Support Iraqi Victims of Gender-based Violence

The Asuda team appreciates the generosity of the GlobalGiving community in supporting our efforts to improve and protect the rights of women in Iraq. Your funding allows us to continue to care for female victims of violence who visit Asuda’s shelter in northern Iraq.

Additionally, early this year Asuda demonstrated alongside women’s rights activists and NGOs in Erbil in front of the Kurdistan Parliament against an extremist Muslim cleric, Mullah Farman Kharabayi and the publication of his booklet. His statements attacked women’s rights activists and NGOs, only steepening the uphill battle for the protection of women and their rights in Iraq. The Demonstrators handed a statement to the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, voicing deep concern of the cleric’s statements and calling for investigation into threats against women’s rights activists.

Last month, on International Women’s Day, Asuda participated in the establishment of a countrywide women’s network with a group of Iraqi women NGOs called, the Nuhud Iraqi Women’s Network. The formal establishment of this network captures the joint work, cooperation, and coordination of the past two years, reaching a common view of women’s issues, particularly violence against women and girls in Iraq. The Nuhud Network will be invaluable resource for Asuda’s GlobalGiving project, Supporting Iraqi Victims of Gender-based Violence (we have included a copy of the Nuhud Network founding statement as a document on GlobalGiving).

Furthermore, in order to commemorate local women during International Women’s Day, Asuda conducted several activities, including an exhibit of arts, textiles and other products hadcrafted by women in Sulaimaniya, Arbat, and Said Sadiq.

• Nuhud Network Statement (PDF)