myMADRE

New York Times Article Highlights Dangers Youth Activists Face in Iraq Protests

Today, the New York Times published an article entitled Iraqi Youths Political Rise is Stunted by Elites. The article asserts the reality in Iraq is one of "a generation gap...split by old resentments nurtured by dictatorship and war and a youthful grasping for a stake in the new Iraq."

But those youths joining others in the region in "grasping for a stake" are being violently silenced. We've already blogged about the story of Alaa Nabil, which we heard from Yanar Mohammed, Director of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI). Alaa Nabil is a youth activist working with OWFI who was detained, tortured and threatened with death by men believed to be Iraqi security forces. He has since been detained again, and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

To read the full text of the New York Times article, click here. To watch a video of Yanar Mohammed speaking about the threat to youth activists in Iraq, click here. And to read more about Alaa's story, click here.

Updated (Monday, April 18): We heard great news from Yanar that Alaa was released on Saturday morning. Two other activists affiliated with OWFI remain in custody, however.

Video: Pro-Democracy Activists in Iraq Under Threat

Recently, Yanar Mohammed, director of MADRE's Iraqi sister organization, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) alerted us that a young activist named Alaa Nabil had been kidnapped, detained and tortured in an attempt to silence him. Immediately, MADRE Executive Director Yifat Susskind worked with Yanar to author a letter to the Iraqi government, demanding action to protect the safety of Iraqi citizens.

We also had a conversation with Yanar via Skype about the threats faced by Alaa and other Iraqi protesters. You can watch a video clip of our conversation with Yanar below:

For more information, click on the links below:

• Pro-Democracy Youth Activist in Iraq Tortured and Threatened
• Letter to Iraqi Officials: Kidnapping and Torture of Youth Activist, Alaa Nabil
• Kidnapping and Torture of Al Tahrir Organizer Alaa Nabil by Iraqi Intelligence
• Iraqi Protests Continue into a Second Week
• The Day of Iraqi Rage

New Report Released on Internally Displaced Peoples

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) just released a new report outlining the trends of internal displacement worldwide.

As of December 2010, the IDMC calculated a staggering 27.5 million people displaced by conflict or violence. This figure represents an increase of approximately 400,000 people since 2009.

Colombia, Sudan and Iraq--all countries in which MADRE works--are identified as the three countries with the highest numbers of internally displaced persons, with numbers in the millions. This means millions of people that are at increased risk of discrimination, lack of physical security, violations of housing, land and property rights and other violations of their human rights.

For more information on MADRE programs in areas facing displacement crises, click on the links below:

• Colombia: Building a Culture of Peace
• Colombia: Protecting Children of War
• Iraq: An Underground Railroad for Iraqi Women
• Iraq: Art Action for Peace
• Sudan: Women Farmers Unite

To read the IDMC's report in full, click here.

Youth Activist in Iraq Kidnapped, Tortured and Threatened

Days ago, MADRE received news from Yanar Mohammed, Director of MADRE's Iraqi sister organization, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), that a youth activist organizing pro-democracy protests in Iraq is in danger. Alaa Nabil was kidnapped, detained and tortured by Iraqi security forces. They have threatened to kill him if he continues to protest. Below is the statement we received from Yanar:

After a police squad released him from a one-hour detainment yesterday, he asked for his personal belongings, as they had banners that he needed to use in the next demonstration on Friday in Al Tahrir Square in Baghdad as an organizer of February 25 Group. After 24 hours, four-wheel drive vehicles with tinted glass were heading to his residence in Al Kifah district, filled with men who are dressed in civilian clothes. They kidnapped him from the alleys around his house, forced his head down so he cannot see where he was taken.

In a big hall, which may have been designated for these tasks, they stood him facing a wall, and they started all beating, kicking, and whipping him with hoses and cables on the back and the arms. When they got tired, he was threatened in these exact words: "We will cut your tongues, you and your organizing colleagues, Firas Ali, Suad Shwaili, and Falah Alwan, if you dare to reach Al Tahrir Square. And if you insist to continue this work, we will shoot each one of you and throw you where your bodies cannot be found."

Then Alaa was thrown into a car which took him away and released him in Al Alawi square, close to the Green Zone.

These are the methods adopted by the new security agencies of the "democratic" Iraq. This is how they handle freedom of speech and peaceful demonstrations. It seems that the militias of sectarian cleansing have found a new campaign to recruit and pay for their services, but for the oppression of peaceful demonstrators this time. And all of these measures are part of the gains of the US occupation.

We will not let the criminals and murderers prevail in Iraq.
Their oppression and blows against the rebellion for freedom will be defeated.
Long live Freedom.

The torture and kidnapping of Alaa Nabil is a violation of his human rights. Please help us raise awareness about these threats. Post this message to your Facebook status:

A youth activist organizing pro-democracy protests in Iraq is in danger. He was kidnapped, detained and tortured by Iraqi security forces. They have threatened to kill him if he continues to protest. We need the eyes of the world now. Post this to your Facebook status to stand up against the violent silencing of activist voices: http://ht.ly/4mrZH

With international attention, we can protect Alaa Nabil and other youth activists under threat.

