An open letter to Clive Stafford Smith a human rights lawyer
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
KurdishMedia.com - By Ata Mala Karim
http://www.klawrojna.com/ 06 Sep. 06
I saw your name in the Independent’s the good list 2006 of ‘fifty men and women who make our world a better place’. You deserve it as a human rights activist for many years part from your 50 pages defence of Saddam Hussein; which I believe is either a mistake or something else. It is your responsibility to explain which one is right. As a Kurd and as a victim of torture, I had tried to contact you when I was in Saddam Hussein’s jail in Kirkuk, which is known as the ‘Enterprise of Special Investigations’ together with many other prisoners who were convicted of the following serious crimes: asking for freedom of press, rights of the Kurdish children to be educated in their own mother tongue, reading Marxist literature, writing poems, not being ready to go to war, being freedom fighters or helping the freedom fighters, not joining the Arab Bath Socialist Party and etc… At the ‘Enterprise of Special Investigations’ we had no right to talk even to the guards. We were out twice a day for toilet which should only take few seconds because of the great number of us and as a means of torture. At other times we were provided with buckets in our rooms. We had to look at the ground only and it was the most serious offence to look at the guard. Every day in the morning they read some names loudly and those people were out. After blindfolding them they had asked them few questions and when they did not like their answers they started using the following methods of torture: 1. Beating the subject by water pipes by two strongly built men each from one side. 2. Using electrical shocks on the tongue, the anus, and on the genitals. 3. Putting the subject’s genitals in a knot and lifting it until he was unconscious. 4. Beating the subject’s sole of feet by water pipes or electricity cables by two men from both sides known as “falaqa” 5. A subject was blind folded in a room and they tortured somebody else till he hear his sufferings and bring his morale down. 6. Hanging the subject by a rope from behind and beating him from both sides regularly. 7. Burning the subject’s body by cigarettes. 8. Threats of rape and attempt to rape. All these kinds of torture were practiced while the subject was naked as he was born. This list is not exclusive as there were many other ways of torture practiced against other prisoners. You may ask the ‘Medical Foundation caring for Victims of Torture’ if you need further information about me and my colleagues. Unfortunately we could not contact you at the time and when you heard about Iraq you did believe that only Saddam and a handful of his men need human rights not others. Dear Sir, In 1988 Saddam ordered his men to bombard Halabja by chemical weapons and killed more than 5000 men, women and children. People from Halabja had tried to contact you at time but it was in vain. Again when you prepared your 50 pages document to defend Saddam you did not know about Halabja or you thought it was merely propaganda. Do you know anything about Anfal? Do you believe that the man you prepared 50 pages to defend him had ordered his men in 1988 to capture 182,000 men, women and children to bury them alive in the deserts of Arabia. All but few most attractive girls who sold them in an open market to other brother Muslim Arab countries to employ them in their nightclubs and brothels. Did you hear of the 8000 Barzani men, women and children who buried alive in the desert just because they were from Barzan a small town in Kurdistan? Do you know who Ali Hassan Al-Majeed is? Do you know why he is known as Chemical Ali!? I feel sick when I see the best human rights defenders are ready to defend Saddam and try to minimize and simplify his crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity. When first time I heard about human rights in my small village it sounded like a miracle. We could not contact anyone like you to defend us. We could not watch TV to see countries which we did believe human rights was their concern. We had only a radio to listen to it secretly. We were dreaming we could talk to the radio, to tell them we are Kurds; we have not the minimum rights of human beings. We are tortured, killed and they practice genocide against us. One day our dreams come true. We have satellite dishes and internet in our hands, but unfortunately by this time the human rights see Saddam as a victim. Saddam and his followers are criminals of war, criminals against humanity and those who practiced genocide and race cleansing against the Kurdish people years before the American war. Anybody who tries to attract the emotions of the world against America’s policy may make a deadly mistake if he uses Saddam as an example.
