Safe Houses for Iraqi Women
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Summary
Safe Houses for Iraqi Women identifies and shelters Iraqi women and girls who are under threat of “honor killings” or other violence, and offers them safety, counseling and human rights training.
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How Donors Like You Helped
Thanks to donors like you, a total of $21,040 was raised for this project.
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Received $21,040 from 253 donations from people like:
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More Information About this Project
Project Needs and Beneficiaries
Increasing Islamic fundamentalism in Iraq puts women at particular risk: in many areas, Islamic militants patrol the streets, beating and harassing women who are not “properly” dressed or behaved. Instability has created an escalation in rapes, triggering an increase in “honor killings," in which male relatives murder rape-survivors because the attack has “shamed” the family. The shelters provide safety and a future for women and girls who are under threat of this kind of violence.
Activities
The network of shelters provides women and their children with secure transport; food; clothes; healthcare; security; counseling; and political training for them to assert greater political power and respond effectively to increasing fundamentalism.
Funding Information
Total Funding Received to Date: $21,040
Funding Information
This project is now in implementation and no longer available for funding.
Received funds will be used to accomplish concrete objectives as
indicated in the project's "Activities" section. Updates will be posted under the
"Progress Report" tab as they become available.
Donors' contributions and pledges to this project totaled $21,040. The original project funding goal was $20,000.
Additional Documentation
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
Resources
Why this Project is Important
Potential Long Term Impact
Through this project, MADRE and OWFI aim to protect hundreds of women from violence and equip them with the tools, not only to rebuild their own lives, but to contribute to the struggle against the repression of women’s rights in Iraq.
Project Message
The fight for freedom is not only for ourselves. It is the birthright of our daughters.
- OWFI member, Baghdad
When this Project was Updated
Last Updated
This project was last updated on June 09, 2008.
Date Added to GlobalGiving
This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on May 25, 2006.
Latest Update from the Field
MADRE and OWFI give thanks: How your donations helped save lives
By Vivian Stromberg - Executive Director, MADRE, June 09, 2008 06:11 PM
In 2007, MADRE and OWFI continued to shelter women from honor killings and life threatening violence. All of the women helped by the Safe Houses project have incredible stories; following are some recent cases.
Rasha, from the city of Diyala, is the widow of a man murdered by one of the several militias targeting so-called insurgents. Her husband’s killers continued to visit her daily at her home, raping and torturing her. Nazik, of Tikrit, left her husband, who beat her regularly. Nahida’s husband suddenly began to abuse her when he joined up with a terrorist gang. Um Missaab, a returning political prisoner attempting to reassimilate into society, suffered at the cruelty of her in-laws. Hind escaped a prostitution network, and was followed by two others, Sanna and Bushra. Nadia and her daughter escaped an oppressive marriage, and sought help from militia officials who now threaten and psychologically abuse them. Shila left her hometown of Rania, in the Kurdish territories of Northern Iraq, when plots of her murder, in the name of honor killing, surfaced. A mother and daughter from Mahmoudiya sought shelter after the daughter was raped by an impostor Mulla who claimed to have been treating her for depression.
Painstaking measures are taken to make the shelters as safe and stable as can be expected, but OWFI’s operation are still at the mercy of a government which devalues their work and sees victims as honorless women undeserving of protection; officials at all levels go out of their way to make OWFI’s business matters as difficult as possible. In addition to the larger shelters, staff members have begun to house threatened women and families in their own homes. This spreads out the women and lessens their chances of being found by their tormentors.
Children who live at the shelters are enrolled in schools, or, in more dangerous cases, tutors are arranged for private lessons at home; they are also trained in basic computer skills, in hopes of increasing their employment opportunities. All shelter residents receive health care from Nahida Ismail, a registered nurse who uses her connections with a network of volunteer doctors and gynecologists to see that all the women get proper care.
In addition to the work done in shelters, OWFI has launched several advocacy campaigns in the Kurdish North of Iraq (also known as Kurdistan) discouraging honor killings and seeking to repeal an article of the regional Constitution which endorses use of the Islamic Sharia law to uphold honor killing cases in family court. The initiatives, led by OWFI activist Houzan Mahmoud, were quite successful, rousing support from many social and intellectual groups in the area, and the offending article was removed from the criminal code.
MADRE and OWFI were deeply moved the support of the Global Giving community for this project. Your donations have been crucial to the heavy demands of being the sole shelter network for Iraqi women escaping abuse and honor killings. Thanks to you, we have been able to expand security forces, conduct more outreach, shelter more women and children, and save more lives.
We hope that you will continue to support OWFI through its new project now up on Global Giving, “Art Action for Peace: Support Young Iraqi Artists.” This project is focused on OWFI’s popular youth outreach initiative, where hundreds of young Sunnis and Shiites join together to call for an end to civil war through art, poetry, music, theater, and dance. Rather than succumbing to sectarian hatred, the young people involved work to create a society that promotes human rights and tolerance.
Again, we thank you for your support.
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