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News from
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Iraqis Protesting
Against Corruption
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The Organization of
Women's Freedom in Iraq
Crisis Update
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An example of the horrors Iraqi women are facing is the story of Safiya, who OWFI activists recently interviewed:
"After ISIS had killed my husband and son, we could not bear to live in Hawija any more. I planned to escape the city with my family, but we were caught at a checkpoint. They took my four daughters by force and killed our driver. I was able to reach to Kirkuk.
I see nightmares of Rawaa, Alaa, Noor and Luma being tortured and enslaved by these human beasts. I have already tried to kill myself, to end my suffering, but what of my daughters and who will save them?
My only salvation is to beg money from my relatives, and take the trip to Raqqa, the capital of ISIS, where I might find my daughters, and maybe buy them."
"I need to go save my daughters, because nobody else will."
Just like Safiya, thousands of Iraqi mothers, sisters and even fathers are anguished by the medieval and monstrous practices of ISIS. Rawaa and Alaa were university students while the two other sisters were still at high school.
The occupation of Iraq, combined with conflicts of the so called Arabic Spring have created bloody medieval monsters who are training thousands of abducted youth and children in their camps, and away from their mothers and sisters.They instill in them hatred for other religions and for women, so when the time comes they will persecute, rape and kill, with no regret or hesitation.
Many of our Iraqi children are in those camps now, while the world is watching.
Our NGO work continues to resist and protect. But the job is too big for us, and we cannot do it alone.
~ Yanar Mohammed, President, OWFI
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OWFI Opens New Shelters to Serve Victims of ISIS and Trafficking
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| Yanar Mohammed talks with displaced Yazidi women |
The focus of much of OWFI's work continues to be sheltering and supporting women and girls victimized by trafficking or brutally abused by ISIS.
In the north, we have been working for several months to open a shelter for Yazidi women and girls who have escaped enslavement and torture by ISIS. We are partnering with local activists, providing them with training in our feminist, empowering approach to helping victims. We are renting a house, and are tirelessly fighting the bureaucratic hurdles put before us by both the Kurdistan Regional Government and the central government in Baghdad. We hope to open the new shelter in the coming weeks.
We are also opening a new shelter to protect women of Basra from honour killing. OWFI was approached by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) for assistance when they became aware of 31 women imprisonned for prostitution - women who had been trafficked and abused. At least 10 of them were in immediate danger of honor killing by their tribes should they be released. UNAMI sought our assistance because we are the only organization to protect women from honour killing, trafficking, and abuse in Iraq.
Dalal Jumaa, the experienced head of our anti-trafficking program, travelled to Basra to consult with the UN officials, and we agreed to develop a plan for the women's safety and well being.
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OWFI's Sheltering Work Needs Legislative Support
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Providing safe shelter and support to heal from trauma for victimized women and girls is a major activity for OWFI, one which we have been doing since our organization began in 2003.
During most of this time, OWFI was the only NGO providing life-saving shelter and services for women in Iraq. Every month, two or three more women come to us for help. We developed techniques and procedures for the local context, and recently founded the National Coalition Against Trafficking, which rallies other Iraqi NGOs around this important issue, and provides them with training in how to assist victims. We have become the experts in Iraq in sheltering women. So much so that that western embassies and UN agencies come to us for help. Our latest resident, a Swedish-Iraqi, reached a safe place this week after we helped her out of a life threatening situation.
It is ironic that all the good we have been able to do for abused women over the years has been done
without the official approval of the Iraqi government. While it has done nothing itself to help its female citizens who are victims of these crimes. In fact, for many years, government officials denied that Iraqi women were ever prostituted (laughable when many languished in prison on that charge) and accused us of insulting Iraqi womanhood when we pointed out the truth.
Our shelters have even been vulnerable to politically-motivated accusations of operating a brothel!
The horrific abuses perpetrated by ISIS have made the reality of trafficking and sex slavery impossible to deny. With the help of our allies in the National Coalition Against Trafficking, we are beginning to dialog with and educate officials.
Our demand that women survivors of ISIS slavery and torture receive financial support from the government, something no other group was advocating,
was successful and the government has agreed to it.
The next needed step - long overdue - is passage of legislation allowing NGOs to operate shelters. This will be a major focus of our work in the coming months.
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OWFI Brings Iraqi Women's Struggles to the World Stage |
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During its twelve years of fighting for human rights for Iraqi women, OWFI has gained a strong reputation as an effective and uncompromising organization. In the coming months, we will have the opportunity to share the full picture of what Iraqi women are suffering, and fighting for, with important audiences abroad.
In October, Yanar Mohammed will address the UN Security Council in New York on
behalf of the NGO Working Group and civil society at the annual open debate on women, peace and security.
In November, Yanar will make a presentation to the
Third World Conference of Women's Shelters in the Netherlands. She will speak about protecting women in a context of conflict and war, where governmental support and a legal structure in which to operate are non existent.
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OWFI Activists Raise Women's Voices in Massive Anti-Corruption Protests |
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This summer, tens of thousands of Iraqis participated in massive protests against sectarianism, governmental corruption, and lack of services in cities across central and southern Iraq.
Many media stories showed a sea of male faces. But in fact, women were very involved in the protests. Here, a group of OWFI activists participates. In the center, Yanar Mohammed holds a sign calling for equality for women.
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Shelter Graduates Build New Families |
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Our goal in helping victimized women is that they will heal from their traumas, learn new skills and ways of making a living, and "graduate" from our shelters to live the kind of lives they hope for. In many cases, these graduates never leave us, because they become strong activists themselves, helping OWFI continue and expand our work.
Pictured here are two wonderful women who first came to us for shelter and support, and are now making valuable contributions to OWFI's work, as well as happily married mothers. We celebrate their strength and success! And we celebrate our newly born children!
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Help us let the world know what is
really happening to women in Iraq.
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OWFI is grateful for financial support from:
The European Commission
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
Hivos Madre V-day
Thaler Foundation
Global Fund for Women
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Building Feminist Resistance in Iraq since 2003
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