Women Murdered Every Day in Guatemala

Last Sunday, the Guatemalan security forces reported that eight women had been killed in the past 24 hours. Eight women. They ranged in age from 14 to 43, they lived in the capital city and hundreds of miles away, and they were all shot. One of them was a teenaged girl whose body was found in Barcenas, the same neighborhood of Guatemala City where MADRE’s partner organization, the Women Workers’ Committee, is based.

Then Monday, the same day we arrived in Guatemala City, Amnesty International released information on the targeted killings of women in Guatemala. They highlighted official figures that 685 women were killed in 2010 alone and that less than 4% of all homicide cases result in a conviction.

We’ve seen this crisis in other communities of our sister organizations, in places where violence becomes rooted and where women are particular targets. In Iraq, in the aftermath of the US invasion, gender-based violence escalated dramatically, as perpetrators targeted women and used violence against women to enforce their rigid view of social norms. As the leader of our sister organization in Iraq, Yanar Mohammed, explained, “We have been studying these killings since they began. It is not that the Islamists also kill women journalists, performers, or intellectuals—women are especially hunted. That's because they commit a double offense—by advocating a secular society and by being accomplished, working women."

In a MADRE report I authored on gender-based violence in Iraq in 2007, I explained:

These concerns, together with the failure to collect data, place violence against Iraqi women squarely within the paradigm of "feminicide," a term usually reserved for the widespread killing of women in Guatemala and Mexico since the early 1990s. Feminicide is the sum total of various forms of gender-based violence against women, characterized by impunity for perpetrators and a lack of justice processes for victims. Feminicide occurs in conditions of social upheaval, armed conflict, violence between powerful rival criminal gangs and militias, rapid economic transformation, and the demise of traditional forms of state power. All of these conditions apply to Iraq.

The framework of feminicide also emphasizes the complicity of local or state authorities in violence against women. Iraqi women's organizations report clear links between the Islamist militias who control and work in the police force and criminal gangs involved in forced prostitution and trafficking of women.

…

Shifting the focus from culture to gender reveals a system of power that is nearly universal. A 2005 Amnesty International Report on the mass killings of women in Guatemala could easily refer to Iraq when it describes a ‘notable sense of insecurity that women in Guatemala feel today as a result of the violence and the murders in particular. The resulting effect of intimidation carries with it a perverse message: women should abandon the public space they have won at much personal and social effort and shut themselves back up in the private world, abandoning their essential role in national development.’ This passage captures the intent of Iraq's Islamists, who have little in common with the perpetrators of feminicide in Guatemala, other than a rigid adherence to a gendered system of power.

We’ve talked about this with our partners here in Guatemala, and they’ve told us about the constant fear that women live with. This violence sends the message to women: your lives are dispensable. The lack of response from Guatemala’s political leaders underscores that message. In 2005, then-President of Guatemala Oscar Berger gave this callous advice to women in a national television address: for your own safety, you’d better stay at home.

An Update from MADRE's Partner Organization in Iraq about Emerging Protests

Last Friday, February 25, shockwaves from revolutions throughout the Middle East drove thousands of Iraqis to gather in cities throughout the country, echoing demands for change and access to human rights. MADRE's Iraqi partner organization, the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), was part of the demonstrations.

Their director Yanar Mohammed just sent us an update from the Friday protests, with a multitude of pictures and video. "For the first time in eight years," she writes, "the demonstration united people of different religions, ethnicities, sects, and political affiliations to denounce the extreme and continuous corruption and demand a share for the people in the countries resources from oil." To read Yanar's full account of the events, and to see more pictures and video, click here.

 

The video below was sent with a note from Yanar: "please take a look at the short video clips we took of the demonstration before the shooting. We were still smiling as the shooting had not begun."

(Photo and video credit: Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq)

Celebrating 100 Years of International Women's Day: Advocating for Women's Rights in Iraq

Women have come a long way since the first International Women's Day was celebrated 100 years ago--and our work continues. This International Women's Day, myMADRE is sharing stories from our partners. These stories serve to illuminate the struggles women and girls continue to face around the globe. But they also demonstrate the strength and innovation women display in combating these obstacles.

The following story is from an Iraqi woman named Noor, who found safety with MADRE's partner, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI). Now, she works to secure women's human rights in Iraq.

When Noor was only 16-years-old, she was raped by armed men who were also holding her brothers hostage. When she was finally released, she could not return to her home in the southern city of Basra for fear of being killed. Women who left their homes for longer than 24 hours were considered runaways and faced the possibility of "honor killing" if they ever returned.

Women’s rights activists with the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) found Noor and took her into their shelter. Noor began to accompany Dalal Jumaa, an activist who took care of her, to OWFI’s meetings and programs. For the first time in her life, she began to learn about women’s rights. Noor grew eager to learn more about how to become a stronger woman and how to defend the rights of others.

Years later, Noor continues to participate in the programs of MADRE’s sister organization, OWFI. She is motivated by her belief that all Iraqi women can demand their human rights and a better life for themselves.

Noor began her work with OWFI with no knowledge of women’s rights. Today, with the help of MADRE and OWFI, she is an active women’s rights advocate.

