-Food
Programme combined with price liberalization in Iraq's transition
to a market economy put at risk the economic security of the
population, and specifically vulnerable groups such as women,
children and the poor and unemployed, unless an adequate safety
net is put in place during the transition. more...
- According to the United Nations/World Bank Joint Iraq Needs
Assessment, conducted over the summer of 2003, "women
represent around 52% of Iraq's population, but constitute only 23%
of the formal work force, mostly as middle level professionals in
the public and service sectors and in rural areas as seasonal
agricultural workers." At the time of the assessment, about 50% of
the labour force in Iraq were unemployed or underemployed. Of
those who were employed, some 60% worked in the informal sector,
"many in marginalized economic activities, in difficult conditions
and for minimal pay". The assessment warned that if this
joblessness persisted, the large youth population (75% of Iraqis
were under the age of 25 at the time of the assessment) could
become "a source of serious instability".
- The United Nations/World Bank Joint Iraq Needs
Assessment identified the following as areas that need to be
addressed in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraq:
women's economic empowerment, particularly for poor women, rural
women and female heads of households; increasing Iraqi women's
competitiveness in the labour market; decreasing the gender gap in
education; raising women's awareness of effective preservation of
natural resource; addressing women's particular needs and concerns
in the shaping of socioeconomic and institutional policy
frameworks; recognizing and utilizing women's capacities and
skills so that they can benefit equally from jobs and
opportunities for capacity building and education.
- IRIN reported in September 2004 that a
Dubai telethon raised $2 million US dollars for the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to help rehabilitate Iraq’s devastated
school infrastructure. Iraq’s Ministry of Health reported that
nearly 4,000 primary schools lack a safe water supply while over
7,000 have an inadequate sewage system. Recent World Bank
statistics show that at least 25 percent of Iraqi primary
school-age children do not attend school. UNICEF, which will use
the money to provide school kits for students and rebuild schools
throughout Iraq, hopes that enrollment and attendance rates for
girls will improve as a result of the new moneys. As of September
2004, girls comprised 1.9 million of the 4.3 million primary
school pupils. Boys and girls, however, lack security as a result
of continued bombings and abductions. more...
- According to USAID’s “Iraq Reconstruction Weekly Update” from 16
September 2004, USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives conferred
a $246,000 grant to a group of Iraqi women who sought to renovate
their hand-made carpet factory in south-central Iraq. The improved
facility will function as a workplace and learning center. A grant
of almost $100,000 was also given to a women’s organization in
south-central Iraq for the purchase of computers, equipment,
furniture and supplies. As of mid-September OTI had awarded more
than 60 grants totaling $3 million to help support the
establishment of 14 women’s centers in Iraq.
II.
Before March 2003
POLITICAL AND
SECURITY IMPACT
- Between 3 and 4
million Iraqis fled their country while it was under Baath Party
rule. Relatives still in Iraq were arrested and harassed to
convince refugees to return. In 2001, an estimated 2 million
Iraqis were at risk of persecution if they returned, yet only
about 300,000 were formally recognized as refugees or asylum
seekers. more...
- There were 128,000 refugees from other
countries (mainly Palestinians and Iranian Kurds) and 900,000
internally displaced persons in Iraq in 2003. more...
- Under Saddam Hussein, dissent by women was
punished as brutally as dissent by men. Women and girls were
harassed, imprisoned, tortured, beaten, raped, and executed as
part of collective punishment meted out to relatives of alleged
oppositionists of the Government of Iraq, for their own suspected
dissidence, or even arbitrarily. Torture during detention was
systematic. After release, former prisoners were often harassed
and repeatedly re-incarcerated, and faced torture or execution for
refusing to become informers for the government. more... more... more... more...
- Many women witnessed the execution of
their children or were submitted to degrading treatment by Iraqi
security services, believed to be the cause of suicide for some
women.
- The Government of Iraq systematically used
rape for political purposes. The Mukhabarat Technical Operations
Directorate videotaped the rape of female relatives of suspected
oppositionists and used the tapes for blackmail or coercion. This
method of coercion took advantage of the stigma attached to
victims of sexual violence in traditional Iraqi society - in which
rape dishonours a whole family and victims of rape can be beaten
or killed by their relatives to wipe out the stigma - to inhibit
oppositionists from reporting the abuse. To extract confessions
from male prisoners, their female relatives were taken into
custody, and then tortured, raped, or even killed in front of the
prisoners. Women suffered severe psychological trauma, unwanted
pregnancies, and miscarriages after being raped by Iraqi security
forces or soldiers. more... more... more... more... more...
