Yezidi women protest in front of European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on 08.09.2014. Picture by Wiktor Dabkowski/DPA/PA Images. All rights reserved.The
protection of women continues to be an ill-addressed challenge in
Iraq, and the Yezidi women continue to face an uphill battle to heal,
mentally and physically. Women and girls were victims of violence
during the conflict, involving, inter
alia,
trafficking, rape, torture and sexual slavery. Its root causes lie
within a host of complex reasons but none are simpler than the need
for the Iraqi government, with the forceful encouragement of the
international community, to shift its focus onto the rule of law and
Iraq’s Yezidi women, a beleaguered community that cannot move on
from ISIS, even if the world has.
There
are two parts to the problem facing Yezidi women: the country suffers
from violence against women as a whole, yet Yezidi women are
additionally persecuted because of their religion and faith. After
ISIS
took Sinjar in August 2014 and launched its mass atrocities against
the Yezidi community, it then moved on to conduct its industrial
scale sexual violence of Yezidi women. Four years on, the Yezidi
women have yet to receive any sense of justice. The rule of law
continues to succumb to, and fall second to the ineffective
democratic governance. On this basis, therefore, it may be argued
that the solution must revolve around remedying structural
shortcomings. However, it is also an issue of implementation, and the
attitude of lawmakers, who have
to
this day failed in
enabling
a provision in the Iraqi constitution and/or national legislation
that ensures internationally recognised laws and norms supersede and
override local domestic laws related to the protection of women from
violence.
Although
Iraq has shown a
commitment
to legal reforms, shortcomings are still inherent as the Iraqi
government has failed to investigate and prosecute crimes committed
by ISIS and further, to provide legal redress. Trials are taking
place and, since
Iraq does not have national legislations
addressing crimes against humanity, ISIS members are being prosecuted
under the Counter-Terrorism Law with no recognition of all other
crimes committed. The needs of women have been neglected by the
government and the majority of the support they receive is from
international and national non-governmental organisations.
As
a war tactic, ISIS systematically tortured and sexually abused Yezidi
women, degrading and destroying communities, which will impact
generations to come and is ingrained in the collective psyche
of the broader Yezidi population. The problem lies not
only in
the lack of legislation but also in the enforcement mechanisms: if
there is no effective authority for women, how can Iraq build a
system that promotes
and protects women.
Major
concerns surrounding the trials in Iraq include the insufficient
capacity of local judges in relation to the crimes committed against
these
women. Judges
are
yet to reach the necessary international standards to prepare them
for the proper and effective exercise of their functions in such
cases. Due to the lack of resources and motivation on the part of the
government, cases
of violation
against women in Iraq are in need of experienced
judges, who understand both the seriousness of the crimes and the
international legislation surrounding it, including international
human rights instruments. This
requires understanding the written legislation, being able to
contextualise such legislation and having a firm awareness and
appreciation of
the international norms that apply to women’s rights and the
protection of women in conflict. Only then can the rule of law be
effectively applied and for Yezidi women to get the justice they
deserve and need.
In
addition to
that,
access to justice is essential in meeting the needs of survivors, and
legal redress for survivors have been weak as many obstacles are
placed in front of survivors.
Currently, there are organisations that do provide psychotherapy
support and medical treatment to the women. However, there is a
greater need for locations where women can get both legal and health
support. Legal and medical services are important to ensure that
critical information and documents are collected and the testimonies
and statements of women are documented to hold perpetrators
accountable. The government must ensure that both sectors are working
together and key actors, both inside and outside Iraq, must ensure
that they work in coordination and rigorously follow-up with one
another, to pool their efforts together. Without this coordination
and support, local and international actors only end up replicating
previous practices and, therefore, the same unproductive and
ineffective application of resources. At the same time, local
organisations require training on safe and ethical data collection,
especially in light of the cultural sensitivities surrounding the
Yezidi genocide and the subject of sexual violence more generally.
The collection of evidence by local organisations is not done in a
coordinated fashion and is conducted outside any legal framework or
regulation. Therefore, it is unclear how evidence has been collected,
what evidence has been collected and by whom.
Iraq
should be taking the necessary steps to amend its national laws and
the Iraqi Penal Code to criminalise international crimes. However,
there has not yet been a strong willingness to do so on their part.
Since Iraq is not
currently
party to the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal
Court (ICC), the ideal scenario would be to establish a specialised
international tribunal in Iraq, ideally in the Kurdistan Region due
its security and stability, in order to prosecute ISIS perpetrators
for their many crimes against humanity. However, this has fallen prey
to the complexities of the politics of the country and the poor,
often volatile relationship between the Kurdistan Regional Government
and the federal government in Baghdad. Therefore, local courts are
still pursuing the cases without any accountability for the crimes
against humanity.
Many
women are in despair and feel isolated by the government and it is
feared that they will never see their day in court. Furthermore,
Sinjar has yet to be reconstructed and due to security concerns the
Yezidi community are unable to return. After the
conflict
and the fragmentation of the country, restoring peace and stability
is now a major challenge in Iraq, including reconciliation and trust
building between communities. To achieve this, a crucial first step
would be to recognise the crimes that were committed against the
Yezidi women and then prioritise the rebuilding of their homes. To
build on this peace-building effort, the Yezidi community must also
be afforded with greater political representation, while the
international community must treat their plight with greater urgency.
The
United Nations Security Council passed a resolution in 2017 to
establish an investigative team to collect evidence of the crimes
committed by ISIS. However, its implementation has been
disappointingly slow. Domestically, the Iraqi judicial system is
fundamentally flawed and ISIS perpetrators sometimes face a short
trial with little evidence presented. Iraq must take urgent and
significant
actions to provide better protection for the Yezidi women and girls
and make justice a reality. In other words, the hard work must begin
at home.