Femicides increasing in South Kurdistan
A 14-year-old was shot dead in Kifrî in South Kurdistan. Her father is suspected of having killed her. He's on the run.
In the small town of Kifrî in the Germiyan region of South Kurdistan, a 14-year-old girl fell victim to femicide on Monday. The girl, who was born in 2008, was shot twice in the chest, according to the director of the local emergency clinic, Rebwar Muhammed.
According to the security authorities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, the child's father is suspected of having shot the girl. He is on the run and a manhunt has been launched. The man lived separately from his family and is considered violent. His ex-wife and mother of their daughter is said to have reported him several times for domestic violence.
In South Kurdistan there has long been a sharp increase in violence against women and femicides. At least 24 women were victims of femicide in 2021, according to figures from the Department for the Prevention of Violence Against Women set up in the Ministry of Interior of the Kurdistan Region. However, independent women's organizations assume that the number of unreported cases is at least ten times higher, since perpetrators often construct scenes to make femicide look like suicide, an accident or natural death. Women are often driven to suicide by men around them.
Jineolojî Academy: Femicides in the region are based on a system
According to the Jineolojî Academy in Southern Kurdistan, femicides in the region are based on a system. The causes are independent of social status, cultural or religious affiliation, but lie in the prevailing patriarchal way of thinking, which sees women as property and slaves of men. The organization also criticizes the fact that the government takes practically no measures for real victim protection in favour of those affected by violence and uses cases of violence against women and femicide for its own political propaganda.
Laws to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence have been passed. However, the regulations are hardly used at all for the application and deterrence of perpetrators. In this way, the political leadership would share responsibility for the violent situations.
