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Eroding women's rights

Margaret Owen

Iraq's draft constitution is about to go before the national assembly for approval. It seems likely to mean a massive erosion of women's rights.

IF THE women of Iraq ever needed support from the international community, the United Nations, and, in particular, the British Government, it is now. With only two weeks until the country's draft constitution is due to be ready (the deadline is August 15) who else can help Iraqi women to prevent the total erosion of their human rights — rights they have enjoyed, in a secular state, since 1959?

Tony Blair, who continues to justify the invasion of the country as the only means of toppling a brutal dictatorship and helping establish democracy, now has an obligation to use all his powers to avert a new dictatorship in Iraq — that of the mullahs over women.

Apart from considerations of humanity and human rights, Iraq's future will depend greatly on its women, many of whom, in the hitherto secular state, are well-educated professionals and a key resource in the reconstruction of the economy as well as the social fabric of communities. The Security Council Resolution 1325 requires that women are treated equally and are enabled to participate fully and proportionately in decision-making. Only then can there be hope for the establishment of good governance, democracy and justice.

In March 2004, Iraq adopted an interim constitution called the TAL (transitional administrative law). It was then that Iraqi women won their battle to stop the passing of the proposed rule 137, which, if promulgated, would have destroyed all hopes for women's equality, dignity and justice in the country, in effect allowing the total subordination of women to men within their families, in the community and in political life. This particular interpretation of the Quran would legalise polygamy; divorce by talaq; honour killings; stoning and public beheadings of women for alleged adultery. But now rule 137's provisions are back in the new draft constitution.

Despite the appalling security situation in Iraq (two Sunni members of the committee who are drafting the constitution were gunned down last week), thousands of brave Iraqi women, from different governorates, risked their lives on July 26 when they congregated in Baghdad's Al-Firdaws Square to protest against their exclusion in the draft constitution.

The drafts released last weekend are a cause for deepest concern. Written by a committee of 46 men and nine women, they expressly state that the main source of legislation in the new Iraqi constitution is to be Sharia law, which will take precedence over international law. Sharia law decrees that "personal status" (that is, family law relating to marriage, divorce, custody, widowhood and inheritance) is to be determined according to the different religious sects.

These developments have caused deep dismay among women's organisations across Iraq, whether Kurds, Sunnis or Shias. Iraqi women have campaigned and lobbied hard over the past few months, often risking great personal danger — several politically active women have been assassinated, abducted, raped or threatened — for the new constitution to guarantee women's rights and abide by international treaties.

If Iraq is truly to become a democratic state, complying with international human rights treaties and conventions, then its constitution, while upholding the Sharia law, must ensure that its interpretation does not breach its international obligations. It is unprecedented to rush the writing of a document as important as a constitution, because once written, it will determine the future of the country and the lives of its people. Civil society, both male and female, must be consulted. But the present state of near-civil war is not the best time to take soundings, or educate and inform the population on the meaning of a constitution, and its importance for their future — another reason surely for a postponement.

Every day in Iraq, women are beaten, raped, abducted and murdered in "honour killings." Millions more live in poverty and fear. The new constitution must uphold their rights, for we know that it is only when women have equality with men that there can be true democracy, justice and peace. Iraqi women are imploring the international community to act to protect the lives of 13 million women. Tony Blair and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw must not remain silent.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

(Margaret Owen is the head of Widows for Peace through Democracy and a member of the U.K. Bar Human Rights Committee.)

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