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The "missing" women in Iraq's election

Whether Iraq will have what might be considered a truly democratic election is a moot point, but as this piece in Le Monde diplomatique details, the position of women in that election - and the wider "life" of Iraq  - is extremely poor, to say the least.

"Women MPs have not just approved regressive laws, they have failed to raise essential issues such as that of women prisoners who have been detained illegally and subjected to torture, beating, and sexual and personal abuse. According to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report for 2014 (titled “No One is Safe in Iraq”), the number of women prisoners and detainees in Iraq is 4,500. The report also says that women suffer a double burden due to their second-class status in Iraqi society.

The abuse of women by the Iraqi security forces and violations of their rights by the judiciary have become increasingly contentious issues. When this was raised in parliament, after campaigns by HRW and other international organisations, some women MPs came out against the HRW report, saying female detainees have a “tarnished reputation” and do not have the right to be defended. Worse, the 82 women MPs did not even mount a campaign to investigate the cases of female detainees, let alone visit, defend or protect them. Instead, it was male MPs who have raised this issue and visited prisons where women were detained."



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"Even sadder, women MPs, the few secular ones included, have paid no attention to serious issues facing Iraqi women such as the high number of widows, the rapid increase in divorced women and the questions of sexual trafficking, honour killing, displaced women and orphans. According to international and official Iraqi statistics there are more than 3.5 million widows, 4.5 million orphans and more than 2 million displaced families, 17% of them headed by women. Not to mention the victims of domestic violence — 63.3% in Iraqi Kurdistan and 45.1% in the rest of Iraq. None of these groups of people (widows, displaced, victims of domestic violence, detainees, etc.) are expected to vote for women in the forthcoming elections, despite the attempts of women nominees to attract their support. Even if women from these groups participated in the elections, they would be following their male guardians rather than voting independently."

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