Erbil protests Tammo's assassination - Kurdish Globe

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Kurdish Globe No. 325, Saturday, October 15, 2011 8 Interview with the minister of Labor and Social Affairs Public and private sectors will be protected equally In an interview with The Kurdistan Globe, the minie ister of Labor and Social Affairs, discussed rehabe bilitation centers, women's shelters, burns centers, decreasing unemployment and several other issues. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Asos Najeeb confirms the condition of rehabilitation centers have been going through an impe provement processes, but still have outstanding issues. She revealed that Kurdistan Regional Government has laid a foundation stone for a new rehabilitation center in Erbil. Globe: How is the new rehabilitation center dese signed? Najeeb: It is designed acce cording to international standards; it will have a progressive health center for treating those who were arrested for using drugs. We have agreements with a European organization that will run courses for those who work in the center. We are working on building anoe other rehabilitation center in Suleimaniya city also. Most of the organizations that observe rehabilitation in the region, see improveme ments in the system. Globe: Some people say the women's shelters have lots of shortcomings. Is this true? Najeeb: Most likely, the shortcomings are lack of appropriate buildings and a system to run them. But we have sent a proposal rele lated to the shelter system to the Ministerial Council, which sent them it also to the Consultancy Committee to identify the mechanisms and tasks of the shelters. Globe: How many wome en's shelters are there in Kurdistan Region? Najeeb: There are shelters in the cities of Erbil, Sule leimaniya and Duhok. But in our Region we think we GLOBE PHOTO/ Safin Hamed Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Asos Najeeb. don't necessarily have to put all the women in one place. We may need more than one place to provide protection for women. Globe: What has your ministry done to help preve vent “honor killings” and suicides? Najeeb: What we notice is that suicide and murder is not only committed against women. There are cases of men who have committed suicide, too. The killing is not only in Kurdistan Rege gion, but in other countries of the world. It is not only my ministry's job to fight these cases but it is the task of the other related agencies, civil society organizations and citizens as well. We all need to play a role by coope erating with each other. We need to help social workers hold conferences and do rese search. The cases are about to become phenomenon, that is why we need to work on them. All the statistical data concerning women's issues are conducted by the Directorate on Research on Violence Against Women. Globe: You submitted a draft proposal to Parliament concerning job opportunite ties. What is the aim of the proposal? Najeeb: We as ministry, with five projects, are tryie ing to find jobs for those who are jobless and haven't found jobs in the public secte tor. But we need to expand our vision by thinking that solving the unemployment issue is not the task of only one ministry. Now we have a policy for operating the system and we are waiting on a final study. Once we have finished it, we will submit it to the Ministerial Council. The proposal was designed with the cooperate tion of International Labor Organization and the aim of it is to find jobs for those who are jobless. The Minie isterial Council and KRG will adhere to the content of the proposal as decreasing unemployment is affiliated with both the Ministerial Council and all the other ministries. We need also to ask the organizations to help the government because creating jobs is a national task and one ministry is not responsible for it alone. Globe: There are many differences between those working in the private secte tor and those in the public sector. Do you a plan to give the same privileges the public sector employees have to those in the private sector? Najeeb: We have sent a draft law to Parliament with several sections that address this. Those who work in the private sector should be as safe as those who work in the public sector. More impe portantly, the government needs to allocate money from the general budget to fund more projects and inve vest in those working outse side of the government. Globe: What happened to unemployment insurance? Najeeb: We have sent offe ficial letters to the Finance Ministry to decide who is eligible to receive the bene efits. In the near future, the jobless university graduates will receive the benefits. Globe: How about the loans for small projects? Najeeb: According to the latest figures, 320 people so far have received loans for small projects but the proce cess is still continuing and people fill in forms daily. Globe: Some families probably don't need benefits from Family Care project but they receive them anywe way. Wouldn't it be better if only those