The author can be contacted at:
Parsendow@hotmail.com
This article is linked to from this website please click here
Thursday, November 02, 2006
It is time for Kurdish women to tell their stories …
It is time for Kurdish women to tell their stories … Ata Mala Karim
http://www.klawrojna.com/ 29 June 2006 KurdishMedia.com www.kurdmedia.com
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
This article is translated into Russian
It is not far behind for history when English women have started to tell their own stories about domestic violence and abuse in the 1970’s. In the 1970’s with the growing of feminism in the UK the English women were invited to tell their own stories. What was very interesting in those stories was the fact that when they were talking about their hard lives in the present, they took flashbacks to their miserable lives in the childhood.
Muncie& McLaughlin (2001) argue that although domestic violence is recognized long before child abuse, however when women told their stories about domestic violence they revealed that they have experienced sexual and physical abuse as children and domestic violence as adults. So, the feminist activists in the 1970’s England did not only bring domestic violence to light but child abuse as well; which was a hidden crime behind closed doors.
Family is traditionally known as a place of privacy and safety in contrast to the dangerous outside world. People usually feel safe when they are at home or even close to home, however family can be a dangerous place and a site of crime. Crime such as child abuse; physically, sexually, emotionally and mentally are mostly practiced at home, although this is not specific as child abuse may happen at care, and other places such as schools, churches, mosques and in the hands of the criminals justice officials. Domestic violence does not need any further explanation, as it is a specific crime for home and family, both traditional and contemporary friendship relationships.
Hale et al. (2005) mention some reasons for domestic violence such as low socio-economic status, dysfunctional families, pathological and medical reasons, patriarchy, the marginal role of women at home, alcoholism and drug addiction, weak community sanctions and male culture- machismo. If we look at the Kurdish society we can easily recognize many of these groundings for domestic violence, as well as some other conditions not mentioned or known by the authors.
Honour killing is part of Kurdish tradition both at home and in the Diaspora. Many articles are written regarding honour killing and many researches have been carried on in that filed. Honour killing is a brutal crime, a worse kind of crimes and of murder as well. It is one of the most pre-planned and deliberately executed murder crimes. However domestic violence is not only murder and so called honour killing, it may has many forms from rape within marriage, physical abuse, mental abuse and emotional abuse.
Kurdish family, same as other cultures, is known as a safe castle against the dangerous outside world. However there are many crimes which happen behind closed doors and within that safe castle, without any interference from the criminal justice agencies. Muncie, McLaughlin (2001) argue that if a man hit another man in the street it is well recognized as assault and crime, however if a man hits his wife or children it is known as a private matter; dealing with a trouble child, taming a bad wife, discipline, stress and etc… It can be argued that even honour killing is widely accepted in the eastern communities as a right of a man to take care of the so called honour of his family or relatives by killing a woman who has sex with a man outside of marriage. In this situation instead of blaming and criticism he may get a lot of support from the community. It is worth mentioning that there is evidence of some progress in this area; however it is still in its primitive stage.
Even in the developed industrialized countries domestic violence is widely practiced, however not all of it is reported to the police for many reasons, such as shame, to keep the family together, economical reasons, not wanting to hurt the husband, believing it is normal and it is her fault, so blaming herself, not seen and even when seen not considered as a crime. [Muncie and McLaughlin (2001)] In the Kurdish society, same as all the other oriental societies, marriage is not always a private relationship between two adults, but there are so many traditional and tribal ties which put it in a tight net that it is difficult to flee away from it. The relationship is considered as a relationship between the wider families of cousins, far cousins, uncles, aunts and all the other relatives. In this context any criticism of the husband is an insult against the man’s wider family which may bring bigger problems for the woman’s wider family. In this case many Kurdish women keep their problems for themselves and suffer in silence.
I have not a full investigation or research of the way the criminal justice agencies, the police and the courts deal with domestic violence in Kurdistan right now. From my personal experience as an adult male member of that society I have a lifelong wealth of information about domestic violence in the Kurdish society.
Since the uprising of 1991 a feminist movement in Kurdistan grew and it can be argued that they have contributed to the awareness of women and men as well in that society of the dangers of fatal abuses such as honour killings, girl circumcision, forced marriage, under age marriage and domestic violence. However, unfortunately these women organizations are part of the political scenario and it is apparent that each political party has it is own women organization, such as Zhinan from the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) and Afratan form KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party). Ironically both Zhinan and Afratan mean women in Kurdish language and they choose two synonyms to make them recognized as two different organizations. In some regions of Kurdistan they use zhin (singular of Zhinan) for married women and Afrat (singular of Afratan) for female adults in the society, same as woman in English. The other political parties have formed their own women organizations and it is interesting to know that the Workers Communist Party called their organization the Neutral Women’s Organization, but it is very difficult to find a real Neutral organization in Kurdistan!
