KRG Fails to Combat Violence Against Women in Kurdistan
Despite efforts by the Kurdistan Regional Government to reduce violence against women, figures recently made public show that there has been little improvement, writes Abdel Hamid Zebari.
For years, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Northern Iraq has struggled to fight violence against women in the region, with statistics still indicating high rates of violence amid efforts by feminists to challenge the government's strategy on this issue.
The KRG first began to show interest in violence against women a few years ago, when they amended certain laws and deemed honor killings "willful murder, whose perpetrators will receive the severest penalties."
In 2002, Kurdistan's parliament amended Article 111 of the Iraqi penal code, increasing the punishment for honor killings and considering them willful murder. This was the first step taken by the provincial government in this regard.
Article 409 of the Iraqi penal code states, "Any person who discovers his wife or close female relative in the act of adultery and kills them immediately or assaults one of them so that he or she dies or is left permanently disabled is punishable by a period of detention not exceeding three years."
