A woman burned alive by her husband, and a girl killed by her teenage brother with a gunshot wound, these are examples of “atrocities committed once morest women” in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where murders of women and domestic violence have increased dramatically over the past year, according to a report prepared by AFP.
The case of the murder of a “transgender woman” in the region in northern Iraq, which presents itself as a haven for stability and tolerance, at the hands of her brother returning from Europe, sparked controversy on social media in early February, and a wave of hatred towards the victim. But the case at the same time led many to defend the rights of minorities.
The spokesman for the Directorate of Combating Violence once morest Women in Sulaymaniyah, Hewa Karim Jawamir, indicated that “there has been an increase in the rate of murder of women in the past two months compared to last year.”
In January and February, 11 women were killed in the province, most of them by gunshots, according to the official.
In 2021, the number of victims reached 45 throughout the region, according to Jawamir. In 2020, his team counted 25 murders of women.
For years, activists in the region have denounced female circumcision, forced marriage and violence once morest women in a conservative society.
“Cases of violence once morest women are on the rise,” says Bahar Munther, a women’s rights activist and director of the NGO People’s Development Organization.
“Most of the women died at the hands of a member of their family,” she adds.
Days before International Women’s Day, on March 8, a 20-year-old woman was found dead on the side of a road in Erbil, the provincial capital. The young woman was Maria Sami, who is known on social media for her publications defending women’s rights.
On March 9, Kirkuk police announced the arrest of her killer, who was none other than her younger brother. Before his arrest, the 18-year-old made statements by phone to local channels in which he justified the murder of his sister, saying that she was not obeying the family’s orders.
heavy sentence?
Just before dawn on Friday, 15-year-old Sherwan Khaled was killed by her father with six shots from a Kalashnikov machine gun in the Sarwan area. The father was arrested and admitted to committing the crime, justifying his action by saying that the girl “got out of the house with two young men late at night,” according to the Directorate of Confronting Domestic Violence in the region.
In February, Shnyar Honer Rafeeq, mother of two, passed away five days following being hospitalized. Her father, Honor Rafik, told AFP, “Her husband came back drunk on the night of February 22. He sprayed oil on Shnyar’s body and set her on fire.”
He said he filed a lawsuit once morest the criminal, his daughter-in-law, and the police arrested him.
In a statement, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, condemned the “heinous act”, expressing his “deep dissatisfaction with the recent violence committed once morest women in Kurdistan.”
“The government should impose the harshest possible punishment once morest the perpetrators” of these crimes, he added. “There is no honor in honor killings,” he said.
In June 2011, the Kurdistan Regional Parliament passed a law criminalizing female genital mutilation and domestic violence. In the law, penalties amount to life imprisonment for perpetrators of honor crimes. The United Nations welcomed the law at the time, saying it was a remarkable progress following years of claims.
But the application of this law is hampered by a “climate of impunity and fear of gossip,” according to AFP.
“The security services do not take the same measures in cases of killing women as they do in cases of killing men,” Munther said.
She adds, “Some of the cases of murder of women do not even reach the courts, and are dealt with through clan reconciliation between the family of the man and the family of the victim’s wife.”
