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‘KRG is responsible for the increasing violence against women’
Women in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq celebrated International Women’s Day with demonstrations and protests. On March 8th women’s organizations and NGOs active on women rights criticized KRG institutions for their failed efforts to combat violence against women. The organizations stated that Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) strategies to protect women’s rights have failed and each year the rate of violence against women is increasing. They also announced that hundreds of cases related to women issues are on hold in Kurdistan’s courts and that the general amnesty law had released dozens of criminals who were convicted for violence against women. (KT)
PUK: ‘Let Parliament start its sessions’
The PUK bloc in the Kurdistan Parliament has asked all political parties stop holding up parliamentary sessions and to expedite the KRG cabinet formation process that has already taken 168 days. The PUK MPs have proposed an initiative to elect the parliament speaker based on political agreement between the parties or in accordance with a Parliament bylaw within the next 10 days. (KT)
No consensus on Halabja in Baghdad
A Kurdish MP says there is no consensus in the Iraqi parliament over the draft law for establishing a Halabja governorate. Ashwaq Jaf, from the Kurdistan Alliance bloc in Iraqi Parliament, said that other parliament members have not showed their support to vote on the draft law to recognize Halabja city as the 19th province of Iraq due to political crisis in the country. On the other hand, Barzani has requested the KRG to proceed independently to establish a Halabja governorate without Baghdad’s approval. But NGOs in Halabja announced that there is no justification for the KRG to suspend the Halabja provincial establishment for several years and Barzani’s initiative is too late for now and it is part of the election campaign. (Hawlati, KT)
