Feminists ask for laws to fight violence against women

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A number of Iraqi feminists have called for new laws to help the Iraqi society fighting violence against women in the country. Violence against women is a widespread phenomenon in Iraq and has different forms, like honor killing, circumcision or killing them by armed groups. Women in Iraq, mainly in rural areas, suffer the biggest burden in facing life problems. They also subject to domestic violence, which is considered the main problem in Iraq’s society. Violence against women and gender-based violence are not new phenomena to the women of Iraq. However, in recent years, the forms and prevalence of violence against women and gender-based violence have intensified, resulting in increasing vulnerability and risk for Iraqi women. “Violence against women is a behavior aims to hurt them using the nonequivalent force between men and women,” Asmaa al-Qeissi, Chairwoman of Democracy and Development Organization, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Violence is a result from a series of wrong traditions and habits which hinder the development of women’s role in the society and their creativity,” she added. “We have to count on a comprehensive human development policy, laws and on media role to help making a well-developed culture, which recognizes women’s rights and highlights their importance in the society,” she said. Women’s activists have marked November 25 as a day to fight violence against women since 1981. On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Resolution 54/134). The UN invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on this day as an international observance. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960 of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930–1961). “Thousands in Iraq still until now subject to clear forms of physical and physiological violence,” Israa Hassan, another feminist, said. “Statistics sound alarm on this phenomenon, as 93% of the cases are not announced through legal complaints, raising a question about the reason behind that silence,” she told IraqiNews.com news agency, asserting that the government has to assume its role regarding this issue. “Violence against women needs several solutions, mainly in the Iraqi society, which failed to make laws to protect women,” Afrah Shawqi, a journalist, said. SH (I)/SR 226