Kurdistan now has a unified regional government, they are planning for unification of all the government institutions, they have a president, prime-minister and a parliament; so it can be argued that it is time for Kurdish women to form their own independent professional women society far from the political parties and the political conflicts. They can concentrate on women rights and lobby for reforms in the Kurdish parliament for the benefits of women, regardless of their political or ideological belongings.
If Kurdish women have a chance to tell their own stories in their own words, we will realize how they are oppressed and how much they suffer. Without research and data, without campaigns and lobbies, without a voice to represent them, only a small minority may know about domestic violence, or more specifically, few people recognize it as a crime and even anti-social behaviour and deviance.
It is obvious that domestic violence and child abuse is not specified to the eastern or the third world countries, it is present almost every where, but by different degrees. A research in the UK in 1999 has revealed that:
§ One in four women experience domestic violence.
§ Every week two women are killed by their current or former partners.
§ Everyday thousands of children witness cruelty and violence behind closed doors.
§ One fourth of all violent crime is domestic violence.
[Muncie, & McLaughlin, 2001]
It can be argued that domestic violence and child abuse in the Kurdish society needs scientific and filed research. Children and the younger generation need better education and training in order to know their rights and the rights of others. Women have to get a chance to express themselves and have a voice to be heard outside the political circle of the political parties. Without a good progress in the fields of women and children rights any argument about human rights in Kurdistan is just waste of time and paper and nothing else.
Ata mala Karim Student of BA (hons) Criminology
Bibliography:
Hale, C., et al, (2005) Criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kelly, L. (1999): Domestic Violence Matters: An evaluation of a Development Project. Home Office Research Study 193, London: Home Office. (Online)
Available from:http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hors193.pdf
Accessed: 23 Jun. 06
Moore, S. (1997) Investigating Crime and Deviance.2nd edition, London: Collins.
Muncie, J., & McLaughlin (2001) The Problem of Crime. 2nd Ed. London: Sage Publications.
Williams, K., S., (2004) Textbook on Criminology. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Different Kurdish websites and e-Journals online.
http://www.klawrojna.com/ 29 June 2006 KurdishMedia.com www.kurdmedia.com
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
This article is translated into Russian
It is not far behind for history when English women have started to tell their own stories about domestic violence and abuse in the 1970’s. In the 1970’s with the growing of feminism in the UK the English women were invited to tell their own stories. What was very interesting in those stories was the fact that when they were talking about their hard lives in the present, they took flashbacks to their miserable lives in the childhood.
Muncie& McLaughlin (2001) argue that although domestic violence is recognized long before child abuse, however when women told their stories about domestic violence they revealed that they have experienced sexual and physical abuse as children and domestic violence as adults. So, the feminist activists in the 1970’s England did not only bring domestic violence to light but child abuse as well; which was a hidden crime behind closed doors.
Family is traditionally known as a place of privacy and safety in contrast to the dangerous outside world. People usually feel safe when they are at home or even close to home, however family can be a dangerous place and a site of crime. Crime such as child abuse; physically, sexually, emotionally and mentally are mostly practiced at home, although this is not specific as child abuse may happen at care, and other places such as schools, churches, mosques and in the hands of the criminals justice officials. Domestic violence does not need any further explanation, as it is a specific crime for home and family, both traditional and contemporary friendship relationships.
Hale et al. (2005) mention some reasons for domestic violence such as low socio-economic status, dysfunctional families, pathological and medical reasons, patriarchy, the marginal role of women at home, alcoholism and drug addiction, weak community sanctions and male culture- machismo. If we look at the Kurdish society we can easily recognize many of these groundings for domestic violence, as well as some other conditions not mentioned or known by the authors.
