Rewaz Faiaq: Kurdistan Parliament is working with Ministry of Interior to amend domestic violence laws

Shafaq News/ Kurdistan's Parliament Speaker, Rewaz Faiaq, attributed the persistence of violence against women in the Region to the lack of legislation, highlighting the cooperation between the Region's law-making body and the Ministry of Interior to curb this phenomenon.

Parliament Speaker Faiaq's comments came during a keynote speech she delivered before the Gender Equality Conference held today in the Kurdistan University in Erbil.

The conference was attended by the President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani, and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, among other state officials and public figures.

"Data about domestic violence in the past five years are concerning," she said, "the Parliament of Kurdistan is working closely with the Kurdistan Region Ministry of Interior to amend the laws of combatting violence against women."

"Types of gender violence and harassments have taken different shapes with the development of technology."

"We hereby ask academics to nourish us with their scientific findings to help better fight gender based violence."

In a keynote speech he delivered before the conference, President Barzani said that institutional changes shall be made to provide a favorable environment for gender equality in both the community and government.

"A free woman can pursue all the domains of life. It can be shoulder to shoulder with men. She can be a policeperson, a Peshmerga, a President of the Region if she aspires to," President Barzani said.

"We shall ensure the space that allows women to be equal to men in all the government institutions. It is imperative to boost the women's quota in the legislature," he continued, "in the Kurdistan Region, we have a female speaker of the Parliament; an orientation that is the first of its kind in Iraq."

The President of the Region attributed gender-based violence to "customs and traditions" and "misunderstanding religion", stressing that education is the cornerstone of abolishing this phenomenon.

"Our purpose is building a community that all, men and women, are equal in the rights and duties, [the capacity] to make decisions and secure their needs."

"Establishing any right requires legislation. For this reason, we amended the code of Personal Status in the Region," the President said.