Defense of Iraqi Women's Rights –DIWR
Press Release
Toronto, Thursday, August 8th., 2002
In the last 12 years, the women in Iraq have been hardly hit by economic sanctions. Huge poverty caused by sanctions, has brought about death among their beloved children due to malnutrition, diarrhea, Pneumonia and other diseases, easily cured before sanctions. 600,000 children have died in front of their mothers. The women themselves were also subject to hunger and humiliation due to the collapse of economy, severe unemployment and expulsion from the workforce due to their incapability to compete with the men. Under sanctions, the Iraqi women movement has severely suffered with Saddam’s regime passes anti-women legislations as it pleases without any resistance from any women organizations. Recently, the Iraqi regime has committed a brutal crime against 200 women. With the help of anti-women and anti-equality elements in society, the regime has beheaded the 200 poor women and hanged their naked bodies in an up-side-down position in front of their houses. The regime had accused them of selling their bodies.
These horrific violations of human rights against the women in Iraq would have never happened without the help of sanctions on the whole society. Women in Iraq under sanctions are facing the worst nightmare.
Honor killings had also thrived through the last 12 years of sanctions. In Iraqi Kurdistan, for example, women could be easily killed for having a relationship or love affair or even by suspicion. Thousands of women faced this fate during the last 12 years of sanctions.
The Committee for the Defense of Iraqi women’s rights – DIWR demands and calls upon the Canadian government to help lifting the economic sanctions from the people of Iraq, immediately and unconditionally, and declares that women’s rights in Iraq are ruthlessly violated by the regime with the help of the UN 12 –year-old inhumane sanctions.
Yanar Mohammed, Defense of Iraqi Women’s rights – Toronto DIWR
DIWR Committee defends the rights of women in Iraq under the hardships of economic sanctions, Iraqi regime’s oppression, and the patriarchal, religious, and tribal values degrading to all women.