Women's rights and participation in decision-making positions

15-12-2017

On the occasion of the 69^th anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights, Tammuz Organization for Social Development held a dialogue seminar on (women's rights in the Iraqi constitution as well as in international covenants and treaties). The seminar was held at the dental specialized center in Nasiriya, on Tuesday 12/12/2017, in cooperation with the Electoral Commission Office in Dhi-Qar, and with the participation of a number of doctors and pharmacists, of both sexes, as well as a number of the administrators in the center.

At the beginning of the seminar, our colleague Razzaq Obaid, welcomed the attendants, gave an overview on the organization of Tammuz and its goals to create a societal awareness of rights and laws as a part of realizing and claiming them for development and social justice, with an intervention on Iraqi women reality after the change of political regime in 2003, and on women's rights in the Iraqi constitution especially in the articles 14,19,22,29.

He focused on the article 49 which its fourth item stipulates on allocating quota for women with a proportion of no less than 25%

Of the legislation councils' membership, he also reviewed the rights enshrined in the International Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the European Convention 1950, the two International covenants, and CEDAW Covenant which is concerned with the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, he addressed the reality of Iraqi women, and their suffering of marginalization and exclusion, and their legal benefits threatened by what the code of personal status No.188  of multiple attempts to have it amended in a way that deprives women of their rights instead of granting them more rights that  achieve justice and equality for them.

Afterwards, MS. Bashair Al.nasiri, the representative of the Electoral Commission office in Dhi-Qar, made in intervention concerning women rule in electoral process, the importance of their contribution to succeed the elections so as to achieve democracy and this through the necessity of their interaction with all the stages of elections starting with checking register biometric centers, receiving voters' cards to their participation in voting for the most suitable candidate, also, their participation in running for elections and taking up leadership positions

For women are one half of the population, and without leveraging their rule; Iraq's capacities would be largely idle. This seminar comes as an invitation to participate in the elections which we are going to start the stages of their implementation soon.

The floor for questions and interventions was opened, on women's suffering and conditions in the context of states' weak authority and the expansion of the patriarchal and tribal authority, a lot of proposals, examples and experiences   were made.

At the conclusion of the seminar, some outputs and recommendations that contribute to the leverage of women's rule:

1-      1. The need for women to be involved in the elections and making a real change through ballot boxes.

2-      2. Urge women to participate actively in the elections for what the proportion they represent in society, thus, their ability to make a societal change and progress.

3-      3. The importance of maintaining laws and legislations that protect women's rights, maintain societal cohesion and support it with more legislations like the law of combating domestic violence.

4-      4. The activation of legal articles concerning punishments in cases of women's rights violations and demanding the serious action of the executive power.

5. Integrating human rights, gender equality and citizenship values into the curricula for all school levels.

6. Directing the media to awareness-rising programs.

7. The importance of the influential social powers' participation to raise awareness in respecting women's rights and renouncing violence.

8. The need for more awareness and education campaigns, especially in villages and rural areas.

9. Continue to hold more such seminars and to all categories of society.

 

 

 

Media Office of

Tammuz Organization for Social Development

15 December 2017

 

 

 

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