Leaders and staff of CUNY Law’s Human Rights & Gender Justice (HRGJ) Clinic traveled to Erbil, Iraq, earlier this month to conduct a two-day training with members of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), a clinic client.
Participants in the training represented the organization’s offices throughout Iraq. Clinic staff led trainings on human rights advocacy, U.N. human rights treaty bodies, and documentation of human rights violations.
CUNY Law Professor Lisa Davis leads a session at the HRGJ-led conference in Iraq.
Clinic staff also collaborated with the CUNY Law’s Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice, MADRE, and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), to organize the third segment in the Strategies for Change Conference series.
The conference was designed to strengthen in-country collaborations between civil society organizations working on the frontlines to advance the rights of women and LGBT persons. Members of Parliament and representatives from 15 local women’s human rights groups from around Iraq shared updates on their work, discussed recent developments in the country’s reconstruction process, and developed strategies to collaboratively advance the rights of women and other marginalized groups in Iraq.
HRGJ Clinic staff and members of local Iraqi human rights groups met for two days to develop strategies to advocate for marginalized groups in Iraq.
“It was powerful to see local activists and victims of gender-based violence, including members of the Yezidi community, present concrete recommendations directly to representatives from the international community,” said Ramy Ibrahim (’14), a staff attorney for the HRGJ clinic.
Ibrahim added that the ground-up approach is designed to help advance a community-driven reconstruction process in Iraq, where women’s rights are protected and prioritized.
At the end of the conference, participants presented recommendations to representatives from multiple donor states, including the Netherlands, the U.S., the United Kingdom, and U.N. agencies. Many of the recommendations addressed human rights violations perpetrated by armed groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
A Yezidi woman representative from that community urged the international community not to turn its back on Iraqi women. “People know about us, but no one [has] helped us. Today, I would like you to help us to regain our human rights. …Support women and children returnees.” She also made the following recommendations: “Provide healthcare in displacement camps. Build schools and give education to internally displaced children. Help them find financial support and emotional care. Provide small loans and compensation for victims,” she told the international representatives.”
CUNY Law alum Ramy Ibrahim (’14), staff attorney for the HRGJ clinic, charts the recommendations developed by conference participants.
Upon returning to New York, clinic staff brought together representatives from local Iraqi groups, state donors and U.N. agencies—including the US, Dutch, German, Spanish, Chilean, and Israeli Missions to the U.N., U.N. Women, and U.N. AIDS—to follow-up on and discuss implementing the recommendations generated during the Conference.
The Clinic is continuing its work with its client and local partners in Iraq to ensure that women’s rights are an integral part of Iraq’s reconstruction and stabilization process.
The next step in the Clinic’s work is to deliver the Iraqi women’s groups’ recommendations to the U.N. Security Council. Key recommendations include:
- Clarify the policy on sheltering to allow NGOs to operate shelters for women and other vulnerable individuals fleeing violence;
- Recognize crimes against Yezidis as a genocide, and ensure victims of these crimes receive adequate justice and compensation;
- Increase the level of women’s meaningful participation in peacebuilding and reconstruction processes;
- Increase support to Iraqi organizations meeting immediate needs of women and other vulnerable individuals fleeing conflict-related violence including safe shelter, psychosocial support, medical care, and vocational training;
- Provide access for women IDPs to obtain government-issued identification in the absence of male family members;
- Encourage and support public education campaigns that aim to reduce stigma placed on women survivors, including women who were raped and children born of rape, in order to promote respect and protection for these individuals and to shield them from further human rights violations, including honor killings.
- Amend the law criminalizing abortion in the Kurdistan region to allow for safe and legal therapeutic abortions for women pregnant as a result of rape.