“For some families, the honour of their women is the most important thing,” adds Zilmo Abdul-Qader, who heads the Directorate’s Erbil branch. “They don’t care if their sons have to spend 20 years in prison as the result of an honour killing.”
Abdul-Qader speaks from experience. She had recently seen a family sign a pledge to protect their daughter in front of a judge but just one day after the girl left the shelter, she was dead. The court issued sentences of between 15 and 20 years against four members of the family who had murdered the girl. “But for them, only honour mattered,” Abdul-Qader says.
As a result of what they see as the failure of the pledge system, activists like Abdul-Qader and Omar have submitted a proposal to the Iraqi Kurdish Parliament that pledges should not be the only means of ensuring women’s safety. They want domestic violence laws amended so that family property can also be seized in cases like this. They are using next week’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, on November 25, as a way to highlight the need for a law change.
“We can never guarantee the safety of these women completely but when there are stricter laws and harsher punishments, the chances are that those planning to kill their female relatives will find it more difficult,” Omar suggests.
Staff at the General Directorate to Combat Violence Against Women have expressed a desire to follow up on the cases they see. But often they are unable to because of family situations. Family members won’t let the staff visit the endangered women and often they won’t even let them speak on the phone, Omar notes.
“It’s become increasingly clear that the pledge system isn’t working,” says Bihar Munther, the coordinator of a local network of women’s rights groups. “And if the women are not protected against violence, they may also die in other ways – suicide for instance,” she says, referring to a recent case of two sisters found drowned five months after they returned to their families. Their uncle had signed a pledge guaranteeing their safety.
The cause of death remains uncertain. But as Munther says, “they came from very poor conditions and they went back to very poor conditions. One way or another that led to their deaths in these obscure circumstances.”
(Violence against women image via Shutterstock)
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