The Women's Organization for Legal Aid (WOLA) has submitted a number of recommendations on the situation of women in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner OHCHR in Geneva, Switzerland, ahead of the commission's meeting with countries including Iraq.
The Committee against Torture on November 22 closed its eighty-first session after adopting its concluding observations on the reports of several countries, OHCHR media center said. Claude Heller, Committee Chairperson, said the eighty-first session was held from 28 October to 22 November 2024.
At the session, the Committee would adopt list of issues prior to reporting for Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, Iceland, Iraq, Kenya, Montenegro, State of Palestine and Uruguay.
"All UN member states, including Iraq, must submit their reports on the human rights situation in their countries every four years," Shokhan Ahmad, director of WOLA told KirkukNow on November 21. “The Iraqi government has submitted its report to the United Nations in 2019.”
As a result of its 2019 report, the High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) has submitted more than 290 recommendations to the Iraqi government to comply with on human rights issues, including women's rights.
A comprehensive review is scheduled for January to see if the recommendations have been implemented.
"Before the review with Iraq and before the Iraqi government submits its new report early next year, the Human Rights Commission reviews the issues raised by women's organizations and activists to have a clear view of the situation," Shokhan added.
"We, as organizations, can submit shadow reports and explain whether the Iraqi government has implemented previous recommendations or not.”
The US State Department said in its 2023 human rights report that human rights in Iraq deteriorated, accusing both the Iraqi federal and the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG of restricting fundamental freedom of expression and civil space and exercising violence and death threats against journalists, in addition to unjustified arrests and trials, and placing censorship and restrictions on the freedom to use the Internet.
Significant human rights issues included credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, enforced disappearance; torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment by government officials; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, the report stated.
The charges came in the annual report of the US State Department 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, where the report stated in the section on freedom of expression and journalistic work that “individuals were not able to criticize the government publicly or privately without fear of reprisal.”
The meeting was with UN members, who will then be able to ask questions to Iraqi representatives at the meeting early next year based on their own observations and recommendations from women's and human rights organizations.
WOLA submitted a shadow report about the Kurdistan Region of Iraq KRI to the Human Rights Commission. One of the recommendations was the need for the establishment of a special court to settle cases of honor killings of women.
"Our goal is to resolve these cases in the courts quickly and ensure that the perpetrators receive their punishment, because there are cases that have taken three years," Shokhan said.
It also called for the establishment of a domestic court to deal with family problems and ensure that cases involving women and children are resolved effectively and sensitively.
It called for gender balance in legal institutions, ensuring that judges, legal staff, and investigators are equally represented by women and men, with the aim of properly handling and using the evidence collected in cases.
"The meetings discussed the issue of amending the Personal Status Law and its negative effects, as well as the Domestic Violence Law," Shokhan added.
Women's rights organizations fear that the marriage of minors aged nine and above will take on a legal form if the efforts of many representatives to amend the Personal Status Law in Iraq succeed.
"This meeting is important because when the Iraqi government goes to Geneva next month and presents its report on human rights issues, the United Nations is preparing itself through our reports and opinions to know how to deal with the report."