- Iraqi women whose husbands or male
relatives had been arrested, executed, or had fled persecution
reported to the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human
Rights that following the men's absence, they suffered abuse and
intimidation from the government including the withdrawal of
ration cards (and therefore food and medicine), cuts to
electricity, expropriation of property, house searches,
questioning, threats, and arrest. more...
- Widows of executed prisoners were required
by the government to pay the cost of execution and bullets in
order to recover the (often mutilated) bodies of their loved ones.
more...
- From 1987 to 1989, the government of Iraq
waged a war of eradication against the Kurds of northern Iraq. The
centerpiece of what has been called genocide by Human Rights
Watch, among others, was the 1987-1988 Anfal campaign, nominally a
counterinsurgency operation but in reality a carefully planned and
executed programme of ethnic cleansing in which 50,000 - 200,000
people are estimated to have been killed, most of them men and
adolescent boys. Although "battle-age" men were Anfal's primary
target and were disappeared and killed en masse - creating a
population with an "unusually high" percentage of women in the
Kurdish areas of northern Iraq more... - thousands of Kurdish women and girls
also died. In some regions, especially those in which Iraqi troops
met armed resistance, large numbers of women and children were
among those killed in mass summary executions, and were among the
tens of thousands of non-combatants who were "disappeared".
Kurdish women of all ages were among the thousands of people
killed as a result of the widespread and indiscriminate use of
chemical weapons against Kurdish towns and villages. Tens of
thousands of women, children, and elderly people were arbitrarily
warehoused for months in conditions of extreme deprivation, in
which many were allowed to die. And hundreds of thousands of women
and their families were forcibly displaced as a result of the
demolition of their homes and villages, some 2,000 of which were
completely destroyed. Rape was also among the weapons used against
Kurdish women during the Anfal campaign. more... more... more...
- Tens of thousands of women participated in
the Kurdish uprising of 1991. more...
- During and after the 1991 Shia uprising,
the government of Iraq committed widespread human rights abuses
against suspected Shia oppositionists in southern Iraq. A 2003
survey by Physicians for Human Rights of women and men from more
than 2,000 households (conducted by women and men) yielded over
1,000 individual reports of abuses, which included disappearances,
kidnappings, torture, sexual assault of women, forced amputation
of ears, and killings. Few women torture survivors were willing to
come forward and tell their story. At least one woman's family
blamed her for the arrest, which they said she could have avoided
had followed their advice, and they have since refused to speak
with her. Interviews with torture survivors found clear evidence
of long-lasting trauma and desperation. more...
- In 1996 the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
established the Peshmerga Force for Women, which now has over 300
fighters. Women who join the force are trained in attack, ambush,
sabotage, and learning to use weapons. The women's peshmerga force
has participated in front-line combat in battles against Ansar
al-Islam, a fringe Kurdish Islamist group alleged to have links to
Al Qaeda. more...
- The government's decreased spending in the
1990s reduced municipal services such as garbage collection,
degrading living conditions and the availability of potable water,
and thus disproportionately affecting women, whose work and
responsibilities are home-based much more than men's and include
providing food and water for their families. Frustration at the
degradation of living conditions resulted in increased vandalism,
creating a less secure climate in domestic neighbourhoods. more...
- The Fedayeen Saddam militia publicly
beheaded at least 130 (and up to 2000) women from June 2000 to
April 2001 on charges of prostitution, which was decreed a crime
punishable by death during the 1990s. While some of the women may
have been prostitutes, most were associated, either through family
connections or personally, with some sort of opposition to the
government. According to one report, among the women beheaded were
two television presenters and 80 gynĉcologists and midwives. The
heads were often left on the doors or doorsteps of the women's
families, who were required to display them in public view. more... more... more...
- Direct and indirect civilian and military
casualties from and in the year directly following the 1991 Gulf
War have been estimated at 205,500, including more than 39,000
women and 32,000 children. Postwar deaths have been attributed to
war-related damage to medical facilities and supplies, the
electric power grid, and the water system. more...
- In 2001, Amnesty International declared
Iraq to have the world's worst record of disappearances. In 2003,
the UN Secretary-General reported that "over the past three
decades, at least 290,000 Iraqis from all religious groups, ethnic
groups, political affiliations, classes and professions
disappeared." more... Over 200,000 Iraqi men, women, and children
were disappeared. Kidnappings of women, mostly the wives and
daughters of dissidents, were reported across Iraq. The women were
said to be at the service of their kidnappers and senior
government officials. more... more...
Political
Participation
- The 1958 revolution heralded an increase
in Iraqi women's political rights. Iraqi women engaged in
politics, and for the first time in Iraq's history a woman became
a minister. more...
- In 1960, a woman became Minister of State
(without Portfolio). She was the only member of Abdel Karim
Qasim's government, formed after the overthrow of the monarchy in
1958, to belong to the Communist Party. more...
