A conference held on 14th January in London by Roj Women’s Association, the International Free Women Foundation and the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq focused on stoning and execution in different parts of the world in particular Iran. A collective resolution was born out of it.
Speakers raised their concern about gross violations of women’s rights under Islamic Sharia Law and the politicization of religion. They explained that the immense sufferings women face are not limited to one country or a particular culture although they do differ from one place to another, in different contexts.
Murdering women through stoning and execution is sanctioned by all states and governments are responsible for creating cultures that make women’s life enjoyable. However, in many countries violence has become a routine which the society tolerates.
Nearly 4,000 cases of violence were recorded in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2011 including 720 cases of systematic torture, the government reported last week, but women’s activists say the numbers are severely under-reported.
When I first met Yanar Mohammed in 2003, she was holding a megaphone and leading a women’s rally in Baghdad’s Firdos Square, standing in the shadow of a pedestal where a statue of Saddam Hussein had stood until U.S. tanks dragged it to the ground a few weeks earlier. With a head of uncovered dark curls and a raised fist, she led chants demanding improved security and equal civil rights for women.
Thirty-one percent of the 400 women respondents in Cizre, a Kurdish city in southeast of Turkey, were married at the age of 15 or younger while 38 percent were married between the ages of 16 and 20. The survey was carried out by Zin Women’s Center.
