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Kurdistan’s Human Rights Ministry warns of
high violence against women in Iraq's Kurdistan
4.4.2007 |
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April 4, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq), --
Kurdistan’s Human Rights Ministry on Wednesday said
women aged 13-18 in rural areas and aged 15 onward
in cities within Iraq's Kurdistan region are exposed
to different kinds of violence, leading the ministry
to prepare a project aiming to stop violence against
women in Kurdistan.
"Most women exposed to violence in Kurdistan region
are aged 13-18 in rural areas and 15 years onward in
cities. Violence practiced against women includes
beating, sexual harassment, death threats, forced
marriage, kidnapping and forced leaving of school,"
the ministry said in a report released on Wednesday.
To address the situation the ministry initiated a
project, in collaboration with the British
government, to stop violence against women in Iraq's
Kurdistan region, an official at the Kurdistan Human
Rights ministry said.
"The project, the first of its kind in Iraq, is
meant to curb violence against women within the
region," Ms. Tafkah Omar said.
As a start, Ms. Omar said, "we have conducted
surveys in courts and in ministries of health and
justice within the Kurdistan region on cases of
violence against women, so as to identify its
causes."
"We will also meet tomorrow with the British
Consular in Kurdistan to work out a mechanism for
carrying out the project," she said.
The project aims to address the causes and find
solutions for violence against women, the official
said.
Ms. Omar said "among the main causes of violence
against women, as the surveys have shown, were the
social and economic situation, traditions and the
male-dominant culture of society."
In some cases, she pointed out, "women will commit
suicide due to the violence practiced against them."
VOI
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