- In 1970, the Iraqi Provisional
Constitution formally guaranteed equal rights to women. Other laws
specifically ensured their right to vote and run for political
office. more...
- A robust civil society that included
women's organizations existed prior to the 1968 coup d'état by the
Baath Party, which dismantled most of these groups and in their
place established the General Federation of Iraqi Women (GFIW).
The GFIW played a significant role in implementing state policy,
and some of its officers also played a role in implementing legal
reforms and lobbying for changes to improve women's status.
However, some Iraqi women have argued that the GFIW was not
representative of Iraqi women and in fact, as part of the Baath
Party, was actually destructive to women's empowerment. more...
- During the 1990s, the semi-autonomy of
Iraqi Kurdistan allowed women to take great political strides
forward. In 2003, two of the 20 ministers in the Kurdistan
Regional Government were women, and women occupied numerous posts
among ministry staff. more...
- Iraqi women ran in Iraq's first
parliamentary elections in 1980 and won 16 of 250 seats on the
National Council. In the second parliamentary elections in 1985,
women won 33 Council seats (13%). The next eighteen years saw a
dramatic decrease in Iraqi women's participation in politics to 8%
of seats in pre-war 2003. more... more...
- In the 1990s, official decisions on the
part of the central Government limited women's access to senior
decision-making positions. Restrictions on movement and illiteracy
also contributed to women's low participation in political life.
more...
HUMANITARIAN
IMPACT
- Hundreds of thousands
of women belonging to Iraq's ethnic and religious minorities
(including Kurds, Assyrians, Shia and Maadan or Marsh Arabs) were
displaced with their families under various programmes of the
government of Iraq. 1.5 million Kurds fled to Turkey after a
failed uprising against the government in 1991. When Shia
oppositionists fled to the marshes of southern Iraq after the
violent suppression of their 1991 uprising, government forces
burned and bombed villages and diverted water from the marshes to
force a total depopulation of the marshlands. A 2000 estimate by
the US Committee for Refugees put the number of internally
displaced men, women, and children from and in southern Iraq at
100,000. more... And thousands of families, and even
entire communities, were displaced by force from their homes and
relocated within or expelled from the country in the Baathist
government's long-term project of "Arabization". more... more... In 1999, the Iraqi Interior Ministry
expelled 4,000 families (some 24,000 people) from Baghdad:
opposition sources claimed that most of the expelled families were
Kurds and Shia, that many had lived in the neighborhood where an
anti-government riot had taken place in February 1999. more...
- The severe economic decline in Iraq
brought about by the combination of debts accumulated during the
Iran-Iraq War, destruction wrought by the 1991 Gulf War, and a
decade of international sanctions caused Iraq to experience one of
the most rapid declines in living conditions ever recorded. Iraq
fell from 96/160 in 1991 to 126/174 in 2000 on the UNDP Human
Development Index, which includes some gender-desegregated
indicators. No other country has ever fallen so far, so fast. The
impact of this decline on women included increased mortality
rates; increased rates of divorce, polygamy, and domestic
violence; decreased marriage rates; a significant increase in
malnutrition among women and children; and an added burden of
responsibility as women had to care for children traumatized by
war, disease, and malnutrition with neither professional support
nor sufficient access to knowledge and skills. more... more... more... more... more... more...
Impact on Food, Water
and Sanitation Infrastructure
- Women who fled Iraq to neighboring
countries as a result of conflict and repression in an effort to
save their own and their families' lives found themselves unable
to afford basic necessities such as food and medical care. more...
- Under the economic sanctions put in place
following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, a Public Food Distribution
System was put in place throughout south and central Iraq. This
food ration system prevented mass starvation and malnutrition, but
was not able to ensure adequate nutrition to most of the
population. Even under the Oil-for-Food Programme, more than 50%
of the population was vulnerable to food insecurity. Although the
Iraqi agricultural sector began to decline in the 1980s,
untargeted food rations also had a negative impact on domestic
agricultural productivity. more...
Impact on Health
- During the 1991 Gulf War, up to 800 tons
of munitions containing depleted uranium were used by US forces,
the first field test of such weapons in actual combat. Cancer
rates, congenital anomalies and disabilities among children and
animals significantly increased in areas where the war was fought.
It was thought that depleted uranium had found its way into the
water supply. For two years following the 1991 Gulf War, there was
an increase in miscarriages and pregnancy complications among
women in the Gulf states, thought to be the result of chemicals
leaking from weapons into the food chain, smoke-pollution from the
oil fields, or conflict-related stress. more... more...
- Iraq's dual-use electrical grid, as well
as other elements of its civilian infrastructure, was targeted
during the 1991 Gulf War. The result was a recurrence of
preventable water-borne illnesses, such as typhoid,
gastroenteritis and cholera, especially among the most vulnerable
members of the population (women, children and the elderly). more... more... more...
