ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has defended its record of protecting the rights of Syrian women refugees in the semi-autonomous region after a United Nations’ report said they frequently faced violence and discrimination.
UN Women, a specialist agency of the world body, reported in April that women in camps set up for refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Syria had been victims of rape and were being forced into prostitution and marriage. They faced sexual harassment and faced barriers to work, education and freedom of movement.
The United Nations estimates there are approximately 90,500 women and girls among those who have sought refuge in KRG territory. In a published response to the UN report, entitled “We Just Keep Silent”, the KRG High Committee to Follow Up and Respond to International Reports acknowledged the serious challenges it faced in fulfilling its obligations to the women refugees.
The government insists laws and initiatives are in place to protect women. Its response to the UN body spelled out measures taken before and after the April report and confirmed its compliance with articles of the UN Refugee Convention that relate to women’s rights.
Refugees have arrived in Kurdistan with existing social problems. A UN survey in 2005 found that 13 percent of Syrian husbands abused their wives, and Syrian laws do not prohibit domestic violence.
The civil war only intensified the vulnerability of Syrian women. More than half of residents the UN interviewed in camps said that the fear of rape was a primary driving factor in the decision to Syria. Married women reported higher rates of violent behavior by their partners than before the war, particularly those whose husbands were unemployed.
Moving to a camp environment also created new problems. It encouraged early marriage because families worry about their honor and safety. Forced marriage was also motivated by financial desperation, with families prepared to sell their daughters for $10,000.
The KRG admitted it had not been able to solve certain issues, such as harassment of women by taxi drivers—the only means many women have to get to work—or forced prostitution. Stretched by the massive influx of internally displaced Iraqis (the KRG is now home to over 1.4 million outsiders), it acknowledges that the feedback, cooperation, and the resources of NGOs are more important than ever.
The KRG insists that Syrian women are protected under the same laws as local citizens, including the labor code, the region’s draft constitution, and the Combating Domestic Violence Act that enshrines protection and equal opportunity for women—Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish alike.
The region proudly boasts that these laws set it apart from the rest of Iraq. In 2002, the KRG amended an article in the national penal code to make so-called “honor killings” an act of willful murder. Until then, a man who discovered his wife was unfaithful was free to kill or beat her to death and receive no more than three years in prison.
The KRG can also point to the fact that women are free to live and work where they want. With six-month renewable residence permits, women can come and go from camps—indeed they can live in cities or villages should the wish—and they face no legal barriers to employment.
But KRG authorities face an uphill challenge in enforcing many of their laws.
“Though legal preventive measures have been put into place, it unfortunately does not always dissuade society from abstaining” from wrongdoing, the KRG said in its reply. Ending gender-based violence and discrimination required education and a change in mentality, not just new laws, it said. This would be “a lengthy process, not an overnight process.”
UN Women, a specialist agency of the world body, reported in April that women in camps set up for refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Syria had been victims of rape and were being forced into prostitution and marriage. They faced sexual harassment and faced barriers to work, education and freedom of movement.
The United Nations estimates there are approximately 90,500 women and girls among those who have sought refuge in KRG territory. In a published response to the UN report, entitled “We Just Keep Silent”, the KRG High Committee to Follow Up and Respond to International Reports acknowledged the serious challenges it faced in fulfilling its obligations to the women refugees.
The government insists laws and initiatives are in place to protect women. Its response to the UN body spelled out measures taken before and after the April report and confirmed its compliance with articles of the UN Refugee Convention that relate to women’s rights.
Refugees have arrived in Kurdistan with existing social problems. A UN survey in 2005 found that 13 percent of Syrian husbands abused their wives, and Syrian laws do not prohibit domestic violence.
The civil war only intensified the vulnerability of Syrian women. More than half of residents the UN interviewed in camps said that the fear of rape was a primary driving factor in the decision to Syria. Married women reported higher rates of violent behavior by their partners than before the war, particularly those whose husbands were unemployed.
Moving to a camp environment also created new problems. It encouraged early marriage because families worry about their honor and safety. Forced marriage was also motivated by financial desperation, with families prepared to sell their daughters for $10,000.
The KRG admitted it had not been able to solve certain issues, such as harassment of women by taxi drivers—the only means many women have to get to work—or forced prostitution. Stretched by the massive influx of internally displaced Iraqis (the KRG is now home to over 1.4 million outsiders), it acknowledges that the feedback, cooperation, and the resources of NGOs are more important than ever.
The KRG insists that Syrian women are protected under the same laws as local citizens, including the labor code, the region’s draft constitution, and the Combating Domestic Violence Act that enshrines protection and equal opportunity for women—Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish alike.
The region proudly boasts that these laws set it apart from the rest of Iraq. In 2002, the KRG amended an article in the national penal code to make so-called “honor killings” an act of willful murder. Until then, a man who discovered his wife was unfaithful was free to kill or beat her to death and receive no more than three years in prison.
The KRG can also point to the fact that women are free to live and work where they want. With six-month renewable residence permits, women can come and go from camps—indeed they can live in cities or villages should the wish—and they face no legal barriers to employment.
But KRG authorities face an uphill challenge in enforcing many of their laws.
“Though legal preventive measures have been put into place, it unfortunately does not always dissuade society from abstaining” from wrongdoing, the KRG said in its reply. Ending gender-based violence and discrimination required education and a change in mentality, not just new laws, it said. This would be “a lengthy process, not an overnight process.”
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