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HRW report critical of coalition’s ability to protect women
By: Ari Paul
Published date: 20/7/2003
NEW YORK – A 17-page report by Human Rights Watch released July 14 indicates that since the beginning of the US occupation, there has been a dramatic rise in sexual assaults and violations of women’s rights in general. The HRW report notes that Iraqi women and girls have faced an elevated amount of intimidation and sexual assault in addition to developing anti-women’s rights Islamic fundamentalists, a group that was long suppressed under Saddam’s regime.
“Women and girls today in Baghdad are scared, and many are not going to schools or jobs or looking for work,” said Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of HRW. “If Iraqi women are to participate in postwar society, their physical security needs to be an urgent priority.”
Since the end of the war, HRW has been highly critical of the US and British forces’ ability to install security in general. “The coalition forces … simply haven’t made security a high enough priority,” said Saman Zia-Zarifi, a senior researcher at HRW.
The report says “Police officers of all ranks consistently told Human Rights Watch that sexual violence and abduction allegations had low priority given the high rate of other crimes, particularly killings, carjacking, and theft.”
While the existence of such crimes may be real, HRW cites the Fourth Geneva Convention’s clause “women shall be especially protected against any attack on their honor, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution or any form of indecent assault,” and contends that it is the duty of the US and British as occupying powers to enforce such a standard as dictated by international humanitarian law.
HRW claims that there have been at least 25 reported cases of rape and sexual assault in Baghdad and that local police, US soldiers, and hospital workers were paying very little heed to any of these accusations.
“Iraqi and US military police continue to receive reports of abductions of women but mechanisms are wholly inadequate for processing these cases,” Megally added.
But HRW is also under the impression that many more instances of sexual assault are going unreported. “Some women and girls fear that reporting sexual violence may provoke ‘honor’ killings and social stigmatization,” the report states HRW’s fellow human rights advocacy organization, Amnesty International, reported that religious extremism was also contributing to a more hostile environment for Iraqi women. AI interviewed one female health worker who claimed, “Because of the current situation of insecurity my life is extremely limited. For example, I cannot visit my family or go to the market without the company of my husband.” She added, at “the Al-’Aqida School in Al-Jazair area, two armed men entered the school and threatened female teachers and the children. Fortunately they left without harming anyone.”
This report comes after a rise in fundamentalist activity, including a burgeoning amount of radical imams issuing fatwas stating that women in Iraq are required to don the hijab among other more religious demands, such as an end to all alcohol consumption.
It is unclear if the US is purposely ignoring the violations of women’s rights or if it is due the military’s inability to function efficiently in the postwar chaos.
However, US inefficiency in handling judicial procedure in Iraq may be due to low morale among US soldiers. The Christian Science Monitor reported last week that troop morale has hit “rock bottom.” Pfc. Eric Rattler told ABC News, “I used to want to help these people, but now I don’t really care about them anymore.”
The US State Department declined to comment on the HRW report
Regardless of the cause of the inability to enforce laws against sexual misconduct, both HRW and AI are publicly urging the US and British to comply with international humanitarian law and actively protect Iraqi women from the reported threat of sexual violence as well as the rise in extremist, misogynistic religious activity.
While it might be impossible for the occupying forces to combat the social stigma of being a victim of sexual violence, it is feasible for the US and British forces to reform the current Iraqi police’s lackluster responses to allegations of sexual violence.
Published date: 20/7/2003
Author: Ari Paul
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