who need help get it? Najeeb: We plan to go over all the names registered in the program and remove those who don't need help and remove duplicates from the system. We also hope to use a database to help solve the problems. Globe: Another project was set up to help divorced people, but so far no body has received the money. Why is that? Najeeb: There is no spece cial fund allocated officially for divorced women at the Finance Ministry, but we're trying to allocate a budget for divorced women from the Family Care budget. We as a ministry try to do make suggestions and the Finance Ministry is the source of the money. Globe: You have sent a proposed law to Parliament concerning the private secte tor and the elderly. Could you explain? Najeeb: In the past, only the government ran senior care facilities, but in Europe pean countries, the private sector also does the same job and charities help out. There are some charities that want to do this work, and we have designed plans for them to help them succe ceed. Globe: Are disability bene efits the same for everyoe one? Najeeb: All disabled peope ple receive funds based on the ministry instructions; there is no difference at all. What someone receives in Duhok for example, somebe body in Garmiyan receives the same. U.S. Education Fair in Erbil Ari Mamshae EducationUSA is holding a University Fair at the Erbe bil International Hotel on October 14-15. Matthew Ference, public relations officer of the U.S. Consulae ate in Erbil, said the fair will have representatives from 21 U.S. universities, along with ETS, the organe nization that administers TOEFL and GRE exams. "Each of these universite ties is prepared to offer conditional admissions to qualified Iraqi students- -conditional admissions refers to admitting stude dents who may not have a TOEFL or GRE score that meets their normal applice cation standards," said Fere rence, asking for those inte terested in studying in the U.S. to show up and speak to university representate tives. "Students admitted conditionally attend ESL classes and are guaranteed admission to the degree program if they get the reqe quired TOEFL/GRE score within a specified period of time. University repre resentatives will discuss educational programs, adme missions, campus life and other topics. Students are invited to attend presentate tions that provide informate tion on applying to graduae ate school in the U.S., including how and when to apply, how to create a competitive application, how to select a university in the US., how to prepare for standardized tests and how to qualify for a U.S. student visa." Noteworthy, through the Kurdistan Regional Gove ernment's Human Capacie ity Development Scholarse ship program, thousands of Kurds are currently studyie ing on scholarship in the U.S., U.K., Australia and other countries. The numbe ber of students studying in the U.S. is less compared to the U.K., primarily due to the more complicated admission process in the U.S. and difficulties gette ting U.S. visas.
The Kurdish Globe No. 325, Saturday, October 15, 2011 9 Iraqi women abused under unchanging laws Salma Jassim was beaten, kicked out of her marital home with her newborn daughter on her shoulder and then deserted by her husband. But she says the threat she faces from her own family, who feel shamed because of her dive vorce, is just as bad as the abuse. There are few places in Iraq where Jassim can turn for help. Iraqi experts bele lieve that domestic abuse has increased during the years of war and economie ic hardship since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But atte tempts to strengthen laws to protect women have gone nowhere in the face of heavy cultural and relige gious resistance. The World Health Organe nization has estimated that one in five Iraqi women has reported being a victe tim of domestic violence, and experts say the rate is much higher. Government officials say for the time being there's little hope that laws giving men wide rights to "discipline" their wives will be changed. "There are abusive laws against women ... but we believe that in this era, this project will be rejected," said the Human Rights Ministry's spokesman Kamil Amin. "Politicians have no will to change these abusive laws." State Minister for Wome en's Affairs Ibtihal al-Zaidi agreed. "The new reforms might raise issues against Islamic laws as well as tribal and traditional norms," she said. "It is a very sensitive issue." Al-Zaidi's ministry is working with other minie istries along with civil society organizations in coordination with the United Nations to finalize a national strategic plan for the advancement of women, combating viole lence against women, and preparing draft legislation to protect against domeste tic violence. However, al-Zaidi said she was "very hesitant" to present the draft legislate tion to parliament because of unsuccessful attempts made by Iraq's Human Rights Ministry to repeal discriminatory provisions. "The Iraqi Supreme Jude dicial Council thwarted our attempts under the