Honour killing is part of Kurdish tradition both at home and in the Diaspora. Many articles are written regarding honour killing and many researches have been carried on in that filed. Honour killing is a brutal crime, a worse kind of crimes and of murder as well. It is one of the most pre-planned and deliberately executed murder crimes. However domestic violence is not only murder and so called honour killing, it may has many forms from rape within marriage, physical abuse, mental abuse and emotional abuse.
Kurdish family, same as other cultures, is known as a safe castle against the dangerous outside world. However there are many crimes which happen behind closed doors and within that safe castle, without any interference from the criminal justice agencies. Muncie, McLaughlin (2001) argue that if a man hit another man in the street it is well recognized as assault and crime, however if a man hits his wife or children it is known as a private matter; dealing with a trouble child, taming a bad wife, discipline, stress and etc… It can be argued that even honour killing is widely accepted in the eastern communities as a right of a man to take care of the so called honour of his family or relatives by killing a woman who has sex with a man outside of marriage. In this situation instead of blaming and criticism he may get a lot of support from the community. It is worth mentioning that there is evidence of some progress in this area; however it is still in its primitive stage.
Even in the developed industrialized countries domestic violence is widely practiced, however not all of it is reported to the police for many reasons, such as shame, to keep the family together, economical reasons, not wanting to hurt the husband, believing it is normal and it is her fault, so blaming herself, not seen and even when seen not considered as a crime. [Muncie and McLaughlin (2001)] In the Kurdish society, same as all the other oriental societies, marriage is not always a private relationship between two adults, but there are so many traditional and tribal ties which put it in a tight net that it is difficult to flee away from it. The relationship is considered as a relationship between the wider families of cousins, far cousins, uncles, aunts and all the other relatives. In this context any criticism of the husband is an insult against the man’s wider family which may bring bigger problems for the woman’s wider family. In this case many Kurdish women keep their problems for themselves and suffer in silence.
I have not a full investigation or research of the way the criminal justice agencies, the police and the courts deal with domestic violence in Kurdistan right now. From my personal experience as an adult male member of that society I have a lifelong wealth of information about domestic violence in the Kurdish society.
Since the uprising of 1991 a feminist movement in Kurdistan grew and it can be argued that they have contributed to the awareness of women and men as well in that society of the dangers of fatal abuses such as honour killings, girl circumcision, forced marriage, under age marriage and domestic violence. However, unfortunately these women organizations are part of the political scenario and it is apparent that each political party has it is own women organization, such as Zhinan from the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) and Afratan form KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party). Ironically both Zhinan and Afratan mean women in Kurdish language and they choose two synonyms to make them recognized as two different organizations. In some regions of Kurdistan they use zhin (singular of Zhinan) for married women and Afrat (singular of Afratan) for female adults in the society, same as woman in English. The other political parties have formed their own women organizations and it is interesting to know that the Workers Communist Party called their organization the Neutral Women’s Organization, but it is very difficult to find a real Neutral organization in Kurdistan!
Kurdistan now has a unified regional government, they are planning for unification of all the government institutions, they have a president, prime-minister and a parliament; so it can be argued that it is time for Kurdish women to form their own independent professional women society far from the political parties and the political conflicts. They can concentrate on women rights and lobby for reforms in the Kurdish parliament for the benefits of women, regardless of their political or ideological belongings.
If Kurdish women have a chance to tell their own stories in their own words, we will realize how they are oppressed and how much they suffer. Without research and data, without campaigns and lobbies, without a voice to represent them, only a small minority may know about domestic violence, or more specifically, few people recognize it as a crime and even anti-social behaviour and deviance.
It is obvious that domestic violence and child abuse is not specified to the eastern or the third world countries, it is present almost every where, but by different degrees. A research in the UK in 1999 has revealed that:
§ One in four women experience domestic violence.
§ Every week two women are killed by their current or former partners.
§ Everyday thousands of children witness cruelty and violence behind closed doors.
§ One fourth of all violent crime is domestic violence.
[Muncie, & McLaughlin, 2001]
It can be argued that domestic violence and child abuse in the Kurdish society needs scientific and filed research. Children and the younger generation need better education and training in order to know their rights and the rights of others. Women have to get a chance to express themselves and have a voice to be heard outside the political circle of the political parties. Without a good progress in the fields of women and children rights any argument about human rights in Kurdistan is just waste of time and paper and nothing else.
