Aktivistinnen fordern robuste Maßnahmen gegen Femizide von irakisch-kurdicher Regierung

Angesichts einer alarmierender Zunahme von Morden an Frauen fordern Aktivistinnen und Frauenrechtsorganisationen robuste Maßnahmen von der kurdischen Regionalregierung im Irak:

The Kurdistan Region needs a “more inclusive and robust law” to tackle the alarming increase in femicides, an NGO advocating for women’s rights urged Kurdish authorities on Monday, commending their recent work towards amending the current domestic violence law. 

According to the latest press release by Erbil-based NGO, SEED Foundation, at least 24 women were killed in the first six months of 2022 as a result of gender-based violence, calling the figure an “explosive and terrifying increase.” It added that almost half of the women living in Iraq reported “experiencing intimate partner violence in the past 12 months” and that over 40 percent of women say they feel unsafe in their communities. (...)

The Iraqi constitution prohibits the use of violence within the family, but only the Kurdistan Region has a law on domestic violence. The NGO has called for a revision of the current law to ensure that it “promotes and protects the rights of all survivors, and those at risk, from all forms of gender-based violence,” their recent press release read. 

"We are now in a crisis in Kurdistan with a dramatic rise in reported honor killings as well as suicides, many of which are likely linked to honor-based violence, and violence against women,” SEED Foundation President Sherri Kraham Talabany said in an exclusive quote sent to Rudaw English on Monday. 

“If politicians and government officials are really committed to addressing these senseless murders of women, then they need to have a strong and robust response to all forms of gender based violence, ensuring that all women have access to protective and social services,” Talabany added. (...)

Law number 8 of 2011 entitled “the act of combating domestic violence in Kurdistan Region-Iraq” defines domestic violence as a gender-based act, speech, or threat within a family which may “harm an individual physically, sexually, and psychologically.”

According to the law, whoever commits an act amounting to domestic violence is “imprisoned for no less than six months and no more than three years” however in reality, many perpetrators roam freely. 

The Kurdistan Region has implemented the law and has maintained a special police force aimed at investigating cases of gender-based violence but, according to the US State Department’s report on human rights in 2021, local NGOs claimed that this was not effective in preventing domestic violence.

Despite female genital mutilation (FGM) being banned by the Kurdistan Region’s law, the practice persists in the Region, particularly in rural areas of Erbil and Sulaimani, the report added.