JULY 1, 2004
MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN IRAQ! DONATE TO OWFI
Support Iraqi women as US "handover" leaves them with the crumbs
from CodePink
June 30, 2004
The US is trying to fool the world that it is "handing over" power to Iraqis while maintaining 140,000 troops, controlling the reconstruction contracts and undemocratically appointing new leaders. But the Iraqi women that CODEPINK has been working with are not fooled. "This so-called transition is an attempt to cover up the total fiasco of the US occupation," said Yanar Mohammed of the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq. "Unfortunately, it will not stop the violence, it will not bring us closer to democracy and it will not improve the lives of Iraqi women. We need the solidarity of women in the United States to help us achieve true sovereignty and women's rights."
CODEPINK has been working hard this past year to support women in Iraq. We want to thank those of you who joined our effort to get 10,000 people to sign a petition to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and UNIFEM Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer. The petition described the negative impact of the US occupation on Iraqi women and asked the UN to ensure that women had a strong voice in any transition government. We urged the UN to uphold the goal of the interim constitution calling for 25% women in government positions.
<http://www.codepinkalert.org/National_Actions_Petition_for_Iraqi_Women.shtml>
We sent the petitions to UN Special Advisor Lakhtar Brahimi before he traveled to Iraq in May to appoint the transitional government, and we had a meeting with UNIFEM Executive Director in New York to discuss our concerns.
We have since learned that of the 36 people appointed to the new transitional government, six (or 16%) are women. On the positive side, it is better than in the last Iraqi Governing Council, which only had three women. Also, a special Ministry of Women's Affairs was created. On the negative side, six women is below the stated goal of 25% women in government, and several of the women do not have a history of working on behalf of women's rights.
But more importantly, many Iraqi women see this transitional government as illegitimate so the percentage of women in government is not a major issue. They are more concerned about ending the violence -- including the rape and kidnapping of women, stopping women's rights from being undermined by the conservative Islamists who have gained power under the occupation, and easing the tremendous economic difficulties women are presently facing.
The Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) is organizing women to address these issues, despite the personal risks, including death threats targeting founder Yanar Mohammed. At the end of January they organized women to go out into the streets to protest a new resolution that turned the civil family code into one governed by Sharia law. The women won, and the resolution was overturned.
OWFI is running shelters for women who have nowhere to go, including women who have been raped and then threatened with death by their own relatives for shaming the family. (In fact, this has been the fate of several women who were raped in US prisons and then returned home to become the victims of "honor killings.")
OWFI is worried about the growing influence of Islam in Iraq, including attempts to force women to be veiled, and growing influence of religious leaders in politics. "Most Iraqis are Muslim, but does our Constitution have to be religion-based?" asks Yanar. "Right now, the interim Constitution will take away rights that Iraqi women gained back in the 1950s and 1960s. It will enshrine Sharia law, Islamic law, instead of separating religion and state. It will be based on a doctrine that says that in marriage one man is equal to four women, that men should get twice the inheritance as women, that women shouldn't hold positions like being judges. It will be based on text written thousands of years ago that describes women as deficient in intellect. We need a modern government, a secular constitution, and we will organize women to demand that."
The US occupation of Iraq has done a tremendous disservice to Iraqi women. It has brought suffering to the families of those killed, maimed, unjustly imprisoned and abused. Women's dreams of a better life post-Saddam Hussein were quickly dashed, as they faced a new wave of violence, lawlessness and insecurity. And then the US began courting conservative Islamists who are trying to erase the gains that Iraqi women have made over the last century.
As a small gesture of solidarity to the Iraqi women and an apology for the actions of our government, we recommend that CODEPINK supporters mark this sham hand-over of sovereignty by making a donation to the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq.
<http://www.equalityiniraq.com/donations.htm>
Let us show Yanar Mohammed and the other women of Iraq that we are determined to stand by them as they try to heal their fractured nation and build a truly sovereign state where women live in equality and dignity.
In peace,
Andrea, Bonnie, Claire, Gael, Jodie, Lora, Medea
<http://www.codepinkalert.org/>www.codepinkalert.org