Astatement issued by “Sawtoha” Network for Women Human Rights Defenders on the governmental report about CEDAW’s agreement on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women  

Baghdad: Sawtoha

Due to the approaching discussion of the national report issued by the Iraqi government in the CEDAW Committee, which is a part of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, on the situation of women in Iraq and what has been achieved to eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination and marginalization against them..

We demand the official bodies represented by the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the responsible for sending the national report to the CEDAW Committee in Geneva, pointing out the importance of publishing the national report via their official websites so that we, as civil society organizations, officially registered with the NGO Department, and gained a legal form of work, we demand the contribution to  preparing the shadow report, which will include a review of the concluding observations of the recommendations of the CEDAW Committee in February 2014 to ensure the principle of equal rights enshrined in the Constitution, and fulfilling Iraq’s international obligations to CEDAW and Security Council resolution No. 1325 on women, peace and security, in addition to other international resolutions and recommendations, and to identify the security, political, legal, social, economic and cultural challenges facing women’s attempts to eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against them.

We also call upon the NGO Department of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers to assist officially registered organizations and networks by calling on the government to publish the CEDAW national report via official government websites. This is part of the legal and international obligation to inform civil society organizations of the national report.

“Sawtoha” Network for Women Human Rights Defenders

Baghdad, September 11^th, 2018