BAGHDAD, Iraq – “Violence against women and girls will not tackle itself. Relentless efforts are needed to prevent and address it. Through various means,” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert stressed in a speech in the Iraqi capital on November 22.

The speech was made at one of a number of events planned across Iraq to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and an annual 16 days of activism concluding on International Human Rights Day, December10.

According to the UN website, “The UNITE to End Violence against Women initiative is a multiyear effort to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls around the world”

It added that the initiative was launched in 2008.

Both officials in the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil made statements on November 25 vowing to work towards “eliminating violence” against women.

Senior Advisor on Women Affairs to the Iraqi Prime Minister Ala Talabani noted on the X social media platform that, given “the increasing cases of domestic violence in Iraq, we stress the importance of legislating the domestic violence law.”

“We call on the government with its relevant institutions to activate the national strategy for the empowerment of women,” the former member of parliament wrote.

“We reiterate the commitment of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to protect the Kurdistan women’s rights and combatting violence in general and particularly against women,” Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on November 25, according to an official statement.

Multiple forms of violence ‘degrade and control’ women 

“Now, when we speak about violence against women and girls,” Hennis-Plasschaert added in her speech, “what are we really talking about?”

She noted that “the very real threat of physical and sexual violence still awaits many women in society” but that it is important to address also “other forms of violence, such as emotional abuse, which can manifest as efforts to degrade, control, shame or humiliate.” 

“Threats, intimidation and humiliation are also included,” she said. “All are too often part and parcel of a woman’s life.” 

Almost two years ago, Iraq’s health ministry “together with the World Health Organization (WHO), launched the first gender-based violence strategic plan, 2022–2026, on 31 January 2022,” the WHO website notes.

Contacting law enforcement counterproductive?

“Article 41 of the Iraqi Penal Code grants men the right to discipline their wives and children. In such patriarchal societies as Iraq, the line between ‘discipline’ and violence is thin. In addition, there are no domestic violence laws, making it almost impossible for victims to file complaints with police. In the absence of a law making domestic violence a crime, many victims fear that contacting law enforcement will only mean more punishment at home,” notes a Nov.ember 29, 2022 blog post published on the website of the DC-based Wilson Center.

“Many Iraqi laws still do not comply with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which the country ratified in 1986. Even in cases of murder, article 409 of the Penal Code states that the punishment for a man who kills or beats his wife or female relative is only up to three years in prison. And, a judge, who is usually male, has the discretion to reduce the sentence to as little as six months,” the author of the post, Geneive Abdo, noted.

‘No woman immune, no space exempt’

In her speech, Hennis- Plasschaert went on to say that “while exclusion and marginalization can be driving factors, women in halls of power are certainly not immune.”

“Globally, an estimated 736 million women—almost one in three—have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life (30 per cent of women aged 15 and older). This figure does not include sexual harassment,” according to the UN.

In her November 22 speech in Baghdad, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq Hennis-Plasschaert noted: “Sadly, these acts of violence can happen anywhere. In home, in communities, in workplaces, in governance structures – no space or area is exempt.”