March 8th: A day in opposition against the genocide on the people of Mosul

Instead of doing celebrations for women struggles and achievements over our modern histories, we spend the days of March 8th waiting for the news from the battle of Mosul. When the news about the liberation of West Mosul are passing as a new or as a lightening phase or stage, then it follows it weeks of exhausted news from the transgressions of Shi’a Militias, kidnapping, demanding ransom and throwing their body corpses, as if the battle is a sectarian war and not as a battle to liberate the whole city from ISIS.
In those days the intensive bombing is still ongoing on the East of Mosul on people who are suffering starvation and thirstiness; those who ISIS is using them as human shields. As these families are waiting in the houses death from starvation and hunger, in the time that the International community are surrounding them from everywhere with their tanks directed at them under the slogans of liberating them.
Starvation cases have passed on Mosul city repeatedly during the history days but there weren’t cases for shelling, destruction, starvation and sectarian revenge as we are passing in it during our days. After the families are suffering killings and enslavement from ISIS, they are suffering now on the West of Mosul districts the Militias that have started to kidnap the sons of the families in order to ask for ransom but without getting the sons back alive to the families. After new districts are liberating, they demand from the families to displace forcibly in order to ransack and stole the furniture of the families in front of their eyes. When Khawla from Ma’moun neighborhood had refused to leave her house, they killed her in front of the other families and still her body corpse is in front of her house.
Iraqi women’s suffered a lot in the light of the imposed sectarian wars on Iraq; after the enslavement cases on ISIS hands, the enslavement that has been fallen on the Yazidi, Turkuman, Shabks and Christians women’s. Thousands of them find themselves with children from ISIS fighters, or pregnant from them. The women’s and children fates will be unclear. The Yazidi woman can’t get back to her society with a child from ISIS fighter. While the women’s from the Western district who are Muslims are waiting their fate of honor killing crimes, many of them had died… while the shame should be on their tribes who couldn’t protect them from ISIS. The Christians women’s are waiting in the camps after the transgressions on them and their communities who don’t dare to get them back to Mosul, unless it will be turned to International Sanctuary which protect them from the Islamic transgressions whether from ISIS or without ISIS.
We in OWFI are watching the events to reach the ability access to lift the gross injustice on women’s in the camps as possible as we can. Meanwhile, we addressed the Ministry of Defense to allow us to open shelters to women’s in Mosul who suffered enslavement and will suffer also the aggressive killings by their tribes in this old historic chapter. Neither the Ministry of Defense nor their representatives have reposed to us which looks like they don’t consider themselves as responsible on the lives of thousands of threatened Iraqi women.
Under the coverage of the Iraqi Parliament, some discussions are spinning about the ”family protection law” that has been written after the oppositions for more than 14 years on the violence directed against women’s. The legislatives have insisted on not to put in its title the naming of ”Violence” or ”Woman”. Instead that the goal of this law should be protecting hundreds of women who are killing annually but it transpires from its code (text) that it is just to reunion the family members and to force the woman on getting back into her house although of the violence imposed on her. As the safe houses (Shelters) that are mentioning in this panel code had come as a respond to our opposition for 14 years but it wasn’t sufficient as for these new shelters are considered as prisons to women.
The government empowerment to the tribal and religious institutes hadn’t meet with the outlooks and freedoms of the youngest women. As a result, it pushes many youngest women’s in big numbers to reject the enslavement of the family housed and work life imprisonments. The numbers of the women’s who are fleeing from their tribe cruelty, work enslavement and the isolation imposed on them are increasing daily. This opened and started the growing cases of the feminist individual revolt which become a characteristic for this historical period. OWFI is working on disseminating the shelters/safe houses for these women’s and organize them within a political feminist resistance which realizes their goals and enemies and it could be a way to get rid of this society. We will continue forward until we built a feminist base which stand against all the imposed transgressions on the Iraqi women, whether in ISIS era or without them.
Long live March 8th as a symbol of our feminist struggles for equality and freedom.

Yanar Mohammed – OWFI president March 7, 2017

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