Dear Sisters,
Take Action and sign our open letter to the Secretray General of the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) H.E. Mr. Iyad Ameen Madani –
stop genocide and feminicide in Kurdistan and Middle East.
If you would like to add your name to the letter, please email:
knk.women@gmail.com with your name and organisation.
For further information or if you have any questions please do not
hesitate to contact us.
Spokeswomen for KNK Women’s Commission
Mrs. Shahla Hafid, Sweden, Tel: 0046 72 201 8971
Kurdistan Region
Mrs. Parween Saaed, Sulaymaniyah, 00964 770 1523954
We look forward to hearing from you very soon.
In solidarity against feminicide
Shahla Hafid
Spokeswomen of Women’s Commission of the Kurdistan National Congress
--
KNK Commission of Women
Komisyona Jinan ya KNKê
E-Mail: knk.women@gmail.com
www.kongrakurdistan.net
Office in Brussels: 0032 2 647 3084
Letter to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation:
Urgent Call to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
Stop the IS genocide and feminicide in Kurdistan!
H.E. Mr. Iyad Ameen Madani
Secretary General of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
P.O. Box 178, Jeddah 21411, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: + 966 12 651 22 88
E-Mail oic@oic-un.org
August 27, 2014
Dear Mr. Madani,
Since the turmoil in Syria we have experienced a new war of “terror” in Rojava (North Syria-West Kurdistan). The self-styled Islamic State (IS) is carrying out systematic crimes against humanity. In the name of Islam all methods of brutality have been used against our peoples (Kurds, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabs as well as religions of Ezidi, Alevi, Kakei, Shiite, Christians).
Your Excellency might be aware, that the IS is in reality in conflict with and undermining true Islamic law. Claiming to act on behalf of Islam is producing “Islamophobia”, which the IOC is trying to prevent. We know that these terrorists are using Islam as a cover for their expansion and occupation strategies in Kurdistan and Middle East. According to the international media reports IS is backed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Gulf States. They are member states of the OIC. Therefore, we call on you, the Secretary General of the IOC, to use your power and urge the Islamic member states which are known to support IS, to stop this dirty war.
Your Excellency,
Since the occupation of Mosul we, the people and women in Kurdistan, are now confronted with a terror that far exceeds the phenomenon of violence against us as women alone.
In this war of IS, women are regarded as the objects that the dominant powers want to use to achieve their aims as well as simply trophies of war. The policies of reducing society to a submissive state, surrender, and violation, especially by targeting women, have been implemented during many conflicts. The strong sense of honour felt by the men of Kurdistan particularly and Middle East generally has been used to suppress their resistance. This situation greatly damages both the social reality and women’s gender identity.
The IS war is focused on controlling the psychological and social environment of the societies. In the cultures and traditions of all components of Kurdistan it is regarded as “dishonour” on the family and their tribe for the enemy to get hold of a woman. The social contexts of moral defeat and the weakening of resistance of those components are especially closely related to such practices.
The IS legitimisesitsbrutality against women with the Islamic culture of “ganimet”, the concept of a “war trophy”. In this they enjoy the freedom to kidnap women and sell them in the slave markets in Mosul and Tel Afar. A slave trade of women is increasing in the regions controlled by IS.
IS is using a systematic policy of rape, which is the most developed form of strategy of conquest. It aims at surrender and total control of body and mind.
The actions of IS are about conquest and power. Whenever such a conflict emerges it is fought over controlling a women’s body. As a result women have been object to massacres by IS in the name of Islamic values.
If no serious international action against IS is taken, feminicide as the systematical extermination of women from all areas of life – including physical killings, rape and slavery – will become politically, culturally and legally normalized.
Not only the physical but also cultural, political, social and psychological wars are the most destructive forms of war against any society. The war of IS continues with all its brutality, leaving behind the vast numbers of women, murdered, broken or wounded. It is a war between the male dominated Islamic States, sexist terror and the nation of women in Kurdistan and Middle East.
Your Excellency,
– We want you to do everything in your power to help liberate all women who have been enslaved at the hands of IS in Mosul and Tel Afar and elsewhere
– We therefore call you to stopfeminicide, which is in conflict with true Islam!
– We call on you to raise the issue of feminicide as a crime against humanity in the OIC!
Sincerely,
Download Urgent Call: 140828-Letter-to-OIC-on-Feminicide.docx