Documentation of Offenses

As women’s defenders in the post-conflict Iraqi landscape, we often find ourselves doing rescue missions and the bulk of our sheltering and protection work in the most troubled neighbourhoods, towns and, recently, refugee camps.

The post-conflict zones in Western Iraq (Mosul, Shergat, Rabidha, Khat Elsad) that were liberated from ISIS in 2017 witness the most catastrophic circumstances for women who were brutalized, kidnapped and enslaved by the group and are now trying to return to their families. Although the war with ISIS ended, millions of families are still traumatized, homeless and living dire straits in camps or in transitional outdoor sites.

The physical destruction and psychological and social trauma is epidemic in the communities that are now returning to their abandoned hometowns. Women doubly suffer in these communities, bearing the emotional and physical scars of a war being ravaged on their bodies and their dignity. In this time of war and chaos, tribal patriarchy has hoarded power both socially and systematically. We come across what feels like never ending stories of crimes and atrocities committed on women, children, families, men and LGBTQ people every single day.

We document all the cases we see.

We do this to build a basis of evidence in an attempt to hold the perpetrators,
be it foreign militants like ISIS or the Iraqi government itself, Imperial militaries
and all others who have been decimating the country, accountable for these crimes.

We have documented thousands of ISIS crimes through +55 testimonies and +600 photographs in the liberated towns and villages in Western Mosul, Kirkuk, Hawija, Rishat, Shergat, Rabidha and Baiji.

In 2017, our team documented 522 cases of ISIS human rights abuses, including rape, kidnapping, enslavement, murder, and destruction.  All the stories of the women we shelter are documented in detail, including cases of rape, sexual assault, death threat and forced marriage.

The Basra team has also worked with the Basra Fire Department to document and categorize 750 cases of self-immolation suicides of women; and with the Forensic Medicine Centre in Basra to document and investigate 35 cases of suicide of women by hanging or overdose.

OWFI is working on preparing a comprehensive report incorporating all this collected information. We are committed to holding accountable all those responsible and not allowing women’s abuses to be brushed under the rug.