Iraqi Demands Unified Strategy for Combating Violence against Women

Arab World

September 29th, 7:52am

Baghdad – Hamza Mustapha

Displaced women with their children in Hammam al-Alil camp south of Mosul (AFP)

Iraqi forces and political and community figures underscored the need for launching a unified national strategy to combat violence against women in Iraq, whether it be perpetrated by society or terrorist organizations. These calls and claims came during a conference on violence against women held in Baghdad on Friday. On that note, Iraq’s Speaker of the Council of Representatives Mohamed al-Halbousi said: “The most serious type of violence against women is that which is masked by religious context.” Halbousi also called on all parties to support women and work to give them a greater role in various fields, including civil services. Opposition leader Ammar al-Hakim, for his part, reaffirmed the need to better activate and integrate women in Iraq. “In its correct and sound interpretation, Islam relied on women as a basic pillar and an institution of society,” Hakim said at a conference. Speaking on the role of women in society, Hakim said they occupy great value positions, but remain under constraint by the backward social take on women. “Despite democracy being prevalent in our national political process, women are still seen as less by many political parties,” Hakim said, accusing some of reducing the value of women to a figure merely designed to fulfill a set parliamentary quota. The opposition leader also called for sweeping statistics to assess the status quo, urging civil rights groups to take initiative on the matter and help government institutions. Iraqi lawmaker Ala Talabani told Asharq Al-Awsat that the conference held on ending violence against women had issued a number of valuable strategic recommendations to combat the phenomenon. Speaking about some of the main focuses of the conference, Talbani cited “expediting legal procedures necessary to pass and ratify bills against domestic violence, the formation of the Ministry of Women.”

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1923636/iraqi-demands-unified-strategy-combating-violence-against-women