"Many Iraqi women suffering, UN says" by Reuters | April 30, 2009
BAGHDAD - The vast majority of Iraqi women face domestic violence on a regular basis and many commit suicide because of it, the UN said yesterday.
Iraq and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan should take measures to stop violence against women, including honor killings and genital mutilation, the United Nations mission in Iraq, known as UNAMI, said in a regular report on human rights.
"The sensitivity of Iraqi communities to issues concerning women is such that families are frequently not reporting to the authorities incidents of violence against women," it said. To "escape the cycle of violence," many women turned to suicide.
Iraq should "investigate incidents involving gender-based violence, in particular the so-called 'honor crimes' perpetrated against women," UNAMI said. UNAMI said it was concerned about threats against women because of the way they dressed, and it repeated a statement from November that women were threatened by rape, sex trafficking, forced and early marriages, murder, and abduction.
The 2003 US-led invasion triggered a ferocious Sunni Islamist insurgency and sectarian bloodletting between once dominant Sunnis and majority Shi'ites. Religious extremists filled a vacuum of lawlessness, imposing conservative policies that were particularly intolerant of women's rights.--more--"
Translation: Bush's liberation led to this.