- Starting in May 1991, the US and UK flew
more than 280,000 sorties over Iraq's no-fly zones. In addition to
killing civilians when bombs missed the military installations
they were said to be intended for, the threat of daily attacks
created psychological problems, including anxiety, depression,
insomnia, weight loss, and fears of losing friends and family,
among Iraqi women and children. more...
- A 1991 survey, funded in part by UNICEF
and conducted by a team of international doctors, found that the
Gulf War combined with trade sanctions caused a threefold increase
in mortality among Iraqi children under five, an increase
corresponding to an excess of 46,900 child deaths in the seven
months after the war. more...
- During the 1990's, female-headed
households, rural areas, and poor households had the highest rates
of infant and child mortality.
- A United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) reproductive health survey found that the
number of women who die of pregnancy and childbirth in Iraq nearly
tripled between 1990 and 2002, from 117 deaths per 100,000 live
birhts in 1989 to 310 deaths in 2002. Bleeding, ectopic
pregnancies and prolonged labour were found to be among the causes
of the rise in maternal mortality. A concurrent rise in
miscarriages was attributed partly to stress and exposure to
chemical contaminants. more...
- More than half
of Iraqi women became anaemic as a result of a health system badly
damaged by conflict and sanctions. A rise in the incidence of low
birth weights from 25 percent in 2001 to 30 percent in 2002 shows
that women's health was still in decline due to poverty and poor
nutrition. more... more...
Impact on Health
Services
- Before the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq had one of
the best health systems in the Middle East region, enjoying health
conditions similar to those of other middle or high-middle income
countries, and had low rates of malnutrition. The government
estimated that between 79% of rural populations and 97% of urban
populations had access to health care. more...
- Under the effects of the 1991 Gulf War and
over a decade of economic sanctions, Iraq's health system declined
so much that health outcomes in Iraq became the region's poorest,
and health indicators dropped to levels seen in some of the
world's least developed countries. By 2003, Iraqis in several
regions were at risk of endemic malaria, cholera and
leishmaniasis, as well as from vaccine preventable diseases like
measles and diptheria. Iraq's risk of tuberculosis was the
region's highest. The physical health infrastructure had
deteriorated after years of under-investment compounded by
sanctions, and Iraq had a shortage of trained health personnel.
IMPACT ON HUMAN
RIGHTS, INCLUDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
- In February 2003, the
Special Rapporteur for violence against women reported that the
Iraqi government had put laws in place to protect women from
workplace exploitation and from sexual harassment; to permit women
to join the army and police forces; and, to equalize women's
rights in divorce, land ownership, taxation, and suffrage. The
Special Rapporteur noted the difficulty of determining the true
extent to which these protections are implemented. more...
- In 1970, the Baath Party passed a new
constitution that nominally made Iraqi women and men equal under
the law, although family law continued to favour men. In the early
years of Saddam Hussein's government, women won the right to
receive an education, to vote, and to work outside the home, and
the national legal code was revised to prohibit sexual
discrimination and harassment in the workplace. After the invasion
of Kuwait in 1990 and the subsequent Gulf War, however, women's
rights were eroded by Hussein's attempts to win legitimacy in the
face of Iraq's economic crisis by appeasing religious
fundamentalists and other conservatives. more... more... more... In 1990, Article 111 of the Iraqi Penal
Code exempted from prosecution and punishment men who killed their
female relatives in defense of their family's honour. Human rights
groups estimate that since the law became effective, 4,000 women
have fallen victim to it. Article 41 of the penal code authorized
husbands to beat their wives for educational purposes. And as a
result of another decree, a woman who asked for too much gold
jewelry could be punished by her husband with 80 lashes of the
whip.more...
- From the mid 1980's on, women were denied
posts as judges or public prosecutors. more...
- Laws in Iraqi Kurdistan, which are based
on Islamic Sharia law and tribal custom, have for forty years
legalized an inferior status for women and sanctioned honour
killings, resulting in women's harassment, degradation,
imprisonment, physical abuse (including mutilation), and the
murder of up to 5,000 women. more... more... In 2000, Kurdish authorities suspended
Article 111 of the Iraqi Penal Code, but according to women's
rights groups honour killings were still prevalent throughout the
north despite the suspension. more...
- According to the Sulaymaniyah-based Rewan
Women's Information and Cultural Centre (RWICC), suicide rates
among Iraqi women were high: RWICC recorded 119 cases in 2002. One
of the preferred methods was self-immolation. Media and aid
agencies in the Kurdish-controlled northern governorates tried to
prevent such suicides by publicizing the problem and by
establishing shelters to assist women in need. In contrast, no
data exist for the same time period for the South of Iraq,
indicating that there was no assistance for women suffering from
domestic violence in that region.more...