pretext that the time was not right for such amendme ments which would be rejected by the Iraqi street because they conflict with religious, tribal and traditional norms," said Amin, the Rights Ministe try spokesman. "Not only male lawmakers but even some female lawmakers stood against such reforms because of their extreme religious convictions." At issue is Iraq's penal code, written in 1969, that excuses crimes "if the act is committed while exe ercising a legal right." Husbands punishing their wives, and parents and teachers punishing childe dren are considered perme missible "within certain limits prescribed by law or by custom." In Iraq, some tribes and fundamental Muslim sects believe that Islamic laws allow husbands to beat unruly wives, and even for families to kill women relatives who are accused of bringing shame upon the home, such as in cases of adultery. The authorie ity given to husbands can sometimes be exploited by their families to abuse wives as well. More often than not, women like Jassim route tinely are blamed instead of helped. Jassim said her husbe band's family, which bece came wealthy after their son started a thriving car spare parts business, was ashamed of her because of her humble background. She said her husband's sisters beat her so badly her breast milk dried up and she could not feed her baby. The sisters one day kicked her and her baby out of the house, even ripping her headscarf and some of her hair off, she said. Jassim's husband eventually divorced her after his sisters accused her of stealing money from them. But when Jassim, 22, returned to her family home with her baby, her brothers blamed her for the entire debacle and said she'd shamed their family by being kicked out and divorced. They refused to let her leave the house, held her at gunpoint and threatened to kill her. "I accept insult, degradate tion and abuse rather than the hellish condition I am living in now," Jassim said recently, sitting in the Baghdad office of an Iraqi aid agency that offers legal advice to such women. In September, Iraq was named among 34 countries that will share a $17.1 mille lion grant from the U.N. for programs to end viole lence against women. The U.N. says the money can be used to give women legal and medical access, provide counseling for men and women and other programs. Even small efforts to curb domestic violence short of changing the law have largely failed, office cials and experts say. Last year, the Interior Ministry opened two women's protection cente ters in Baghdad, where victims can file abuse complaints with police. The centers are sponsored by the State Ministry for Women's Affairs, which opened at least one in each of Iraq's 18 provinces. Police Col. Mushtaq Talib, who oversees the two centers in Baghdad, said women rarely file complaints because "they would end up homeless, for their families would surely reject them." At any one time, Talib said, the centers deal with less than a combined 100 cases which were referred to them from court. The WHO study found that 21 percent of Iraqi women – out of the country's population of 30,747,000 – reported beie ing victims of domestic violence in a survey taken in 2006 and 2007, the late est data available. Talib said the actual number of domestic abuse victims likely is far higher. A 2010 U.N. report conce cluded that while it's impe possible to gauge how ofte ten Iraq women are beaten by family members since so few report it, "the proble lem may be widespread." In its own study, Iraq's Human Rights Ministry found that domestic viole lence was a factor in the nationwide increase in divorce cases, Amin said. In 2010, 53,840 marre riages ended in divorce, compared to 52,649 in 2009 and 28,800 in 1997, according to the latest available U.N. and Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council data. In previous generations, women suffering domeste tic abuse would stay with their husbands regardle less of how bad it got. But Amin said now Iraqi women are starting to push back and ask for a divorce when they're abused. These women who are "better educated, enlighte ened and aware of their rights," he said. "They are ready to sacrifice their married life for the sake of preserving their dignity." But even so, many wome en prefer to stay in abusive relationships because the social stigma of divorce isn't just embarrassing – it can put them in danger of their own families as Jasse sim's divorce did. "When divorced women leave one abusive family, they fall victims to anothe er abusive family," said lawyer Wijdan Khalaf. "In our society, women have no options. There is no soce cial protection." AP AP Photo/Hadi Mizban In this Monday, Oct. 1, 2007 file photo, Iraqi women who have been widowed, wait queue to receive aid in Baghdad, Iraq.
Page 1 and 2: From the Heart of Kurdistan Region
Page 3 and 4: The Kurdish Globe No. 325, Saturday
Page 7: The Kurdish Globe No. 325, Saturday

Erbil protests Tammo's assassination - Kurdish Globe

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?