Partnership between Iraq, United Nations to end violence against women

The United Nations Population Fund and the General Secretariat of the Iraqi Council of Ministers signed a joint cooperation framework to advance the agenda of the International Conference on Population and Development to ensure that women live a life free from any form of violence in Iraq.

According to a statement by the United Nations Mission in Iraq, the joint cooperation framework will allow “the United Nations Population Fund and the Department of Women Empowerment in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers to strengthen advocacy and procedures for evidence-based laws and policies that enhance response to and prevention of gender-based violence in Iraq.”

“At UNFPA, we value our partnership with the Women Empowerment Department in addressing gender-based violence in Iraq. This cooperation agreement will allow us to strengthen the focus and join the efforts in protecting women and girls from all forms of violence”, stated Dr Rita Columbia,  UNFPA Representative to Iraq at the ceremony. 

For her part, the former parliamentarian and women's rights activist, Rezan Sheikh Diler, renewed the call for the adoption of the domestic violence law in Iraq.

Sheikh Delir said in a statement to PUKmedia, on Wednesday, that "the partnership between Iraq and the United Nations is a very important support, but in the end, ending, stopping or preventing domestic violence needs a law, and a change in the federal government's vision for that."

She also said, that "the Department of Women Empowerment in the Federal Council of Ministers does not have sufficient authority without any law, and it is not possible to work legally in the absence of a domestic violence law and the absence of a Ministry for Women and a Higher Authority for Women."

Iraq suffers from high rates of sexual and gender-based violence. The latest incident was Maryam Rukabi, 16, who was in hospital for months after a 19-year-old man who wanted to marry her crept into her house when she was asleep and threw acid on her face.

About 80% of the fine arts student's face was burned beyond recognition.



PUKmedia