An Appeal For Action On Behalf Of Iraqi Women
Coalition For Justice In Iraq | 25/04/2001
Since October 2000, Saddam Hussein and high-ranking officials of the Iraqi Regime have
launched a terror campaign against Iraqi women. Since 1994, a series of decrees have been
brutally applied which legalized amputations to punish deserters and thieves. Now
decapitation is being used to punish women accused of prostitution. Saddam Hussein’s son,
Uday Hussein, ordered a militia group to hunt and execute women without the benefit of
legal representation. More than 80 women, including female doctors suspected of being
hostile to the Regime, have been publicly decapitated. In some cases, their heads were
gruesomely displayed on the walls of their homes. It is common knowledge in Iraq that the
Regime encouraged the development of prostitution networks to service their dignitaries and
to entrap individuals, including high-ranking political or military officials, suspected of
plotting against the Regime. Before the Gulf War, women were actually bought by the Iraqi
Regime from various Asian countries for this purpose.
These crimes against women, perpetrated in the name of the fight against moral decadence,
are particularly heinous.The Regime of Terror led by Saddam Hussein has expanded more
aggressively into the repression of women as a means to more fully control the Iraqi
population:
- Iraqi Security Services are known for their extreme violence and evidence now shows the
systematic rape of women prisoners.
- A terrible form political blackmail is also used against members of the opposition abroad,
against some members of the Military and the Police, and against some high ranking
officials: the rape of wives, sisters and daughters are recorded on video-tape and sent to their
families. If there is the slightest suspicion of treason, those videos are shown publicly.
- Many testimonies confirm that young women are routinely abducted and offered to
Iraqi dignitaries.
- Intimidation and threats are frequently used to force women to become secret agents
for the Iraqi Regime.
- Additional laws have been enacted which allow male relatives to execute women accused
of adultery without the chance to defend themselves.
To this somber picture, one must add the fate of Kurdish women who have suffered from the
Anfal Campaign. In the course of this callous campaign of systematic repression by the Iraqi
regime against Kurdish populations, close to 200.000 Kurds have disappeared. The
systematic elimination of all men and male teenagers during these attacks, such as in the
Barzan region where 8000 men are missing or the more than 5000 missing Fayli Kurds
whose women and children in a hopeless situation. Unable to remarry and needing to take
care of their children, these women have never received justice and live in situations of great
poverty. Other women have been the direct victims of chemical bombings and have suffered
deteriorating physical and mental health over the years without access to care. Premature
menopause and birth defects contribute to a dramatically increased rate of suicide.
As signatories to this appeal, we recall respectively the conclusions and the
recommendations of Mr. Max van der Stoel and of Mr. Mavromatis, successively appointed
as Special Rapporteurs to the United Nations on the Human Rights situation in Iraq. We
recall as well that systematic rape is a crime against humanity according to the International
Criminal Tribunal and appeal to the International Community and to the French Authorities
in particular to ask for the following actions:
- To act so as to put an end to serious and repeated violations perpetrated against
women.
- To support the families of those who have disappeared in their search for justice and
truth and to investigate the possibility of providing the aid necessary for their survival.
- To request the establishment of a group of experts under the aegis of the Secretary
General of the United Nations or of a Committee mandated by the Security Council of
the United Nations to study the crimes perpetrated by the Iraqi Regime that fall into the
category of crimes against humanity.
We ask you to circulate this petition for signature and to sending them to us at the address
below. The people of Iraq, especially the women, thank you for caring.
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