The center for women’s studies at the University of Baghdad has organized the first coordination meeting on the establishment of the National Observatory for the Worst Types of Gender-Based Violence in Iraq, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and in the presence of the assistant rector for scientific affairs, Prof. Dr. Abdul kareem Mohammed Ali Al-Sammarraie. The aim of the meeting is to review some international experiences and initiatives on establishing observatories to monitor violence against women and girls, as well as to analyze data about this issue through the contribution of decision makers to assess progress in implementing policies and plans, in addition to monitoring and measuring the sustainable development indicators in the country.
In his speech, the assistant rector outlined the importance of the Iraqi government’s role in developing plans, the most important of which is the National Plan for the Women’s Agenda, Security and Peace to implement UN Security Council Resolution No. 1325, the Joint Statement and the National Development Plan for (2018-2022), as well as the national strategy to promote gender-based violence for the period (2018-2030).
The director of the center for women’s studies, Assist. Prof. Dr. Athraa Ismail Zidan, also delivered a speech in which she addressed the objectives of the program in developing a project led by the center since it is an academic institution intended to detect various types of violence with a focus on murders and suicides, indicating that such an observatory would provide an open access database for researchers who seek any detailed information on the cases of killing of women, including the context in which the crimes are committed, the victim’s relationship with the perpetrator and prosecution. Prof. Dr. Abdul kareem Al-Sammarraie also recommended the need to coordinate between government sectors and related NGOs via teamwork to ensure the effectiveness of all entities from various sectors involved systematically in this regard to ensure the continuous development of this project.
