Iraqi women face high levels of gender-based violence, both because of cultural practices and institutionally through Iraq's legal system. There are very few legal and social protections available to women and girls threatened with gender-based violence. Levels of violence against women are even more acute among internally displaced persons (IDPs) who suffer from economic and social dislocation and lack regular family and community supports. With the family being the strongest social institution in Iraqi culture in terms of economic support as well as protection, displacement often leads to increased levels of violence and insecurity. These problems are compounded for IDPs when they cannot easily access existing health, social and educational resources existing in their new location. While women's shelters in northern Iraq save lives, they are also fraught with problems of abuse and do not provide long-term solutions for victims who cannot return home. Because women must live with either their natal or marital family or in some cases another relative, mediation provides the means to resolve gender-based violence in a manner that is deemed culturally appropriate and therefore acceptable. Mediation is a long-standing traditionally employed method of dispute resolution in Iraq where tribal and community leaders mediate to resolve problems between individuals, families and tribes. Unfortunately, women are often treated as commodities in this process and they may be bought, sold or traded to solve a conflict. They may also be sacrificed and killed to restore the honor of a family or tribe. Women trained in gender-sensitive mediation can play a central role in bringing together parties in dispute, while advocating for their clients through the mediation process. 

Summary

In Northern Iraq, in collaboration with Mercy Corps, Heartland Alliance is working on a project to reduce gender-based violence in communities of IDPs in Kirkuk, particularly concerning forms of gender-based violence linked with displacement, such as sex trafficking. The project selects women from the IDP camps and trains them to conduct gender-focused mediation themselves, or to offer referrals in cases that require legal representation or more experienced mediators. The project also reaches out to the IDP community in Kirkuk with information about women's rights, and is training mediators to give presentations to their communities on women's legal rights in marriage and divorce.

Activities

This project is working to reduce gender-based violence among IDPs in Kirkuk by:

• Training a team of thirty mediators from IDP communities in Kirkuk on how to mediate to prevent violence against women in their communities;
• Reducing violence against IDP women and girls in Kirkuk through gender-focused mediation by trained mediators who will work with clients on cases that do not pose a serious threat of harm to the victim or the mediator; for serious cases requiring shelter protection and an experienced mediator, victims will be referred to a woman's shelter in the Kurdistan region; 
• Providing referrals to social workers and legal representation, if required;
• Raising awareness on issues affecting victims of gender-based violence throughout IDP communities in Kirkuk through the creation of a brochure addressing key issues on women's legal rights in marriage and divorce, to be distributed in IDP communities throughout Kirkuk;
• Training mediators to give a presentation on women's legal rights in marriage and divorce, with each mediator conducting one presentation to men and women from their communities.