To learn more about MADRE's work in Iraq, and how together MADRE and OWFI are helping many women and girls like Noor escape violence, click here.

A Closer Look at the MDGs: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

While MADRE joins with advocates who recognize that all eight of the Millennium Development Goals are directly linked to women's rights issues, MDG 3 is one of the few goals that specifically address the needs of women.

MDG 3 aims to Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women. The United Nation's target is to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably in 2005, and in all levels of education, no later than 2015. Ultimately, this target only addresses one of many objectives in the fight for gender equality and the empowerment of women. MDG 3 disregards various elements that need attention if we are to ever achieve true gender equality, such as endemic violence against women, discrimination, stereotypes, laws, and customs that violate women's human rights. As such, this goal advocates for change without combating the underlying processes that make such change unattainable.

From Our Sister Organizations: The Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (Iraq)

Since the organization's founding in 1983, MADRE has been fighting to promote gender equality and empower women, by exposing, opposing, and eradicating those very root causes that undermine justice for women. In all of our partnerships, we aim to make justice for women a reality.  This is certainly true of MADRE's work in Iraq. Since the United States illegally invaded Iraq in 2003, there has been a sharp rise in violence against women, including domestic violence and honor killings. Iraqi widows are particularly prone to violence and discrimination, as they face the double-discrimination of being a woman and a non-virgin not afforded the opportunity to remarry. (Click here for more information on the situation of women in Iraq following the U.S. invasion).

In partnership with our sister organization, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), MADRE co-founded the first network of women's shelters in the non-Kurdish region of Iraq to provide a safe haven for women fleeing violence, with special attention paid to widows. OWFI also launched Al Mousawat "Equality" Radio in 2009 to lend women a much-needed voice in rebuilding their country.

For more on MADRE's coverage of MDG 3, click here.

For more on MDG 3, watch UNIFEM's video on Liberia, a country seeking to correct gender inequalities after being engulfed by a brutal civil war, most notably through the eradication of violence against women and the placement of women in decision-making positions:

 

The False End to the Iraq War

Last night, many watched as President Obama announced that “the American combat mission in Iraq has ended” and that “Operation Iraqi Freedom is over.”

These words, with all their sense of finality, ring false.  US politicians may have decided that the war is over, but we know that Iraqi women and families continue to suffer as a result of the invasion.  For years, our sister organization, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), has countered the threats against women triggered by war and occupation.  They have offered shelter to women widowed and displaced by violence.  They have stood up against targeted killings of women who defied religious restrictions by holding down professional jobs or by engaging in political activism.  The US invasion and occupation entrenched political and religious differences in a previously secular country, and women will continue to face the consequences.

We recently heard from Yanar Mohammed of OWFI, who also appeared on an episode of Democracy Now.  She explained more:

There is a lot of mending to be done after seven years of occupation in Iraq.
 
The withdrawal of US troops is always good. Nevertheless, the oppressive measures which stand in the way of freedom of speech and freedom to organize have been already established. Corruption levels are one of the highest in the world. Laws allowing women's enslavement are protected by our "democratic" religious\nationalist rulers.

In addition, it is clear that the removal of “combat brigades” will not mean the end of US military presence in Iraq.  President Obama made as much apparent when he stated that a “transitional force of US troops” will remain.  Meanwhile, thousands of private military contractors are rushing to fill any gaps left by US troops, and then some.  In fact, their number is projected to more than double in the coming months.

Despite the eagerness of President Obama and other US policymakers to “turn the page,” the conflict is Iraq is far from over.  MADRE remains committed to stand with our sister organization as they rebuild their lives and country on the basis of human rights.

Culture Alone Fails to Account for Female Genital Mutilation

The article below was originally published in Jurist: Hotline Buzz.

The report by Human Rights Watch on female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kurdistan reveals the troubling reality facing women and girls compelled to undergo the procedure. Human Rights Watch references specifically the failure of the Kurdistan Regional Government to take seriously the issue of FGM and to enact legislation to curb the practice.

In investigating this issue, many have sought to demonstrate that Islam does not require this practice and that most Muslims practice their faith without FGM. Others have countered with the reverse, claiming that FGM forms an essential part of traditional culture. This debate about whether or not FGM is "cultural" obscures a fundamental reality: culture alone explains very little. It provides a context but does not serve as a useful explanation for harmful practices against women.

Like all behavior, FGM has a cultural dimension, but its prevalence is equally shaped by social and economic factors (like poverty) and discourses (like women's rights) that can be deployed to either combat or promote FGM. Once we recognize the conditions and discourses that advance women's rights, we can also see how a legacy of US sanctions, invasion and occupation has undermined progress for women. War invariably constricts the civil society spaces where discussions on women's rights could occur.

The work to end the practice of FGM must happen in concert with an effort to re-open and expand spaces for progressive discussion on women's human rights that have been shut down by the reality of war and violence. The Kurdish Regional Government must take a strong stance, but we must also work to eliminate the conditions that hamper the progress of a women's rights movement against FGM and all human rights violations.

By Yifat Susskind, Policy and Communications Director.