Amnesty International is concerned about the increase in murder of women in the Kurdistan Region – Report 2022-2
The Iraqi parliament consistently fails to criminalize domestic violence despite an increase in “honor killings” and other forms of gender-based violence, documented by the NGO Nation.
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The effectiveness provided by the state to protect against gender-based violence in the Kurdistan Region and central Iraq is very limited. There are a limited number of shelters, run by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Kurdistan Regional Government, in Kurdistan Regional Government cities, but the NGO Nishtiman points to the lack of effectiveness of rehabilitation services for the rescued person. Only one shelter, housing about 100 rescued people, is operational in central Iraq; The United Nations Population Fund is assisting. NGOs in Baghdad are constantly harassed for running informal women’s shelters, as well as being summoned for questioning following complaints from conservative party lawmakers.
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The Iraqi Kurdistan Region is witnessing an increase in the killing of women and girls by male relatives, due to conversion and identifying as transgender women. The Women’s Coalition alone documented the killing of at least 16 women and a 15-year-old girl by male relatives between December and March; The actual number seems to be much higher. Authorities have failed to conduct independent and impartial investigations into most of these killings, which take place in a social climate of victim blaming, such as social media, and judicial indifference.https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/iraq/report-iraq/
