Women Dismantling Militarism
Facts, Articles,
and Ideas from
the Global Fund's Militarism Initiative
Addressing Trafficking in Iraq
The Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI)
Iraq
The Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) was founded in Baghdad in June of 2003 to defend women's rights and achieve women’s equality in Iraq. OWFI plays a crucial role in the women’s movement both in Iraq and throughout the MENA region.
Under an occupied and heavily militarized Iraq, OWFI addresses the various forms of violence against women that this engenders. They conduct research to lobby the Iraqi government to provide protection and services for women. OWFI works to stop so-called ‘honor’ killings and the trafficking of women and the sex-industry. Their Anti-Trafficking program helps educate the public on the large numbers of women forced into sex work as a result of Iraq’s instability. They put pressure on the Iraqi government to strengthen its laws against those who benefit from the selling of women, girls, and children. In March 2010, OWFI released a fact finding report on Prostitution and Trafficking of Women and Girls in Iraq. OWFI also advocates for women’s human rights inside prisons and detention centers.
In addition to providing shelter for women survivors of gender-based violence, OWFI also demands an end to discriminatory laws that allow violence to continue. OWFI reports that, "after the war on Iraq, the social and political scene has turned into a misogynist one that does not accommodate women's freedoms or secure their safety." Women are harassed for being in public and women human rights defenders, politically active women, PhDs, professionals and office workers are among the most targeted and killed.
Its Media Program runs a feminist newspaper called Al-Mousawat (Equality), the only publication in the country to address controversial issues such as veiling, trafficking, and prostitution. OWFI uses its Mousawat radio station, with coverage throughout Baghdad and its suburbs, to discuss topics on women’s rights, freedom, and secularism. In 2004, it gathered almost 1,000 people in Al Fardaws Square to demand a secular and egalitarian constitution and has since organized major events on International Women’s Day. On March 8th, 2008, OWFI brought together 1,200 participants in Baghdad’s Technology University to engage in poetry readings, play women’s rights themed music, and put on a play about the “honor killing” of Doa Khalil. That year OWFI organized Al Zawraa’s Annual Freedom Space Festival hosting 1000 participants and featuring 14 musicians and eight theater groups. The event was unprecedented in the context of insecurity that Iraq has been witnessing ever since the 2003 American invasion.
