Category: Article

Women will not remain hostage under laws, practices and traditions of misogynist patriarchy: Wherever there is patriarchal oppression, there will be feminist resistance

In this age when feminist movements started to take big steps towards attaining their rights of equality, freedom and dignity, it is different in Iraq, where women find themselves in a dark abyss and have no right to decide their own lives because of the laws of successive governments under occupation. Islamic opposition groups and …

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Condemnation of the Killing of Six Young Iraqi Women in the Governmental Rehabilitation Shelter for Teenagers in Al-Athamiya

A women’s rehabilitation shelter in Al-Athamiya, Baghdad, suffered a fire that killed six young women and burned and injured other residentson the evening of January 3rd. It was found later that seven young women had filed a complaint against the administration, which was not considered adequately. Official sources announced that the seven young women burned …

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Tribal Killings of Women must be Tried under Anti-Terrorism Laws

Hundreds of women are reported to be killed every year in Iraq, but in reality a thousand additional women are killed annually at the hands of patriarchal tribes who accuse women of immorality and who are proud of this suppression and for forbidding any personal freedom or any other rights for women. They are turning …

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The Network of Anti-Trafficking in women had held the ninth conference in Dhi Qar in Commerce Hall in Nasria province.

The Network of Anti-Trafficking in women had held the ninth conference in Dhi Qar in Commerce Hall in Nasria province. In the presence of local officials, number of civil society organizations and those who are concerned in women’s issues from central and southern Iraq to discuss the proposed amendments on the draft law of Family …

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OWFI’s reception center in the front lines of Rubida village

OWFI’s reception center in the front lines of Rubida village which are receiving families fleeing from ISIS held territory. Where many women’s with their children are crossing on Hamreen Mountains each day on their foot for 17 hours totally thirsty without any water to be drank. Now when these families are reaching the front lines …

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OWFI staff distribute flour bags

OWFI’s staff have reached to Al-Shirqat in Hay almuearid neighborhood to distribute flour bags on the displaced women’s and their children from Alzaab and Hawija districts.  

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OWFI refused the Women of Courage Award from the Department of Foreign Affairs of the US

The American Embassy in Baghdad has contacted the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq demanding from her to nominate for the International Women of Courage Award since the beginning of this year, the answer of the organization’s president Yanar Mohammed was that she had refused to nominate; this is the political position of the organization …

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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 …

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The city of Mosul is devastated.

Hundreds of thousands have fled, with nothing, through a landscape of immense danger. The stories my colleagues and I have heard from the women who somehow survived this journey are heartbreaking. Families who must choose between staying and starving, or fleeing at a high risk of death.  Children abandoned along the route, some run over …

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In Conversation: Yanar Mohammed on trafficking in Iraq

Yanar Mohammed is the President of Organization of Women’s Freedom, our grantee partner in Iraq. The group focuses on protecting women’s human rights, including fighting against trafficking of women and girls, and operates six safe houses for women survivors of violence. In this interview with Yanar, we hear about how her organization’s work against trafficking …

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From where I stand: Yanar Mohammed

“The situation is very grim in Iraq. We run into many young women who have run away from their homes, who have been trapped by a trafficking group who have put them in brothels, who want to escape to have a better life, and they cannot go back home because they will be killed. Millions …

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The Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq

Dear Friend,  The horrors facing the women of Iraq continue unabated. Recently, three strong OWFI activists, Dalal, Ahlam, and Majid, travelled to the village of Rbaidha, just across the unofficial border from ISIS-held Hawija. They had heard of the arrival of a number of women who had escaped the ISIS controlled area, and wanted to check …

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OWFI condemns the terrorist Islamist ISIS attacks in Paris

The 2003 occupation of Iraq developed a second generation of Al Qaedas who can only be described as human beasts, with no consideration to human life, female dignity, or children’s right to safety or innocence. Our hearts go to the French victims’ families who begin to share our dilemma of dealing with Islamist terrorism. The …

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Finding a Path Back to Iraq, and Toward Securing Women’s Freedom

UNITED NATIONS — YANAR MOHAMMED runs a secret network of safe houses in her native Iraq. The women who come through its doors are honor­killing runaways, rape survivors, war widows and assorted others who have been to the cliff edge of hell and back. The shelters are meant to give them a second chance in …

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