Violence against women remains a reality in the Kurdistan Region, but another scourge remains less well known: Threats of violence -- and murder -- against women’s rights activists.
Bahar Munzir and Gasha Dara Hafeed, two women working for women’s rights, regularly receive threatening phone calls warning them to stop defending victims of domestic violence and so-called “honor killings.” Parwin Ali, a civil society activist, escaped a gunshot as recently as this month -- without anything in the media reported about the incident.
“I was shot at many days ago, and the media said nothing about it,” said Ali, who was unhurt after a bullet shattered the window of her hotel room, a week after she participated in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign in the Kurdistan Region. The campaign ended earlier this month.
Read more at Rudaw, published 18 December 2012.
Violence against women remains a reality in the Kurdistan Region, but another scourge remains less well known: Threats of violence -- and murder -- against women’s rights activists.
Bahar Munzir and Gasha Dara Hafeed, two women working for women’s rights, regularly receive threatening phone calls warning them to stop defending victims of domestic violence and so-called “honor killings.” Parwin Ali, a civil society activist, escaped a gunshot as recently as this month -- without anything in the media reported about the incident.
“I was shot at many days ago, and the media said nothing about it,” said Ali, who was unhurt after a bullet shattered the window of her hotel room, a week after she participated in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign in the Kurdistan Region. The campaign ended earlier this month.
Read more at Rudaw, published 18 December 2012.