التعئبة الوطنية
حزب الوفاق الوطني

On November 1st, 2017, a regressive amendment on the Iraqi Personal Status Code (Law No. 188 of 1959) was proposed to Parliament challenging the fundamental rights of women and children:
This breaches Iraqi laws, international agreements and UN conventions which Iraq ratified on human rights, in particular those relating to women and children. The draft law ignores article 2 of the UN's Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women by legalising marital rape.
The amendment sets the legal age of marriage for females as nine and males as 15, although it could be even lower with the consent of a guardian, father or a grandfather and permits the husband with unconditional polygamy. Another article gives that men have the right to "enjoy" sex with their wives any time they want, and wives cannot leave their marital home without their husband's permission. Husbands are not required to pay financial support (nafaqah) when their wife is either a minor or a senior and hence unable to sexually satisfy them. Muslim males are prevented from permanently marrying non-Muslim females, which means a Shi'ite Muslim male is allowed to marry non-Muslim females temporarily in what is called mut'a marriage. Mut'a is when a man who wants to have sex with a woman "marries" her in the presence of a religious figure, who acts as a mut'a broker. The man will specify how long the marriage will last, ranging from a few hours to many years. A small mehr (dowry) will then be paid to the woman. Such marriages have no protection or guarantees for women and/or their offspring in Iraq. Only a man has the right to renew it when it expires – for another mehr – or to terminate it early. Temporary marriage and unregistered marriages in civil courts were prohibited before 2003 but are on the increase among widows and poor women since then.
The current law, No 188, was issued in 1959 and is considered to be the most protective of women's rights in the Arab countries. It stipulates the following: the legal age of marriage for both men and women is 18; polygamy is prohibited and taking a second wife is extremely restricted; a Muslim male is allowed to marry a non-Muslim female without conditions or restrictions; and a woman can disobey her husband if he behaves tyrannically and harms her by failing to provide adequate housing or care should she fall ill. This amendment undermines civil courts through referring to religious endowment authorities violating not just the principle of the separation of powers but also human rights and international laws around women’s rights.
Children are vulnerable. We implore to stop this crime against them, women and humanity. Please sign this petition and show your support so we may stop this evil.

National Mobilisation
Iraqi National Party

On 2 August, the IS attacked Sinjar and its surrounding areas, inhabited for more than 4000 years by peaceful Yezidi community.

We have seen long columns of women, men and children fleeing their homeland, trapped in barren Sinjar Mount without basic necessities and vital supplies and facing death.

We have become witnesses to these atrocities, but an equally horrendous crime has gone largely unreported by the international and mainstream media: the abduction of women, their rape and sexual slavery.

According to an Iraqi lawmaker of Yezidi origin Vian Dakhil, who addressed the Iraqi parliament last week, with tears in her eyes, “IS militants have abducted five hundred Yezidis women”. Later the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry indicated that families of the captives had contacted them to report the abduction of their womenfolk.

On 6 August, a spokesman for the Iraqi Red Cross, Muhammad al-Khuza’ee, stated that the Yezidi and Christian women “were taken as spoils of war and exposed at a market for sale”. The women were reportedly subjected to sexual assault, gang rape and sexual slavery. There have been reports of families throwing their children from the mountain to protect them from falling into the hands of the jihadists.

In the context of the Middle East in general and Iraqi as well as Kurdish communities in particular, the survivors face more dramatic consequences, because women’s bodies and sexuality embody family/collective honour. They risk murder at the hands of male members of their family and the community to preserve the group’s collective honour. If the women fall pregnant, their babies also risk death. Such violence, especially rape, can also be detrimental to perpetrating communities in the longer term; the anger desire for revenge it generates can last for generations.

Abduction and sexual violence in conflict are crimes against humanity and have been recognised by the UN Security Council as a threat to world peace and security. Recognition came when the UN adopted Resolution 1820 in June 2008. These crimes are not committed against individual women, but are used as a tactic of war and that requires international mobilization at state and organizational levels.

Girls under the age of 18, in particular, have been subjected to extremely brutal treatment.

Too many minors have been forced into marriage to become a child bride with no means to escape their fate. Too many have been muted by family members or spouses when trying to voice their objection. Time and time again, this has ended in the murder of our girls, whether by their families or by their spouse.
It’s time to put an end to this horror.

Laws have been created to penalize and punish the criminals “after the fact”, but not enough laws to prevent such heinous crimes from occurring before it can even start.

We need a law that will prevent parents from forcing their daughters into marriage before the age of 18 and religious leaders from having the right to perform marriages of minors under 18 as well. This should be punishable by the courts for both parties.

"On 16 March 2013 when we will remember these atrocities on the 25th anniversary; a new motion will be submitted to the Canadian Parliament asking for the recognition of this event and the Anfal campaign as genocide against Kurds of Iraq. Canadian Parliament's approval of a motion which recognize these atrocities as genocide will give hope to humanity that the justice will prevail."

In matters of custody, divorce and punishment, the Iraqi Penal Code and laws clearly discriminate. The gender inequality extends further than a loss of political rights however, the deeply ingrained social mindsets of those living in Iraq make gender equality a challenge to overcome. Iraq have signed the treaties stating that they will take immediate steps to ensure that women are treated justly.

The treaties state that they are obliged to actively prevent attempts or acts of violence against women. There has been no significant change in women's rights and Iraqi women continue to be mistreated despite these efforts for equality. Not enough has been done and Iraqi authorities are now breaching both the treaties and the basic, universal human rights.

By raising awareness of the issue, hopefully global recognition can be made regarding the true social justice issue at hand. Please sign if you support gender equality and would like more to be done to address the issue.

The Iraqi forces prevented the injured and disabled from taking their daily necessities to Camp Liberty. They prevented workers from entering for repairs to sanitary services. Repair or replacing damaged air conditioners is prevented. Residents are not allowed to bring working air conditioners from Camp Ashraf and to replace them. Despite Iraqi government's repeated promises, it continues not to replace or repair them.

These limitations are while the MOU signed between the Iraqi government and the UN on December 25, 2011, states: "It allows residents to enter into bilateral agreements with contractors to provide living necessities and requirements, such as water, food, communications, cleaning, and maintenance and reconstruction equipments at their own cost".

America is trying to divide Iraq to 5 countries! The people of Iraq are angry and refuse to be divided by the occupation forces.

We are one nation and own the whole land of Iraq. Support the people of Iraq, and vote with us to take care of Iraq and keep it one united great nation for ever.