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Sad Fate of Battered Women: Sulaimaniyah
7.7.2006
By Chnoor Mohammad in Sulaimaniyah (ICR No. 184,
7-Jul-06) |
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Conservative values and poor
protection laws leave abused women facing a grim
future.
Kurdistan-Iraq.
Attiya spends the few moments she has alone every
day in tears.
She has endured a violent 20-year marriage, and the
misery this has caused her is etched out on her
face. When IWPR interviewed Attiya, she found it
hard to speak because her husband had recently
choked her.
Attiya, 38, who asked that her real name not be
used, says she entered hell the day she married. She
has four children, and her husband often beats her
in front of them in their house in Sulaimaniyah. And
even though she is the breadwinner in the family -
her husband is unemployed - she said of her
marriage, "I have become a slave."
Her husband, Ahmed, agreed, saying that women are
slaves to men. "When I ask for something [from her]
I need it immediately, otherwise I become furious,"
he said.
Domestic violence is a difficult issue to tackle in
Iraq, according to women's advocates and victims.
They maintain that due to conservative values and
weak protection laws, this kind of abuse tends to be
kept quiet, while the authorities often do not take
it seriously.
Many women living with domestic violence don't want
to talk about their abuse for fear that their
abusers will retaliate for making their problems
public. And when they resort to the courts, they
often find proving their case difficult.
According to Iraqi law, a woman can take legal
action against her husband when there are marks on
her body or when there are witnesses to the abuse,
which makes it hard to get a conviction, say women's
advocates and victims.
They point out that serial abusers know the law well
and often hurt women without leaving marks.
Nigar Mohammed, a social researcher in
Sulaimaniyah's personal status court, estimated that
80 per cent of domestic violence cases involve abuse
against wives.
Some lawyers are pressing for protection laws that
rely on personal testimonies rather than physical or
witness evidence of abuse.
Rewas Fayaq, a lawyer, said witnesses are
particularly difficult to find because beatings
often take place in private. She said the law needs
to be changed and that there should be greater
awareness of domestic violence.
"The laws have not been successful in stopping abuse
against women," she said.
But not all in the judiciary think like Fayaq.
Gashaw Mohammad, a female judge with Sulaimaniyah's
personal status court, said, "If the beating hasn't
broken a bone and there isn't a mark on [the
victim’s] body, then it's not a beating. It's being
taught a lesson."
Jwan Fatah Kareem, a lawyer, said that there are
more domestic violence cases in villages than in
cities, due to lower educational levels and social
restrictions.
Women's organisations claim that they have been able
to help decrease domestic abuse cases, but more of
an effort needs to made to support women and deter
men from resorting to violence.
Saywan Rostam, a leading member of Kurdistan Women
Union, said that they have a shelter for women who
face violence - a place they can go while they wait
for their case to come up in court.
But in Kurdistan's tight-knit, family-oriented
society, many abused women who have their family's
support rely on relatives rather than social or
governmental organisations.
But wherever they choose to stay, they face a long
and frustrating wait for their case to come to
court.
Sargul, a mother of two, who also did not want to
use her real name, has sought to divorce her husband
for three years because of domestic violence, but
her case is continually postponed.
Recently, she stormed out of a Sulaimaniyah court
after being told that her case had once more been
cancelled.
"I want to get divorce," she said. "Why is this
court bringing me back and forth?"
Attiya said she has friends who have tried to take
their husbands to court for domestic violence to no
avail. She said that is why she has decided to stay
with her abusive husband.
"I'm tired of my life. Physically, I can't take it
anymore," said Attiya. "I have lost myself, and I
feel like I could have a breakdown at any moment."
Chnoor Mohammad is an IWPR trainee journalist in
Sulaimaniyah.
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