Iraqi Kurdistan Fails to Address Violence Against Women
Violence, self-immolation and suicide continue to plague the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s women, with a shortage of civic institutions to deal with these issues.
Not a day passes by without hearing about the death of a woman or the suicide of another, whether by self immolation or other methods. These women resort to suicide to save themselves from squalid living conditions, to wash away shame or as a result of the customs and traditions prevailing in the province and by which Kurdish society still abides.
Perhaps the most prominent of these cases is what was published on July 11 in Kurdish media outlets about the bodies of a 14-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy found near a village in Sulaimaniyah. The young couple had been shot by their parents for having fled their homes, following the disclosure of their whirlwind romance. The two youngsters had decided to escape and get married despite the their parents' objection.
There are many other cases of female victims of homicides and suicides. The majority of these incidents involve self-immolation.
According to statistics on violence against women released by the general directorate, affiliated with the Interior Ministry in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the three provinces of Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Dohuk witnessed 37 cases of murder and suicide among women between January and May 2013, in addition to 100 cases of self-immolation. These numbers do not include dozens of cases of sexual assault and hundreds of women who registered complaints with governmental departments to follow up on issues related to violence against women.
