Read an article by Zeina Zataari, Senior Program Officer for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), on the ongoing war in Iraq and its enormous implications and consequences for Iraqi women. The article was first published in Project Syndicate last month:

BAGHDAD – Iraqi women’s organizations and international observers point to an escalating war against women in Iraq, aided by the widespread chaos and lawlessness under the US occupation. In addition to violence by US troops inside and outside of prisons, women in Iraq face daily violence from militants under the guise of religion and “liberation.”

In Iraq’s second largest city, Basra, a stronghold of conservative Shia groups, as many as 133 women were killed last year for violating “Islamic teachings” and in so-called “honor killings,” according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The methods are brutal evidence of a backlash by previously subdued tribal forces that have been unleashed by the occupation: women strangled and beheaded, and their hands, arms and legs chopped off.

With US forces in Iraq now funding both Sunni and Shia tribal leaders in an effort to stabilize the country, conditions for women grow deadlier by the day. Islamist leaders have imposed new restrictions on women, including prohibitions on work, bans on travel without a muhram (male guardian), and compulsory veiling.

According to the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), formed in Baghdad in 2003, women are harassed if they appear in the streets of most Iraqi cities and towns, educational institutions, or work places. Now there are even “no woman zones” in some southern cities controlled by Islamist parties and tribal leaders.

Honor killings of Iraqi women are justified by alleged promiscuity or adultery. In fact, the practice targets holders of PhD’s, professionals, political activists, and office workers. “Politically active women, those who did not follow a strict dress code, and women human rights defenders were increasingly at risk of abuse, including by armed groups and religious extremists,” Amnesty International said in its 2007 report.

Indeed, a top police official in Basra reported that as many as 15 women are killed every month in the city. Ambulance drivers in Basra, paid to “clean the streets” before people go to work, pick up many more bodies of women every morning.

Ironically, the forces leading this assault on women had little or no power under Saddam Hussein. But, following the US-led invasion in 2003, southern Iraq was opened to forces known as Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV) – militant gangs and individuals committed to archaic Islamic rule and suppression of women’s rights.

Some members of these groups now serve in government, others in militias or as self-appointed vigilantes or hired guns. The goal of the PVPV is to confine women to the domestic realm and end all female participation in public and political life.

To date, Iraqi officials have not been willing to deal with this escalating violence against women, or even to discuss it. But, as elected representatives, they are obligated to address these crimes. So must the US. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, the responsibility for protecting civilian populations in an occupied country belongs to the occupying forces, which, in this case, are clearly failing to protect Iraqi women.

Two measures are urgently needed. First, the Iraqi government must immediately establish “Protection of Women” security patrols in Iraq’s southern cities. These patrols must receive gender-sensitive training and prioritize women’s security over tribal or fundamentalist religious values.

Second, pursuant to its obligations under the Geneva Convention, the US must immediately take steps to protect the lives and freedoms of Iraqi civilians. Unless the US does so, it must withdraw from Iraq, because the occupation would merely continue to sustain a breeding ground for violence against women.

The timetable for action is not subject to debate. It must begin today.

The Global Fund for Women has won a Gold Award in the Website category of the 2008 Wilmer Shields Rich Awards. We also won a Silver Award in the Magazines/Periodicals category for Excellence in Communications. This year, 213 entries were submitted to the awards program.

Sponsored by the Council on Foundations, the awards program recognizes effective communications efforts to increase public awareness of foundations and corporate giving programs. We would like to thank the Council for recognizing our work.

Balkans Expert Joins the Global Fund Board

Working in women's rights is a "permanent pleasure, challenge and a living source of energy and knowledge," notes Boriana, a Bulgarian native and Swedish citizen.

Global Fund for Women is honored to have Boriana Jonsson join our Board.  After many years of working on women's human rights especially in conflict areas, and after serving as a dynamic advisor to the Global Fund on our grantmaking in Eastern Europe, Boriana brings to our diverse Board her several years of experience at the Swedish Foundation Kvinna till Kvinna (KtK). 

Fluent in Bulgarian, Swedish, Russian, English and Macedonian/Serbian/Croatian, Boriana has worn many hats at KtK, a foundation active in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus. KtK provides financial assistance, support and advice to developing women’s rights and peace-building organizations.

Boriana's invaluable work as an advisor to the Global Fund draws from her rich and diverse expertise in women's organizing in conflict areas and her experience of working in Macedonia, and Croatia and most-recently in Jordan as the Middle-East coordinator for KtK.

Boriana is part of the France-based European Feminist Initiative that is currently lobbying for new Defense and Security policies with The European Union and for a new/different Europe. She is also active in Swedish politics.  

Josie Hadden, a Global Fund donor and an avid supporter of our work, attended the recently concluded GFW-AWID conference in Marrakech, Morocco and blogged about her experience of meeting with our Moroccoan grantees and learning about the important work they do:

The Global Fund for Women-AWID conference in Marrakech ended. All the hugs and cheek kisses from new friends and sisters had been shared and good-bys made. The next phase of our trip would be site visits.

But first, we spent a day in Marrakech doing a little sightseeing and exploring the Medina, the old city with its maze of alleyways, souks (shops), and crush of people, and emerging at Jamaa al Fna (the large market square) in the late afternoon to the chaotic, fascinating scene of produce venders, outdoor grills, monkeys, snake charmers (be sure to look down. I almost walked right through the middle of the snakes at one point), drummers, dancers, motor scooters and more people.

For the next week we visited Global Fund grantees in Marrakech, Ouarzazate, Rabat and Fez. We met with groups who are explaining the new, more liberal Family Code (Mudawana) to women all over the country. They use van caravans to reach remote villages to present skits demonstrating women’s rights under the new law, and working to get the new rights implemented. Others work at the advocacy level trying to get the police and judges to actually operate by the Mudawana, lobbying for broader coverage without restrictions, evoking CEDAW. Having rights codified is an essential first step, but society and culture do not change easily. Some groups use media and professional theater to effect change.

Other groups offer school for unregistered children, others provide literacy and vocational training for the women. Almost everyone provided “listening centers” where women who are victims of violence can talk about their experience and work through their feelings. One group is working with other groups to build a 200 bed women’s center with a full range of services including longer term shelter.

I had made this trip with the Global Fund because I wanted to verify my positive impressions about the work the Fund does. I wanted to see how their peers reacted to them at the conference and to see how their grantees interacted with them. My instincts were completely validated. I support the Global Fund wholeheartedly and am delighted to be a dedicated and enthusiastic donor.