Ata mala Karim Student of BA (hons) Criminology
Bibliography:
Hale, C., et al, (2005) Criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kelly, L. (1999): Domestic Violence Matters: An evaluation of a Development Project. Home Office Research Study 193, London: Home Office. (Online)
Available from:http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hors193.pdf
Accessed: 23 Jun. 06
Moore, S. (1997) Investigating Crime and Deviance.2nd edition, London: Collins.
Muncie, J., & McLaughlin (2001) The Problem of Crime. 2nd Ed. London: Sage Publications.
Williams, K., S., (2004) Textbook on Criminology. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Different Kurdish websites and e-Journals online.
The position of the Kurds in the Sunni and Shiite conflict
The position of the Kurds in the Sunni and Shiite conflict
Sunday, March 12, 2006 KurdishMedia.com - By Ata Mala Karim
Violence and especially interior wars are highly destructive. They affect the lives of hundreds of children, disabled, women and elderly who have no any physical contribution to those bloodied conflicts. We, as humans of the 21st century, have to stand against any bloodshed anywhere and anytime. However, the current situation in Iraq as fighting between Shiites and Sunnis is just about to become, or it is, a nation-wide civil war. This situation may arise some questions for the Kurdish people. The first question is that: If the Sunnis and the Shiites continue to fight each others in a continuous civil war, what the Kurds have to do? Should Kurds exercise their right to self-determination, i.e. independence, join the conflict and fight one side against another or remain neutral, and the latter is the most likely scenario. The second question is that: if Sunni and Shiite communities have reached an agreement, how the Kurd can be reassured that they are not the scapegoat; as we have seen it many times during the contemporary history of Iraq. It is apparent that both sides of the conflict have their own expectations and their own views of the Kurdish issue. The Sunnis have ruled Iraq for over 80 years and the results were genocide in the shape of Anfal and the chemical bombardment of Halabja. The Shiites have been oppressed, so they need the attention of the Kurdish people. The Kurds have offered them any kinds of help and assistance. However, when Saddam’s government collapsed the Shiites started perceive Kurdish people as their enemy; this is clear from the acts of their Prime Minister, Jaffari. Kurds have been suffering in so called Iraq. Hopefully the bloodshed between Sunni and Shiite communities will not continue and they decide to live in peace. However Kurds do not want to be the scapegoat for their peace agreement. At the same time if Sunni and Shiite communities continue to fight, the Kurds have the right to declare their right to self determination.
Sunday, March 12, 2006 KurdishMedia.com - By Ata Mala Karim
Violence and especially interior wars are highly destructive. They affect the lives of hundreds of children, disabled, women and elderly who have no any physical contribution to those bloodied conflicts. We, as humans of the 21st century, have to stand against any bloodshed anywhere and anytime. However, the current situation in Iraq as fighting between Shiites and Sunnis is just about to become, or it is, a nation-wide civil war. This situation may arise some questions for the Kurdish people. The first question is that: If the Sunnis and the Shiites continue to fight each others in a continuous civil war, what the Kurds have to do? Should Kurds exercise their right to self-determination, i.e. independence, join the conflict and fight one side against another or remain neutral, and the latter is the most likely scenario. The second question is that: if Sunni and Shiite communities have reached an agreement, how the Kurd can be reassured that they are not the scapegoat; as we have seen it many times during the contemporary history of Iraq. It is apparent that both sides of the conflict have their own expectations and their own views of the Kurdish issue. The Sunnis have ruled Iraq for over 80 years and the results were genocide in the shape of Anfal and the chemical bombardment of Halabja. The Shiites have been oppressed, so they need the attention of the Kurdish people. The Kurds have offered them any kinds of help and assistance. However, when Saddam’s government collapsed the Shiites started perceive Kurdish people as their enemy; this is clear from the acts of their Prime Minister, Jaffari. Kurds have been suffering in so called Iraq. Hopefully the bloodshed between Sunni and Shiite communities will not continue and they decide to live in peace. However Kurds do not want to be the scapegoat for their peace agreement. At the same time if Sunni and Shiite communities continue to fight, the Kurds have the right to declare their right to self determination.
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