- After its establishment in 2001, Ansar
al-Islam, a small but radical Kurdish Islamist group in northern
Iraq with alleged ties to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, razed beauty
salons, burned down girls' schools, and murdered women in the
street for not wearing burqas. more...
- Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
militias shut down a women's rights organization and a women's
shelter in July 2000, imprisoning the staff and the shelter
residents. Honour killings and violence against women rose after
the shelter was closed. more...
- A decree from the central government
forbade women under 45 to leave Iraq without a male relative to
escort them. The extra financial burden of having an escort made
foreign travel impossible for many women. In 1999, all students
were banned from foreign travel. The children of Iraqi fathers and
foreign-born mothers were prevented from visiting the country of
their other nationality. Foreign spouses of Iraqi citizens were
forced to apply for naturalization as citizens, thus becoming
subject to travel restrictions placed only on women. more... more...
- Illiteracy among women, which had been
drastically reduced in the 1970s, rose steadily after the
Iran-Iraq War; it quadrupled between 1985 and 1995, from 8 percent
to 45 percent. Girls' education was heavily affected over the past
decade, with the drop out rate for primary school girls rising to
35 percent. The UNDP rated Iraq 126/174 on the 2002 Gender
Development Index, and its Human Development Report 2002 found
Iraq "far behind" in the targets to eliminate gender disparity at
all levels of education. more... more... more...
- Emboldened by the political chaos that
followed the fall of the Saddam Hussein's government in 2003,
conservative students claiming to represent the Hawza, a council
of religious Shiite clerics in Najaf, were reported to have posted
notices around Mustansirriye University warning women to dress
more conservatively and to wear the hijab in a more traditional
fashion. more...
ECONOMIC
SECURITY AND RIGHTS
- A 1974 government decree stipulated that
all university graduates, male and female, would be employed
automatically. more...
- The 1991 Gulf War had
devastating effects on Iraq's economic and civilian
infrastructure. Women bore the brunt of the economic collapse. By
1997, only 10% of women were involved in economic activities. more...
The number of female-headed households increased due to the
large number of "Anfal widows" in the northern governorates and
women throughout Iraq whose husbands were killed by the government
of Iraq; women, especially in rural areas, increased their
workload and took on work traditionally done by men to meet their
high economic need; the number of working mothers, child
labourers, and street children increased; the combination of a
drastically devalued currency and fixed salaries reduced
purchasing power, resulting, for many women, in poverty; and women
became overwhelmed by their daily struggle to meet even the most
basic needs (food and water) for their children. more... more... more... more... more... more...
- Prior to 1991, Iraqi women had the highest
rate of employment in the Arab Region, constituting 23 percent of
the country's work force. Women's actual economic contribution in
the informal economy, especially in the agriculture sector, was
believed to be even higher. Most working women were mid-level
professionals, mainly in the public sector. Under economic
sanctions, women's share in public sector employment—which
provided relative economic security - increased as men left in
search of better opportunities in the private or informal sectors.
Home based income-generating activities for women also increased
as a result of the deteriorating standards of living in general.
The general rise in unemployment, however, meant that by 2002,
women comprised only 19 percent of the national workforce. more...
- During the Iraq-Iran war the number of
working women increased as men were sent to the front and many
widows had to support families. Many women moved into high-level
jobs in usually male-dominated sectors, such as the military, the
oil industry, construction, and government jobs in medicine,
education, accounting, and administration. more... more...
- The slaughter of tens of thousands of
Kurdish men during the Anfal campaign created thousands of widows
in a society that can stigmatize women without spouses. Kurdish
women, many suffering physical and psychological trauma, were left
to rebuild their communities with almost no aid, care, or
financial compensation following Anfal. The widows, daughters, and
mothers of the Anfal Campaign victims were reported in 2000 to be
economically dependent on their relatives or villages because they
may not inherit the property or assets of their missing family
members. more...
- In the 1990s, the breakdown of the welfare
state had a disproportionate effect on women, who were its main
beneficiaries. Women were pushed out of the workforce when the
services were withdrawn that had allowed them to work outside the
home, including free education, child-care, and transportation.
The high unemployment in manufacturing also reduced women's access
to work by displacing male workers into fields traditionally
occupied by women. more...
- As a result of the limited autonomy that
Kurds in the three northern governorates (Iraqi Kurdistan) enjoyed
from the central government, and its the direct distribution of UN
and international aid, Kurdish women were able to move into
numerous professions, including many traditionally dominated by
men including government, ministry, engineering, and law. more...
- Women made desperately poor by years of
conflict and sanctions were increasingly reduced to prostitution
as a means of survival. In the 1990s, prostitution was made a
crime punishable by death. more...
