Violence against women in Iraq: endemic behavior with different manifestations

Shafaq News/ Violence against women and girls covers a range of unacceptable and deeply distressing crimes. Yet, despite the individual, local, and nationwide initiatives to embed an infrastructure that raises awareness of its perils, women continue to endure huge sufferings from the scourge of this endemic behavior.

According to human rights activist Ruqayya Salman, children, adolescents, and married women are vulnerable to violence. She added that children, particularly street beggars, are frequently subjected to physical abuse.

As with certain women who experience abuse at the hands of their husbands, Salman continued, "Married adolescent girls are also subjected to a type of sexual violence because their bodies are not yet fully grown, which causes them to suffer from health ailments."

Rahaf, a 35 years old woman, told Shafaq News agency, "at 14, I was married to a 55 years old man who sexually abused me at this young age. I had to seek medical care for the gynecological problems that ensued later.” Rahaf believes that the Iraqi judiciary should set a minimum marriage age that takes into consideration the reproductive physiology of females.

"Harassment is another type of violence that women suffer from, and it most frequently happens to children between the ages of 6 and 12. Therefore, it is important to teach children about harassment so they can protect themselves and report it if they experience it," according to social scientist Warda al-Khatib.

"The Penal Code 393 criminalizes those who harass children under the age of 18, but if the victim (girl) is older than the mentioned age, the law allows the sexual harasser and rapist to marry the victim in exchange for his freedom. Therefore, this paragraph must be amended, and strict laws must be found to deter harassers."

According to psychologist Batoul Issa, "sexual abuse affects victims of all ages, but it affects girls and teenagers disproportionally."

She added that "most victims prefer to remain silent to avoid scandal or death at the hands of their families."

Issa stated to Shafaq News Agency that in addition to medications and support therapy, "the most important methods of treatment are behavioral psychology and rapid eye movement stimulation to reduce the severity of the trauma." She also noted that postponing therapy sessions could make the condition harder to treat.

For his part, human rights defender Azhar al-Dulaimi defines rape as "the imposition of sexual assault on another against their will, through the use of violence, force, or threats of harm and coercion, and in some of the cases, the victim is drugged."

According to al-Dulaimi, "The Penal Code No. 111 of 1969 punishes this offense with several sanctions, including Article 393, which punishes with life imprisonment or short-term imprisonment for anybody who sexually interacts with a female without her consent."

Human rights organizations note that there are numerous forms of violence against women in Iraq, including domestic abuse, human trafficking, underage marriage, and “honor killings”.

In 2020, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior documented 15,000 domestic violence cases. In 2017, the ministry recorded 17,000 domestic violence instances, with 9,000 of the cases involving husbands assaulting their wives.

Similarly, the Supreme Judicial Council revealed 17,000 domestic violence cases in 2019.

The number of suicides increased as well, according to the Iraqi authorities, which documented 700 or more suicides in 2021, an increase of 100 cases. The suicide rate among people under the age of twenty was roughly 37% of the total, while the suicide rate among women was 44%.

Nevertheless, activists claim that the figures on domestic violence are simply the tip of the iceberg because victims are reluctant to report their abuse for fear of offending societal norms or being punished by their families.