The role of civil society in promoting womens rights

The role of civil society in promoting women s rights
The tenth anniversary of UN Resolution 1325
It s a great opportunity to come together today to celebrate, with the international
community, the tenth anniversary of the adoption of Security Council resolution
1325, which is an important international instrument to promote women s rights
during and after armed conflicts.
In accordance with the international principles established in international
declarations and covenants half a century ago, woman has right as a human being to
be free from torture or cruel treatment or punishment or inhuman behavior and also
woman has right to liberty and security of person. Thus, violence against women in
all its forms and manifestations constitute unequal power relations between men
and women throughout history and this has led to domination of men over women
and discrimination against them.
Here we must point out that the resolution (1325) has been mentioned in the
resolution of the Security Council on Iraq, No. (1483) in 22nd of May 2003, and this is
in order to ensure equal rights and justice for all Iraqi citizens without discrimination.
This was a motivation for us as civil society organizations, particularly women s
organizations, to fight a campaign to demand the presence of women in decisionmaking
positions. We are proud that we were able to install a constitutional quota of
at least 30 percent in the number of parliamentary seats in the Kurdistan Region and
the percentage of not less than 25 percent in the Iraqi Council of Representatives.
The women s movement played an influential role in the recruitment of a wide range
of ways in which women were exposed to violence and to draw attention of people
nationally and globally to such ways. However, any enumeration of the forms of
violence at any time can not be exhaustive, because violence against women is
constantly changing and reflected in the social, economic and political dynamics. The
new technologies like the Internet, or new conditions of free trade zones, can lead to
new forms of violence against women. And States must be prepared to address new
forms of violence as they arise and to identify them.
We, as nonپ]governmental organizations, have imposed on ourselves multiple
commitments regarding the dissemination and protection of human rights, taking
into account that Iraq has ratified two international conventions on human, political,
civil, social, economic and cultural rights, as well as the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and other international covenants of human rights.
We seek to achieve the strategic dimension for the advancement of human rights as
not only an issue of mechanisms and laws, but is also the issue of education and
consolidating the culture to be reflected in the behaviors, practices and vision. Plus,
human rights should be embedded in the structure of different cultures in the
community to become an integral part.
However the relative improvement of the status of women, especially in the
Kurdistan Region of Iraq in view of the development in the region and the stable
security situation, but still women are excluded from effective participation in the
resolution and peaceful negotiations and the role of women in negotiations almost
nonپ]existent. The role of women is limited to many leadership positions in the formal
institutions. The actual impact on the decisions is often limited, and the loyalties
remain connected with men, clans, sects and religious groups, or political party, and
women will be suppressed to contribute to peace and security in families,
communities and at national levels. There is no clear understanding of the
importance of participation of women in lawپ]making and political decisionپ]making.
In addition to the presence of large numbers of widows and orphans and those with
special needs, women are mostly suffering from poverty, misery, unemployment and
the absence of social security and health. There are also serious violations of women
conditions in prisons and detention camps and the suffering of displacement, and
homelessness with the absence of basic services of housing, electricity, education
and health care
Women face enormous social pressures which prevent them from reporting such
crimes, and the state failed to promote, protect and support women who wish to
report them. This failure manifests itself in gaps in the Penal Code and Labour Code;
and the lack of specialized centers for women; and police bias against women, as
well as practices of lax sentencing.
We have tried as civil society organizations and played an important role in
addressing violence against women, and even influenced on how to address the
issue of violence against women in the discourse more generally. And still, we are
working with various government authorities to find the appropriate mechanism to
disseminate and protect women s rights, based on transparency, access to
information, and partnership in policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation. It is an honor and responsibility to protect the victims and their rights as
citizen rights are guaranteed by law and international conventions, in particular the
resolution 1325 and CEDAW which is approved by Iraq since 1986.
With that in mind mentioned above, we appeal to the international community,
United Nations and its specialized agencies and international organizations, to
support the following demands for us: پ]
1. To include a text in the forthcoming amendment of the Constitution referring
to the recognition of international conventions on Human Rights as a source
of national legislations
2. Strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations and seeking
partnerships to combat violence against women and urging the formal
institutions and decision makers to support the role of NGOs in the area of
violence against women
3. Working on the establishment of a governmental and civil body responsible
for the registration of all violence forms against women, investigating them
and sending them to court, and also imposing disciplinary measures or
proceedings against police and other officials who fail to register criminal
complaints from women victims of domestic violence
4. Activation of the Supreme Council for Women in Kurdistan
5. Putting the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
against Women, and the interpretation of domestic legislation relevant in the
light of these international instruments in the Programs of the Institute of
Judicial and Legal Studies, and the institutes of the police and other training
institutions
6. Strengthening the principle of citizenship and equality before the law for all
citizens without discrimination, via pruning through the preamble of the
Constitution and its articles of all the terms of sectarianism, including Article
41 which is related to issues of personal status, in order to avoid sectarian
strife and terrorism.
7. Create a healthy environment to enable women to achieve gender equality,
and giving them equal opportunities in all areas, and expand their
participation in decisionپ]making positions, and to ensure the proportion of
%25 in the Executive authority and the judiciary provided that it is not limited
to the service ministries
8. Building the system of legal protection and the opening of safe havens and
secure the health and social care necessary for the vulnerable groups
including women survivors of violence, working to enact a law to criminalize
violence against women and women and children trafficking, in conjunction
with strengthening the rule of law, equality and justice in Iraq
9. Giving priority in providing financial grants to civil society organizations and
women s organizations in implementation of Security Council resolution No.
1325, in order that NGOs can finance their activities and campaigns in
lobbying and advocacy on the issue of violence against women.
10.Assisting the exchange of information and experiences and networking among
women s organizations inside Iraq with the women abroad on armed conflicts
in transitional situations, in order to launch advocacy campaigns regarding the
effects of armed conflict on women s lives.
11.Organizing capacityپ]building programs for women s organizations, and the
development of skills through training about gender and violence against
women, women trafficking and peace
In conclusion, we hope that our presence in partnership with the governmental
institutions, the European Union, United Nations and its specialized agencies and
international organizations, brings about the advancement of women in conjunction
with building a state of law and justice. The development of effective women s
participation completes national sovereignty and the consolidation of stability,
security, peace and democracy in Iraq.
Suzan Aref
WEO Director

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