Islamist parties challenge Iraqi domestic violence draft law
The potential enactment of a domestic violence bill into law has engendered a major struggle between civil society activists and Shiite Islamist parties that believe the law will split families.
Iraq’s Ministry of Interior said Aug. 4 that the father of a 9-year-old girl in Basra province was arrested for committing violence against her and severely injuring her.
In the absence of any law assisting domestic violence victims and punishing perpetrators, cases of domestic violence have surged in Iraq since the coronavirus began and with the subsequent curfew. Meanwhile, no progress has been made regarding the domestic violence bill amid disagreements over its provisions in parliament.
Progress would require the enactment of the bill; some Islamist parties and clerics reject or oppose some of its provisions under the pretext that it would split Iraqi families.
In a strange demonstration, dozens of women went out on Aug.17, in the capital, Baghdad, denouncing the "anti-domestic violence" bill that other women are seeking to pass. This demonstration was affiliated with the Islamic Virtue Party, which is considered one of the most prominent opponents of the legislation.
