Statement on the debate on Draft Law on Domestic Violence at the Kurdistan Parliament

Sulaymaniyah 22 June 2011

On 20 June 2011, Kurdistan Parliament included the Draft Law on Combating Domestic violence on the agenda of its session. The reading and debate on the draft Law on Domestic Violence comes following extensive advocacy and efforts exerted for many years by the vast majority of civil society organizations calling for the endorsement of this draft law. However, this draft project was ignored for quite some time by the presidency of Kurdistan Parliament and has never been included on the agenda of any of the parliament sessions.

Asuda has been one of the advocates of this draft law on domestic violence and has been relentlessly calling on concerned legislative authorities to approve the law due to the continued use of domestic violence within families, particularly women including, but not limited to, Female Genital Mutilation [FGM], forced marriage, forcing women to commit suicide and self-immolation as well as many other tragedies. Given Asuda’s view on these issues, Asuda welcomes the Kurdistan Parliament’s decision to include the draft law on domestic violence on its agenda and discussions.

Read the full stement here to the right