Al-Monitor: What do you want to offer to the women of religious minorities?
Maghamiss: I was tasked with the follow-up on the affairs of women of the three religions at the divan. I found that there is an overwhelming mission in this respect, which is to address discrimination against the women of these religious minorities — Christians, Mandaeans and Yazidis — and even against Muslim women who suffered from the scourge of war and the sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites. Women are the most vulnerable segment; if a woman’s husband or father is killed in the Sunni-Shiite conflict, she is left alone to provide for her family.
The enslavement of Yazidi women by the Islamic State is a catastrophe on all levels, and yet we stand idly by, unable to free these women detained by IS. Planning to preserve women’s dignity is an integral part of our work in the follow-up committee on women, such as paying ransoms to free those kidnapped by IS or at least offer a shelter to the Yazidi survivors.
Once again I confirm that the crippling lack of financial allocations prevents us from taking any efficient step.
Al-Monitor: In light of the foregoing, are you practically unable to help women from religious minorities in general, and Yazidi women who were liberated from IS in particular?
Maghamiss: The lack of financial allocations and the ensuing halt of the endowments projects will not discourage us from continuing our work. We have been exerting all possible efforts. We had no other choice than taking action.
For example, the divan has set on its list of our priorities building a camp for the Yazidi women who survived enslavement by IS as well as displaced Yazidi women with their children. I went on a field visit on Dec 1, 2015, to Sheikhan, an area where the divan had built a camp near the Yazidi sacred Lalish temple.
The project cost 2.6 billion Iraqi dinars [$2.3 million], and it was assigned to a local contracting company. We are hoping to get the allocations from the Iraqi government in the future to pay the contractor’s financial dues [deferred payment]. By virtue of my work as responsible for women's affairs in the divan, I inspected the project and followed up on it by conducting a field visit.
I also urged the contractor to complete the project and followed up on his needs. Together [with the contractor], we set a time limit to finish the project, not exceeding three months, however this period may be extended for two months for the completion of additional works that I am directly in charge of. This is the best we can do under the current circumstances.
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