- In the decade between 1989/1990 and
2000/2001, enrolment in vocational and technical schools fell by
nearly 56%. During that time, women represented fewer than 20% of
students in vocational and technical schools, and there were
"significant gender disparities across subject fields". more...
- Iraq's electrical infrastructure had been
severely damaged during the 1991 Gulf War. By 1999, generation
capacity may have risen to 65% of its pre-war levels. Power was
rationed throughout the country, with Baghdad receiving
disproportionately more. In pre-war 2003, some parts of the
country had electricity for less than 12 hours per day. Women's
electricity use is incurred mostly in domestic work, and in
informal home-based work, and thus lack of power in that sector
could increase women's burden of care and affect earnable income.
more...
Women's
Peace-Building Activities in Iraq
- Informal grassroots
business schemes were set up by Iraqi women to alleviate the
poverty brought about by decades of conflict and international
sanctions. These include food catering and the recycling of
clothes and other materials, as well as trade, contracting and
sub-contracting to the state, owning garages, and hired seasonal
labour in field work, food processing, and construction. Women
also produce goods for sale in their homes and sell some products
in the marketplace, which they did not do before 1990. more...
- Dozens of women's organizations emerged in
Iraq's three northern governorates (under semi-autonomous Kurdish
rule) during the 1990s. Peace-building actions by Kurdish women
activists include a two-hundred kilometer march from Suleimanya to
Erbil to protest the fratricidal conflict between the PKK and the
KDP, and the successful amendment of several discriminatory
clauses in the Iraqi Civil Code in the semi-autonomous northern
governorates. more...
- From February 20-22, 1992, under the
auspices of the Kurdistan Women's Union, 177 women representing
the three northern governorates and all parts of Kurdish society
participated in the "Martyr Layla Qassim" conference under the
slogan "Peace, Freedom, Equality, and Justice". The conference
called for more inclusive participation of women at all levels in
Iraqi Kurdistan, for the modernization of health services for
women, for the lifting of economic sanctions from Iraq, and for
the Security Council to change the latitude of the Kurdish
self-rule area and northern no-fly zone so that all Iraqi Kurds
would receive the same UN protection. more...
- In 1992, women activists created the
Independent Women's Organization in response to the high levels of
violence against women in the Kurdish self-rule area, which
included harassment, physical violence, mutilation, and the murder
of more than 5,000 women. They campaigned to repeal anti-woman
legislation in the northern governorates, and to end impunity for
so-called "honour killings". In 1998, they established a Women's
Shelter in Suleimaniya. When the shelter was closed by the PUK and
twelve of its residents abducted with their children, the women of
the IWO sent out a written appeal for support to "all Women, Human
Rights and Progressive Organizations". more...
- Hundreds of women and children
demonstrated in front of a United Nations office in Baghdad on 24
March 1997 to appeal for the release of Iraqi prisoners captured
by Iran during the 1980-88 Gulf War. more...
- With funding from the Oil-for-Food
Programme, nearly 400 literacy centres for women, focusing
particularly on the needs of adolescent women, were established in
Iraqi Kurdistan with help from the Kurdistan Women's Union. The
programme's goal was to provide a solid academic foundation that
would allow women to later pursue post-secondary education. more...
- In July 2000, two gender and development
training workshops were held in Arbil (3-6 July) and Sulaymania
(8-11 July). The workshops included lectures and practical
exercises, and covered various aspects of the different
relationships that arise between men and women, including reasons
why these relationships may become imbalanced and ways to improve
them in order to empower women economically, socially, and
politically. The workshops were organized by the Iraqi Al-Amal
Association in collabouration with the Machreq/Maghreb Gender
Linking & Information Project. more...
- On 11 March 2001, Iraqi women participated
in a symposium in Baghdad to analyse the situation of women in
Iraq and to highlight their role in different sectors of Iraqi
society. The symposium was sponsored by the United Nations
Development Programme. more...
- In an unprecedented display of spontaneous
public dissent, dozens of anguished women and angry young men,
nearly all of them Shia, took to the streets in Baghdad on 22
October 2002 demanding information about relatives jailed for
political crimes who did not return home after the amnesty granted
by Saddam Hussein to all of Iraq's prisoners, including non-Iraqi
Arabs, with the exception of those accused of spying for the
United States or Israel. more...
- Groups of Iraqi women in exile,
coordinated through the Iraqi Women's League, have issued appeals
to foreign governments and have organized demonstrations, hoping
to ensure that women's voices be heard and the needs of the
vulnerable populations be met in the crucial early phases of
Iraq's reconstruction. more... more... more...
