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Campaign against violence against women
January 2008
TUC supports campaign to stop violence against Iraqi women
The TUC is supporting the campaign launched on 3 January by the Iraqi Women's League (IWL) Co-ordinating Committee Abroad against violence against women in Iraq. We reproduce here their press release, and urge trade unionists to sign up to the online petition at www.ahewar.org/camp/i.asp?id=111
Iraqi women are being killed and subjected to all forms of violence every day. What they have suffered in the city of Basra is perhaps something unprecedented in Iraqi society. Women have been killed and their bodies thrown in streets, especially since July 2007. According to Basra police chief Abdul Jalil Khalaf, the bodies of 50 women were found in different areas of the city during recent months. This may not be the real figure, as families of victims are often reluctant or too frightened to report these horrific crimes.
This phenomenon in particular, and violence against women in Iraq in general, has been a cause of great concern for us in the Iraqi Women's League. We have therefore launched this campaign to mobilize public opinion, exert pressure and intensify efforts to stop these inhuman and barbaric acts. It is also intended to allow the voice of Iraqi women, rejecting all forms of exploitation and abuse of dignity, to be heard by the world.
Your solidarity with Iraqi women will strengthen their resolve and their struggle to change this tragic reality. It will certainly contribute to speeding up the process of uncovering the perpetrators of heinous crimes and violence against women in Iraq, and help to put an end to this barbarism.
We appeal to all the people of free conscience in the world to uphold lofty humanitarian values and support our campaign.
Please circulate the attached APPEAL issued by the Campaign, as widely as possible. It can be signed online at:
http://www.ahewar.org/camp/i.asp?id=112 (Arabic)
http://www.ahewar.org/camp/i.asp?id=111 (English)
You can also help by creating links from your websites.
Let Us Work Together for Justice, Equality and the Right to Life
For more information, please contact:
Tel: 0031703661381
Email: rabitatansiq@hotmail.com
Due to sharp increase of violence against women in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Regional Government has opened a women's centre in City of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
According to report issued recently by the Regional Ministry of Human Rights in Iraqi Kurdistan Territory in April (April) 2007 state that 533 women tried to commit suicides in 2006. The report showed that «the number of women suicide or killed in 2005 was 289 women, but it rose to 533 women in 2006 and increased the suicide rate among the victims of 22% in 2005 to 88% in 2006, as the percentage of murders from 4% in 2005 to 6.34 % in 2006 ». The report pointed out that «the majority of women who are subjected to violence between the ages of 13 and 18 years». The report identified the types of violence against women «beatings, sexual assault and death threats and defamation, forced marriage and abduction».
Brussels, 28 November 2007 : Defying the anti-union legislation inherited from the old regime, which prohibits unions in public services, fighting to improve the poor wage and health and safety conditions… many are the challenges facing Hashemiyya M. Hussein, president of the Electricity Workers’ Union of Basra. Also a member of the Executive of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers of Basra and the ICEM Women’s Committee for the Middle East and North Africa, Hashemiyya embodies the very active trade unionism in this southern region of Iraq, where insecurity is nonetheless rife.
Stop Violence Against Iraqi Women .. Let Us Work Together for Justice, Equality and the Right to Life
APPEAL
Stop Violence Against Iraqi Women ..
Let Us Work Together for Justice, Equality
and the Right to Life
Despite the relative improvement in the security situation, our Iraqi people continue to live in an atmosphere of general chaos that is unprecedented for Iraq or other countries. Perhaps the most important manifestation of this chaos is the lawlessness, unbridled terrorism, insecurity and the spread of organized crime. This situation has claimed the lives of more than fifty women during the second half of this year, with the murders being carried out by extremist and reactionary forces and criminal gangs, under various social, religious and political motives and pretexts.
Iraqi women, who are subjected to various forms of discrimination, oppression and exploitation, and who face violence on a daily basis and through various means, are today facing mass killings because of the widespread terrorism targeting them. Most heinous murders are committed against them, in broad daylight with impunity. The killings of women in the city of Basra are but a terrible proof of the barbarism of their perpetrators and those who stand behind them.
Despite the condemnation of these crimes, the government and the relevant authorities have not taken the necessary measures against these crimes, to put an end to them and punish their perpetrators.
We, in Iraqi Women s League, strongly condemn the crimes of killing women in Basra and other Iraqi towns, and denounce all forms of violations of human rights in Iraq, and call upon international organizations, the Iraqi Government and relevant authorities to:
1 - Send an international fact-finding mission to Iraq, to be organized by the UN High Commission for Human Rights with the participation of international human rights organizations, to investigate the crimes against women, help the Iraqi authorities to identify the perpetrators and work to stop these crimes.
2 - Reveal the criminals and those who stand behind them, and bring them to justice.
3 - Disclose the outcome of the investigations.
4 - Take measures to safeguard personal freedoms that are constitutionally guaranteed.
5 - Take deterrent measures to ensure the safety of citizens and protect their lives.
6 - Act firmly to improve the conditions of women and facilitate their involvement in the reconstruction process.
Iraqi Women s League / Co-ordinating Committee Abroad
3-1-2008
To sign the Arabic related campaign , please click
ليتوقف العنف ضد المرأة العراقية ..ولنعمل معاً من اجل العدالة والمساواة وحق الحياة
Iraqi Womens League
sivany1@hotmail.com
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