Fighting Violence Against Women in Iraqi Kurdistan
15/12/2008
Asharq Al-Awsat, London – In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat during her recent visit to London, Sozan Shahab, member of the Kurdistan regional parliament spoke about a number of measures that are being taken to curb the phenomenon of violence against women in Iraqi Kurdistan. These include measures against honor killings and female genital mutilation. http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=15039
“Violence against women has increased over the recent period and this is a concern for the Kurdish government. Recent statistics showed that in one month, 166 complaints of violence against women had been made and that over 100 women had been killed,” explained Shahab. “There are two kinds of killings: there are honor killings on one hand, and there are suicides and cases of being burnt alive on the other. Until now we have not been able to determine whether these women set themselves on fire or are being set alight.” The Kurdish MP added that women are not necessarily being killed by weapons; some are thrown down flights of stairs, beaten or strangled.
Suzan Shahab went on to say that other statistics had shown that “over the course of six months, more than 300 women had been killed; all of these were so-called ‘honor’ killings however there is no proof of this.”
Female genital mutilation and honor killings seem almost unreal here in the west. So many women and girls are subject to such horrific conditions. There is an organization devoted to assisting girls in any circumstance. Vista Maria has been established to help these girls. http://www.vistamaria.org