ANF – BEHDINAN 26.11.2014
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was also marked by hundreds of guerrillas on the mountains of Kurdistan in Behdinan yesterday.
Speaking at the gathering in Media Defense Areas, KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Co-Presidency Council member Sozdar Avesta said that 25 November was a symbolic day to say stop to violence against women, adding that;
“Still, we know the meaning of this day very well. We are sharing the pain of the Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic. We are also suffering from violence. Our pain is still very fresh and young girls in Kurdistan are every day falling fighting against fascism and male violence.”“Three sisters of ours were murdered in the Dominican Republic. And today, 12-15 people from the same family are being massacred in Sinjar. No conscience, no mindset, no moral, no feeling nor spirit can accept this. All these murders were perpetrated by the same fascistic approach”, Sozdar Avesta said, describing the Sinjar massacre as the heaviest blow inflicted on women in the 21st century.
Remarking that the Sinjar attack aimed to destroy a culture and faith, KCK Co-Presidency Council member pointed out that Sinjar was a deliberately aimed target, and that the plan was however defeated by the resistance of tens of thousands of people on the Mount Sinjar.
“A gender egalitarian life had been maintained in Mesopotamian lands for thousands of years. This communal and free life has always been considered sacred by the Kurdish society and humanity”,
she said, underlining that the state destroyed this gender egalitarian system and built a grim system of exploitation instead. She remarked that this ignored sacred system is being rebuilt through the resistance being mounted today.
“Through the struggle it is waging, the PKK is once again revealing the disappeared and disregarded truth in the Middle East”,
Sozdar Avesta emphasised.
Avesta said it has been proved once again in Sinjar and Kobanê that the PKK movement has advanced under the leadership of women who became an army on Kurdistan mountains 21 years ago.
Avesta ended by stressing that;
“All the women demanding freedom and democracy should know that YJA-STAR and YPJ will always continue their existence as the defense force of women in these lands. Following the path of Zilan, Beritan, Viyan and Arin comrades, we will continue to be the guarantor of the women’s freedom.”
57 women murdered in North Kurdistan in 2014
ANF – AMED 25.11.2014
Human Rights Association (IHD) Amed Branch has disclosed the ten-months report of 2014 on the violation of women’s rights, violence against women and femicide in North Kurdistan territory.
According to the report, 57 women were killed in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia regions in the first ten months of 2014.
The report was disclosed to public by Lawyer Hatice Demir, member of the IHD Amed Branch Women’s Commission, who recalled that violence against women was a human right violation and a form of discrimination against women, because of which women all around the world are suffering from physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence, and are even losing their lives.
Remarking that the political authority in Turkey uttered debate-generating remarks over the women’s body, Demir pointed out that government authorities made statements that remain behind the times and go so far as hate speeches against women, such as how many children they should give birth to, whether pregnant women should go out or not, or have an abortion, how they should dress up, whether they should raise a laugh in public or not, whether they should give birth to the baby of their raper, whether student girls and boys can share a house or not, and even proposing the ending of coeducation. Demir said that such remarks and speeches led to social gender inequality, created a perception against women and make them a target for many attacks.
Demir also criticized that judicial measures failed to protect aggrieved women as is required, emphasising that more and more women are suffering from serious incidents of violence as courts rule abatement of sentence -on the grounds of instigation by women-in the cases of rape and sexual abuse, relevant authorities fail to conduct effective investigations and to take the necessary judicial measures in order for the protection of women from violence. Demir also called attention to the increasing number of women killed across the country every day.
IHD Amed Branch Women’s Commission member also called attention to the situation of Êzîdî, Assyrian, Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen women who were abducted and subjected to inhuman treatments by the barbarian ISIS gangs in Mosul and Sinjar. She recalled that the ISIS gangs are targeting the women who are protecting their own people and lands and giving a fight for freedoms and human rights in Kobanê, adding that the gangs also continue committing rape, sexual abuse and killing in front of the eyes of the world.
Demir continued, highlighting as IHD women the following demands in order for the elimination of violence against women;
* Legal arrangements must be made in line with the proposals of women’s associations and human rights organisations regarding all works serving the purpose of elimination of violence against women. Cooperation must be formed with all relevant women’s associations and NGOs.
* Required legal and other actions must be taken in order for the protection of women from violence.
* Mobbing against women in public area must be ended immediately and judicial mechanisms must launch effective investigations into the cases of mobbing.
* Courts must end the unfair instigation abatement in the cases of rape and sexual abuse against women and femicide, and rely on the statements of the victimized women.
* All international states and human rights organisations, the UN being in the first place, must manifest a determined stance in order for the elimination and ending of violence against the women in the areas occupied by ISIS gangs and others under threat of occupation.
Demir’s statement was followed by the disclosure of the ten-months report of 2014 on the violation of women’s rights, violence against women and femicide in North Kurdistan territory.
The figures highlighted in the IHD report are as follows;
* 1 woman killed, 10 injured/subjected to violence, 1 other raped by security forces
* 10 women killed, 5 others injured/subjected to violence as result of domestic violence
* 9 women killed, 8 injured/subjected to violence, 6 raped, 8 others sexually abused as result of violence in public area
* 25 women committed suicide, 4 others attempted
* 8 women lost their lives as result of suspected deaths
* 4 women died as result of honour killings
Uprooted Palestinian 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment