oh..thats encouraging

[Guest guest]

well..they want to make it more american...soooo...

 

Published on Thursday, Mach 30, 2006 by Inter Press Service

Saddam Better for Women

by Sanjay Suri

 

 

LONDON - Women were far better off under former Iraq dictator Saddam

Hussein, a women's group has found after an extensive survey in Iraq.

 

''Under the previous dictator regime, the basic rights for women were

enshrined in the constitution,'' Houzan Mahmoud from the Organisation of

Women's Freedom in Iraq told IPS in an interview. The group is a sister

organization of MADRE, an international women's rights group.

 

Under Saddam, she said, ''women could go out to work, university and get

married or divorced in civil courts. But at the moment women have lost

almost all their rights and are being pushed back into the corner of

their house.''

 

The recent constitution which was written under the U.S. government's

supervision is ''very backward and anti-women,'' Mahmoud said. ''They

make Islam the source for law making, and the main official religion of

the country. This in itself means Islamic Sharia law and according to

this women will be considered second-class citizens and will have no

power in deciding over their lives.''

 

The whole of Iraqi society has been subjected to ''chaos and

brutalisation,'' she said. ''Security is absent, all basic services, and

above all the protection for women's rights is in no way on the agenda

of any of the political parties who have been hand-picked by the U.S.

administration in the installed so-called parliament.''

 

MADRE is calling for the deployment of a United Nations-led peacekeeping

force and an immediate end to the U.S. occupation. As the crisis in Iraq

intensifies, the group says women and their families in Iraq face an

urgent need for security, functional government, and the provision of

basic services within a human rights framework.

 

Over three years of occupation, the situation is becoming more dangerous

and bleak with the presence of the occupying forces, and ''the more

violence and terrorism is in function in Iraq the more women will fall

victims of such climate,'' she said.

 

''The rape, abduction, abuse in prisons by prison guards, and killing of

women is widespread,'' she said. ''The lack of security and proper

protection for women is a major issue and no one, neither the occupying

forces nor the local police of the puppet regime. is doing anything

about it.''

 

But the position of women does vary within Iraq, she said. ''In the

Kurdish part the situation of women is slightly better because Iraqi

Kurdistan was out of the hands of the Ba'ath regime from 1991, so it was

not part of the U.S. military attacks in 2003. But the attitude towards

women is not progressive there.''

 

Beyond any dangers from the political situation, ''a lot of so- called

'honour killings' are still taking place, and the Kurdish authorities

are not doing much to prevent it from happening.''

 

But the south is directly under daily military occupation ''and the

presence of various Islamic armed militias who are terrorising women has

made their situation worse,'' Mahmoud said. ''Also, the so-called

parliament is divided on the bases of religious sects and ethnic

backgrounds, so the majority of Shiittes who are in power are

institutionalising women's oppression and are systematically forcing

Islamification on Iraq.''

 

Women are 60 percent of the population of Iraq but they are not being

consulted on any political issues and are being deprived of this right,

she said.

 

The presence of a few women should not mislead people on the situation

of women, she said. ''The U.S. administration has handpicked a few women

and imposed them on people in the so-called parliament,'' she said.

''These women are very unknown to Iraqi women. Most of them belong to

the reactionary right wing parties in power and they follow their

agenda, which is discriminatory against women.''

 

Women would first like to see ''an end to the military occupation which

has created chaos and destruction of Iraqi society and also resulted in

the daily mass killing of ordinary Iraqis.''

 

Women particularly would ''want to see security restored so at least

they can go out freely without being attacked, kidnapped or having acid

thrown on their face,'' Mahmoud said. ''In addition, women want

equality, freedom and their rights to be recognised in the constitution,

and above all to be treated as equal human beings.''

 

© 2006 IPS - Inter Press Service

 

 

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