- In March 2003, women's rights activists
and organizations in London, England, founded the Iraqi Women's
Rights Coalition in order to streamline their efforts to influence
the policy-making of the new government in Iraq, and to ensure
that women's equal rights are secured and enshrined in a secular
constitution. These women use the Coalition as a vehicle for media
publicity, to facilitate meetings with government officials and
human rights and humanitarian organizations, and to network with
peer organizations in the European Union. Coalition members
established women's advocacy centers in Iraq in order to raise
Iraqi women's awareness of the international standards of women's
rights. They also established shelters to protect Iraqi women from
domestic violence.
- In March 2003, the Kurdish Women Action
Against Honour Killing sent an open letter to the UN, the US, and
the European Union, expressing their concern that women were not
being adequately represented and that their roles and rights were
not being addressed by the prewar Iraqi opposition, and demanding
women's full participation in the future government of Iraq. more...
- US Secretary of State Colin Powell met in
Washington, in April 2003, with representatives of Women for a
Free Iraq, a group of Iraqi exiles, to hear their recommendations
on the most critical needs of Iraq's women and children. WFI asks
that priority be given to restoring the educational sector,
improving health care and social services for women and children,
fostering political participation by women through training and
exchanges, assuring judicial and legal reform, and providing human
rights guarantees. more...
- In April 2003, the Iraqi Women League sent
a letter to Clare Short, UK Secretary of State for International
Development, requesting an urgent meeting to discuss issues of
particular concern to Iraqi women regarding the country's
reconstruction, and outlining those issues. more...
- In May/June 2003, women's networks in
Afghanistan and Kosovo sent open letters to the women of Iraq,
outlining their struggles to be heard in the reconstruction
processes in their own countries, and urging Iraqi women to raise
their voices and ensure that they play a significant role in the
rebuilding of postwar Iraq. more... more...
- On 3 July 2003, hundreds of women
demonstrated in Baghdad, demanding to be included in shaping the
olitical future of the country. more...
- On 9 July 2003, more than 80 women from
all parts of Iraq participated in the "Voice of Iraqi Women"
conference in Baghdad - the first national women's conference
since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government. Conference
participants discussed strategies for how to increase women's role
in the recovery and reconstruction of Iraq, including the status
of women in the constitution, legislation, the democratic process,
education, the health system, the economy, and social and cultural
affairs. The main conference also brought together Iraqi women who
had remained in Iraq under the dictatorship, women from the
diaspora, and women from the three Kurdish governorates who, for
over ten years, were able to promote the participation of women in
the emerging civil society. Representatives of the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) and several United Nations agencies
also attended the conference discussions. more... more...
- One of the three women on Iraq's Governing
Council, Aqila al-Hashimi, was among the three members of the
Iraqi interim administration who participated in the Security
Council on 17 July 2003. Part of the discussion within the
Security Council focused on the necessity of including women at
all levels of leadership of Iraq and in the country's recovery and
reconstruction. Sergio Vieira de Mello, who had met with women's
organizations among others to identify ways in which to make the
UN contribution to Iraq's recovery and reconstruction most
effective, noted that, among the three areas of particular concern
regarding human rights in Iraq, special emphasis should be placed
on ensuring the rights of women. more...
- From 4-7 October 2003, the Heartland of
Iraq Women's Conference, sponsored by US-AID and the CPA, was held
at the University of Babylon in Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad.
more...
Over 150 women of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds
attended from the five south-central provinces of Babil, Karbala,
Najaf, Diwaniya and Wasit. Among the attendees were women who are
working to establish women's centers and organizations in these
provinces. The conference also hosted visiting women's delegations
from Basra and Kurdistan. Ala Talabani (from Kirkuk), a long-time
dissident against the former government who is now a liaison
between women's groups, the CPA and the Iraqi Governing Council,
chaired the conference. more... The
idea to create a Higher Council for Women was generated at the
conference, and realized later that month with British support. more...
- On 8 October, two of the speakers at the
Heartland of Iraq Women's Conference, Safia al-Souhail and Rend
el-Rahim, were nominated to replace the late Akila Hashemi on the
Iraqi Governing Council. more...
- Raja Habib Khuzai and Songul Chapouk, the
two women on the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), published an Op-Ed
piece in the New York Times on 3 December 2003. They noted that
women "are severely underrepresented in the leadership established
for the transition [to democracy] and called for the IGC and the
CPA to "ensure women their rightful place at the decision-making
table".
- In mid-December 2003, a group of prominent
women's rights activists and organizations in Iraq sent a letter
to Ambassadors Bremer, Greenstock and the members of the Iraqi
Governing Council to call attention to the gender-based
discrimination that Iraqi women have faced under the Coalition
Provisional Authority. more...
