Rights of Women, Girls Under Siege in Iraq

[kayell]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/oneworld/20030716/wl_oneworld/4536635791058361268

WASHINGTON, D.C. July 16 (OneWorld) - Iraqi women and girls are finding their freedom of movement and personal security substantially reduced as a result of the disorder that continues to plague Baghdad and other cities under U.S. occupation, according to a new report released today by Human Rights Watch (HRW).


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• OneWorld on Iraq



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The 20-page report, based on interviews conducted in Iraq (news - web sites) from late May to late June, found that many women and girls are largely confined to their homes due to fear of sexual violence or abduction with the result that they are unable to participate in public life at a critical moment in Iraq's history.


"Women and girls today in Baghdad are scared, and many are not going to school or jobs or looking for work," said Hanny Megally, executive director of HRW's Middle East and North Africa division. "If Iraqi women are to participate in postwar society, their physical security needs to be an urgent priority."


The report, "Climate of Fear," does not address whether the rise in influence of conservative Islamic authorities, particularly in the Shia communities in Baghdad and southern Iraq, is constraining women's freedom as it has in various parts of Afghanistan (news - web sites) since the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001.

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[oldcoot]

1. This is tragedy

I hope that Boxer and Reid's bill passes.

[damnraddem]

2. Send Condi over to see whether Iraq is better off now than with Saddam.

Let her answer he own damn question.