Violence against Women- Conferences& Other Activities

v Conferences& Other Activities

• In December of 2004, IAA in cooperation with the IWN organized a national festival in Baghdad, on violence against women, to commemorate two activists: Ms. Amal Mammlchi and Ms. Margaret Hassan, the victims of terrorist acts in Iraq.

• During 2004, IAA Implemented in Arbil a series of activities to raise social and legal awareness among rural women, including awareness on gender and violence,which  benefited approximately  720 women in the residential complexes  of Daratoo, Kasnazan, Khabat, Baharka andShaways.

• In November 2006, IAA Participated, with a number of INGO’s, in the declaration ofthe formation of the International Coordination Organisation for Gender Justice in Iraq, based in London. The organisation demands the respect of human life and human dignity in Iraq, and focuses on the subject of violence against women during the former regime. And works on training Iraqi judges on international laws concerning crimes of violence against women. IAA Also supported the efforts of the Women’s Coalition for a Democratic Iraq and the International Justice Center,in training Iraqi Supreme Court judges in 2006, concerning crimes of sexual violence in the context of international laws, and the laws of the court itself.

• The Association participated in the General Conference to discuss the draft of the Strategic Plan for Penal Justice in Iraq,which was held in Syracuse / Italy in November 2006. The Association’s delegation presented a paper on equality in criminal rulings for women.

• With the support of IAA, the IWN held its conference in November 2007 in Baghdad,under the motto “Pioneering and Continuity for Iraqi Women March” The conference was attended by more than two hundred personalities from the government and the members and advisers in the House of Representatives and the Parliament of Kurdistan, and the leaders of the national police and the law enforcement operation in Baghdad, in addition to representatives of 86 organisations and women’s groups and other NGOs from all governorates, as well as many from media. The Conference was devoted to honor both the late Dr. Naziha Dulaimi, and Nazik Al Malaika, as well as to discuss the political and security situations, violations of women’s rights, the constitutional amendments and the relationship of NGOs with the government.

• At”The Cry of Women of Iraq: Stop the Humanitarian Crisis” Conference,organized by the Association in Baghdad  late January 2008. The work agenda of the conference included six- problematic topics: displacement, violence against women, women trafficking and prostitution, poor public services including health and education, the suffering of juvenile prisoners and street children; victims of drugs and child labor. The conference was attended by a large number of members of the House of Representatives and representatives of ministries and other official bodies, in addition to the international bodies of the UN agencies and the foreign diplomatic corpse, representatives of civil society organisations from different parts of Iraq.During the conference, live testimonies from survivors of violence were heard;also theatrical presentations, films and documentaries were presented.

• IAA Organized in Karbala , in cooperation with the Ministry of Human Rights -Karbala Office , the General Directorate for Education in Karbala and the social welfare office, three workshops on the subject  of the negative effects of domestic violence(in October 2007 , then in February 2008 and then in April 2008), which was attended by 76 participants of (7) different educational institutions(institutes, primary and secondary schools), its aim was to warn against the dangers of domestic violence and its contribution to the increasing violence in society.

• In May 2008, the Association participated, in Baghdad, as part of IWN, in organizing a symposium on violence against women, attended by leaders of various women’s organisations and specialists in the field of law and judiciary, where they discussed the intellectual premise of violence against women and its recent manifestations in the Iraqi society, and the role of the women’s movement in this regard.

• Within the activities of non-violence against women week, held in November 2008, the Association participated, in some events, along with the network of local organisations in Kurdistan, where six lectures were delivered on the (violence against women: the concept, forms and results) in a number of secondary schools for girls in Baharka complex and Ainkawa district, and were attended by approximately 200 students.