- In January, Iraqi women's rights activists
held a conference in Baghdad in response to the December 2003
decision by the Iraqi Governing Council to cancel the 1959
Personal Status Law and place issues of family law, including
marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance, under religious rather
than civil jurisdiction. more...
- Iraqi women, from different ethnic
backgrounds, held a number of street demonstrations to protest the
cancelling of the Personal Status Law. 5,000 Kurdish women marched
the streets of Suleymaniyah to protest the decision. However 500
Shia women in Najaf marched to show their support for the
Council's decision. more...
- Iraqi women mounted a nation-wide campaign
to repeal Resolution 137 of the Iraqi Governing Council, which
cancelled the 1959 Personal Status Law and placed issues of family
law, including marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance, under
religious rather than civil jurisdiction (Resolution 137). Iraqi
women held massive street protests and conferences to denounce the
resolution. more...
- Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April
2003, more than 80 women's organizations have been formed in
Baghdad alone, offering a new space for dialogue and empowerment
for women. According to Nesreen Berwari, Iraqi Minister for
Municipalities and Public Works, NGOs have also been holding
"discussion groups" with women across the country to generate
interest in the democratic process and inform women of the
importance of registering to vote. more...
- Iraqi women campaigned vigorously to
ensure a 40% quota for women's representation in the country's
interim constitution. As of February 2004, The Advising Committee
for Women Affairs in Iraq (formerly the Women Experts Committee),
headed by Nesreen Berwari (Iraq's only female Minister), held
weekly meetings to organize a campaign for demands on quota of 40%
representation by women in the Transitional Council,
constitutional committee, and caucuses. According to Berwari, "For
Iraq to move forward faster it is essential for women to play
stronger contributing roles. Women need to have opportunities to
more actively participate in decision-making. In order for this to
occur, an enabling environment to promote women's participation
needs to be enshrined within the fundamental law of
administration." However, the CPA and some members of the Iraqi
Governing Council were strongly opposed to the establishment of
any explicit quota. In the end, a "target" of 25% was included in
the interim constitution, signed 8 March 2004. more...
- The Iraqi Women's Higher Council held
three women's conferences in the Centre, North and South of Iraq
between October 2003 and January 2004. The Basra Southern Women's
Conference, held 28-29 January 2004 and sponsored by the CPA,
included a petition campaign to collect signatures supporting
women's demands for political participation and for this to be
stated in the fundamental law to be released on 28 February 2004.
The Basra conference was attended by about 220 women from across
Iraq. (UNIFEM)
- An April 2004 article in “Women’s E-News”
described how women in Iraq were responding to the new rights and
opportunities that became available to them with the fall of
former President Saddam Hussein. These efforts are constrained,
however, by an uncertain security situation in which women have
been attacked, have received death threats and have even been
killed in the course of their work. Many believe that the women
who have been thus threatened or harmed were targeted because of
their work on women’s rights or their association with occupying
forces. more...
- On 30 April 2004, nine women delegates met
with Ambassador L. Paul Bremer to discuss their concern over the
success of the political process during the transitional period
following the transfer of sovereignty (planned for 30 June 2004).
The group was comprised of the Vice-Minister for Culture, a
representative of UNIFEM and representatives of women’s
organizations in Iraq (including Women Without Borders, the Al
Amal Association, the IWN, the ACWAI, the Assyrian Women’s Union,
and the Women’s and Children’s Union Baghdad). Among the issues
they raised were the deterioration of security in Iraq and its
effect on democracy, violations of human rights and especially
women’s human rights, the excessive use of force by the military
against civilians and possibilities for women’s participation in
peace processes and transitional institutions. more...
- An Action Alert issued in May 2004 by the
Women Waging Peace (WWP) suggested alternative approaches for the
Iraqi Independent Elections Commission to foster women’s inclusion
throughout the electoral process. WWP suggested that political
parties nominate a certain percentage of female candidates.
Election laws would mandate that women were positioned at or near
the top of ballots. A percentage of seats would be allocated for
women; parallel elections for women and men would be mandated.
Voting requirements would call for all voters to elect both men
and women. Seats within governing bodies would be reserved for
women appointees. WWP emphasized the importance of women’s
inclusion in all stages of the Commission’s work because “they are
central to the design and implementation of national elections.
Women should be integrated as resources in the Commission’s
activities and not marginalized in the process.” more...
- In May 2000 a private home-care facility
was established for disabled and elderly women in the Karrada
district of Baghdad, IRIN reported. Functioning as a charity,
Bethany House houses about fifteen women, most of whom are elderly
and have been abandoned by their children. Resident-patients are
taken care of by elderly women, and some doctors volunteer their
time. Since the outbreak of conflict in 2003, the facility has
struggled with the gap between limited medical resources and an
increase in the number of women needing care, including
war-wounded patients coming in off the streets. more...
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